hello world!

And I have internet! Prepare yourself for a flood of blog posts in the next ten minutes, as I'll be posting the posts that I wrote on my computer but haven't been able to put up. (Again, feel free to skip them if it's too much at once.) :D

and we're off to chiba!

All right, so this is my last chance at decent internet until I'm not sure when, since I'll have to get it set up at my apartment and probably shouldn't blog at work, so here's a final Tokyo orientation update!

Yesterday was the last day of orientation, and it was just as busy as the first! I spent the morning at a PA training session, although as it turns out I'm the PA for Chiba City and also the only JET in Chiba City, which really means that I'm just taking care of myself. But I talked to a Chiba prefecture PA and I might be helping out a little there, so the whole Prefectural Advisor title may mean something after all. :)

Next were some more helpful CIR workshops and then a presentation from the US Embassy. We also met with the Chiba prefecture PAs, and I met my supervisor! He seems really friendly and cheerful, so I'm excited to work with him from now on.

After that I went out to dinner with a couple of other Chiba JETs and wandered around Shinjuku for a little while. I still don't know where anything is, but since I'm so close to Tokyo I'll probably be back soon enough.

Today's the day when we all finally go to our respective prefectures! Chiba prefecture JETs get a bus ride to Chiba City, where we'll have some sort of welcoming ceremony, before splitting off to our final destinations. Luckily for me, Chiba City is my final destination, so I have a little less traveling than everybody else to do. According to my supervisor, after the ceremony we'll be off doing whatever needs to be done so that I can start living in my apartment - and also greeting some important people (he slipped that into our conversation just as casually yesterday! Hopefully nothing too nerve-wracking), so it'll be a busy busy day!

I'm excited to get to Chiba and actually start feeling like I'm in Japan - these past two days in a hotel, surrounded by English-speakers, hasn't really brought it home yet. I'm sure that once I get to Chiba and my apartment, though, it'll hit me! I'm excited. :)

tokyo orientation, day one

Today was the first day of Tokyo orientation, and boy, has it been a long day (though it's not over yet)! First off, even though I was exhausted when I went to bed at 10 last night, thanks to jet-lag I found myself waking up every two hours or so starting at 3am. At 6:30 I gave up and got up, even though our first thing wasn't until 9:00.

The day started off with a lot of speeches, followed by various workshops. I also met with the other people from my prefecture - they all seem really cool, which is good since I'll probably be seeing a lot them! I also go the fun surprise of finding out that I was assigned to be a Prefectural Advisor, which is not usually something that first-year JETs do. I'm a little nervous about it, since I'm supposed to be a resource for other JETs and I have absolutely no experience, but I've stopped freaking out about it at this point, so that's good.

After all the workshops (the CIR ones we had about how to answer phone calls and answer business emails were super helpful!), I felt like I was going to just fall asleep on my feet, thanks to jet-lag and a long day. After eating a little at our welcome reception, though, I'm feeling energetic enough to go out for karaoke with the JETs from my prefecture. I'm also currently watching Japanese TV for the first time in two years - I'd forgotten how much I love it! I'm watching a show called Q-sama, which my host mom and I used to watch together, and I even remember a lot of the faces. Good times. :)

Tomorrow we have our last day of orientation, including my PA training and a lot more CIR workshops. Hopefully by then I'll have adjusted and be a little less jet-lagged!

and so it begins!

Well, I've arrived in Japan! Instead of going into lots of boring details about my flight, here's a list of things I would have tweeted, if I'd had internet access:

        Wondering why I'm the only Atlanta JET not sitting with everybody else…because I'm the one CIR? #doesntmakesense #alittlelonely

       Cool, the guy next to me snores when he sleeps. Great news for a fourteen-hour flight... #fun #not

       I can watch TED talks on the plane! #verycool #nerd

       Ate my shrimp and then noticed the cocktail sauce. Ate my salad and then noticed the dressing. #fail

       So many movies, so little time! One thing I love about really long international flights.

       日本到着！Landed safely in Narita. #herewego #itallstartsnow

So then I landed in Narita and we took a bus to get to our hotel in Tokyo, where we'll be having orientation for the next two days. My friend Stephen from Carleton happened to be on my bus, even though he came from Seattle and most of us were from Atlanta, which was a lucky coincidence. After getting to the hotel and checking in, I went out with some other JETs and had a late dinner at a random noodle shop nearby. It was cheap and delicious! Now I'm back in the hotel and probably just going to bed early (even though it's only around 9:00 here), because I am exhausted and we have orientation bright and early tomorrow. 


I may post again in the next two days (while I still have a reliable internet connection), but things may also just be crazy with orientation and whatnot, so no guarantees! Until next time though. :)

japan, take two!

Hello!

So it's been a while, but like I said approximately 47 days ago, this blog is getting revived! Tomorrow afternoon I will be boarding a plane, ready to spend the next year of my life in Chiba, Japan, working as a Coordinator of International Relations for the JET Program.

