Live from Tokyo!

My next big adventure has officially begun.  I departed Washington Reagan National Airport Saturday morning on August 2 with the help of two wonderful W&M friends living in the DC area.  Due to heavy traffic into Newark, our flight was sat on the tarmac for an hour before finally taking off.  We basically ran from plane to plane to board our flight from Newark to Tokyo.  Our group of about 50 people delayed the flight and then thunderstorms rolled in, causing the plane to rock back and forth.  15 hours later, we were in The Land of the Rising Sun.

We went through immigration, collected our bags, and filed through customs to be met by about 100 people wearing bright yellow shirts.  These current JETs were here in Tokyo to guide us out of the airport, ship our checked bags to our placement city, and to get us on the buses to the hotel in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo.  I revelled in the hyper-organization and wish everything was an structured as that process.  Yes, it was super hot and humid but the whole thing was easy as pie.

The combined group of people from DC and Boston reached the hotel around 5pm, Japan time on August 3, which is 2am for those on the east coast.  After meeting my two roommates, one from UVa and the other from Mary Baldwin College, and a nice shower, I ventured out into Shinjuku with a few other girls in our DC unit.  We savored a dinner of ramen and dumplings at a restaurant where the waitress took our orders on her Palm Pilot and picked up a few things at the AM/PM convenience store.  I especially liked seeing the refridgerated coffee called 'Mt Rainier Frappucino' there again as I remembered seeing it last year in Tokyo.  After that, everyone can back and collapsed in their beds by 10.

This morning, we sat through some keynote speeches that introduced us to major Japanese officials, talked about the four sponsoring ministries, gave us a general idea of what we should expect during our first month here, and one that tried to prepare us for the coming culture shock.  Lunch followed and I was happy to see silverware provided.  This gave me a break from my current trouble with chopsticks!  The afternoon was filled with a 2-hour panel that broke down the day in the life of an assistant language teacher and a bunch of workshops led by the Association of JETs (AJET).  I attended JET and Professional Development, Travel as a JET, and Food: Cooking and Eating.  

Earlier in the day, we also had prefectural meetings, prefecture being the same as a state in the US.  Because I am in a designated city, there were only seven of us in my group and we made quick introductions.  My cohorts here include one from Michigan, one from Virginia (other than me!), 3 from Toronto, and one from Victoria, BC.  I was disappointed to see only Americans and Canadians so I was relieved to here that there were four other newbies from last week's orientation, two from Australia, one from Scotland, and one from the UK.   Surprisingly, only three are girls in our bunch.  However, I heard there is a returning JET from South Africa already there along with some guys from San Francisco and Chicago.

Tonight, we had a welcome reception, which had a huge buffet with more delicious ramen and more alcohol than you can imagine.  If I've learned one thing lately, it's that the Japanese look their sake and beer.  Apparently, I'm expected to go to enkai (drinking parties) with my co-workers and bosses.  Not sure how I feel about that just yet!  Many prefectures were going out together tonight but mine has their event tomorrow - we're supposed to be going to a sushi restaurant that is part of a chain here.  I was planning on walking around with some other people who also have prefectural nights out tomorrow but the humidity is at 95% and it's raining.  Combine that with the fact that I've already seen the majority of Tokyo (I know this sounds snotty but oh well) and my continuing jetlag.  I decided staying in was the better option.

Tomorrow brings more specific workshops, including Driving in Japan and Thriving as a Rural JET, which I can easily avoid since I'll be in a big city and won't be needing a car.  There are also seminars on team-teaching for junior high assistant language teachers.  I found out today that I'll be working at 1-2 base schools, which I'm excited about because that will allow me to get to know my students better!  We'll be getting info on all our travel arrangements to Kitakyushu on Wednesday. 

 So for now, I just can't wait to get to my new apartment.  I heard we got all new appliances, gadgets, etc.  I know the first thing I want to buy is a kotatsu, which is a little table with a heater underneath that comes with a comforter.  It will be perfect for cuddling up in come fall/winter.  I think a bed is in order though because for a few days I will be curling up with a tiny pillow and fleece blankie on hard tatami mats.

That's it for the first update.  I'm aiming for 2 blogs a week so stay tuned!