Alright, so I'm in Japan. Been living here for about two and a half weeks now and I think that I'm beginning to feel settled in my small city of Naruto. I've been exploring a lot and (obviously) meeting new people everywhere I go. Living here will take considerable adjustment but, as I expected, that comes with the territory when one takes part in the JET Program.
I don't have the internet in my apartment right now and I won't have it for another month (hence the lack of posts on here). I've got a lot of pictures that I'll be posting that will show what I've been up to over the past few weeks so hopefully I will be able to put them online soon. I don't know how sporadic my internet time will be in the future but I think I'll be able to use my fellow ALT's(Assistant Language Teacher's) internet hookup in order to publish some photos.
Every day here has been very different so far. I can say that it feels like I've been here a lot longer than two and a half weeks because of the amount of things that I've already done. After pre-departure orientation in Washington DC (on 8/4), I took the 14 hour flight to Tokyo with about 100 other teachers. Spent three days attending orientation seminars while trying to get rid of some nagging jet lag. After Tokyo, I was flown to Tokushima (the state that I live in) on the island of Shikoku (the smallest of the main four islands of Japan). Here, I met up with my new supervisors and co-workers. Quite a surreal experience. I had only about a day to catch my breath in my new apartment when we were all shipped out to a Buddhist temple south of Naruto to take part in English camp for junior high students. Spent three days here and got a good taste for what teaching over here will be like. After, I took part in the Awa Odori dance...the world's second biggest dance festival. This was held in Tokushima City and was one of the best times I can remember without a doubt. Came back to Naruto, met the mayor...he quizzed me about Pittsburgh. The only thing that I wasn't sure of was the name of our mayor 30 years ago (but I remembered later!). This past week I've been busy trying to set up the internet in my apartment, getting my keitai (cell phone), and meeting fellow teachers that I'll be team-teaching with. I'm looking to buy a sturdy bike for my commute to work and a guitar so that I don't forget how to play. Other than that, no other big purchases are on my mind...besides plane tickets in the near future.
Well, that was a very short summary of my time here so far. Hopefully my next post will contain pictures of all of this stuff. Stay tuned.
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