For those of you that don't know, the Japan Exchange & Teaching (JET) Program is a program sponsored by the Japanese government in order to facilitate international exchange. There are two possible positions: ALT (Assistant Language Teacher), which for American JETs means teaching English, and CIR (Coordinator of International Relations), which is a lot more vague and official-sounding, and also a lot less uniform. What it means for me, working in Chiba City, is mostly translation and occasional interpretation, as well as possibly helping out with some exchange programs or English conversation classes once in a while. I'm a little nervous about my Japanese not being up to par (especially since I haven't really spoken it in months), but otherwise I'm looking forward to work!

I had my pre-departure orientation this afternoon, and that was when leaving for Japan for a year started to feel real. It's been a whirlwind summer, with just a week in between graduation and GHP and then just a few days between GHP and now, so I haven't really had a chance to process the fact that I'm actually going abroad for a significant length of time until now. I had also missed the Q&A session they'd held earlier because I was at GHP so I didn't get to meet anybody else leaving from Atlanta, but I did get to tonight! There are 38 of us leaving from Atlanta, of which I am the only CIR, and we'll all be on the same flight tomorrow (so I'm sure I'll get to know them even better by the time we land).

So I'm still not done packing (even though I leave in about 15 hours), but I guess this isn't really surprising. It was worth spending the day seeing people and at orientation instead of packing, so no regrets there - if I don't sleep much tonight it'll probably help with jet-lag anyway. But I probably should get to it, despite the party happening at my house that's at least ostensibly in my name,  so I'll end this here.

I should have internet at the hotel during Tokyo Orientation, so if I have time hopefully my next post will be from there! Until then. :)

Exciting news: starting at the end of this summer, I will be working as a CIR (Coordinator of International Relations) for the JET program in Chiba, Japan! Which means this blog is getting revived. Stay tuned for more detailed posts as I get closer to departure (countdown: 48 days)! :)

sayonara, japan

So I've been home now for more than 24 hours, and it feels both very weird and very normal at the same time. It was sad for me to get on the airport tram and realize that the handles are once again too tall for me to use, unlike in Japan, where they are perfect. :( I'm also not used to seeing people drive on the right side of the road again, so I'll probably put off driving anywhere as long as possible. On the other hand, it is very good to be home and see my family/friends. :)

These past four months in Japan have really been an unforgettable experience. I've met so many amazing and unique people from all over the world, who I hope to stay in touch with, especially if I start globe-hopping and visit their respective countries! I had a fantastic experience in a home-stay (almost everybody else I knew in homestays always had something to complain about, but I never did), and I not only formed a strong relationship with my host mom, but also learned a lot about day-to-day Japanese culture and life. My Japanese has improved immensely (if I do say so myself), and I will definitely have to keep studying from here on out so I don't forget everything (especially what I learned in IJ600 about formal/academic Japanese). And of course, I think I've grown as a person - for example, I feel much more confident about traveling to strange places by myself; Japan has definitely honed my map-reading skills! Anyway, basically I had a wonderful time in Japan and can't wait to go back someday! :D

So to wrap up my Japan experience, here are a couple of lists.

Things I Will Miss About Japan*
*not including obvious and specific things like people and places, though naturally I will miss them the most

- speaking Japanese! Granted, I spent probably as much time in Japan speaking English as Japanese, but I will definitely miss being immersed in the language. 
- public transportation. I loved riding the bus and subway everywhere, especially using my commuter pass!
- TV. Japanese variety shows are the best! Also I really liked the kanji/quiz shows, too. As an added benefit, no matter what I watched, it counted as studying Japanese! I will also miss being able to watch TV on my electronic dictionary, because that was just cool. :D
- convenience stores. They are everywhere and actually really convenient, whether to buy onigiri for a snack or even to print out pictures! I loved wasting time in conbini (as they call them in Japanese).
- 100-yen shops! Loved shopping there, because there was always so much awesome stuff for so cheap.  The quality is so much better than dollar shops here, too.
- vending machines everywhere. I didn't use them that often, but it was still nice to have them available. Also, Japanese drinks are pretty tasty.
- karaoke. Definitely need more real karaoke places in the States! Basements and bars don't count.
- ready availability of Japanese cuisine. Particularly things like ramen, udon, and donburi.

My Japan Experience in Numbers
- Time spent: 3 months, 3 weeks, 4 days
- Pictures/videos taken: 1,410
- Cities visited: 6 (Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Gifu)
- Classes taken: 5
- Ferris wheels ridden: 3
- Shinkansen rides: 2
- Clubs/bars visited: 3 
- Karaoke nights: 3
- Onsen visited: 1
- Trips to Disneyland: 2
- Totoro towels bought: 2
- Mugs collected: 6
- Analog Fish CDs bought: 3
- Uniqlo bags found in my room when I packed: 7

So with that, sayonara Japan! Until we meet again. :)