Sorry that I'm a few days late in writing this, I didn't have internet once I left the hotel. So my second day of orientation was better than the first. We started with a panel discussion of current JETs who were asked questions about their daily life and what is expected of them. This panel was really helpful. It was good to hear stories about people going through the same thing we are. After this panel, we split up by grade level and had mock lessons from current Junior High School JETs. We did an introductory lesson that I really liked and I hope I can make something similar for my first day in the classroom as well as other games and mock lessons. These lessons were divided in half and we had lunch in between.
Next we meet our Prefecture Advisers, mine is Zenke Michiyo, who told us about our travel plans. Kitakyushu city JETs met in the lobby of the hotel at 8:30 A.M. and catch a 9:00 A.M. bus to Haneda Airport. Ms. Michiyo also gave us some money for the bus and our plane tickets.
After meeting with Ms. Michiyo, Leah and I headed to an intermediate Japanese self-study. It turned out to be a lecture and we just wanted to practice saying our introductions, so we ended up going and sitting in the hall to practice. We decided to go to Starbucks for some coffee after we finished and had a nice little snack. I had told her I was hoping to get a picture and the guy sitting next to us overheard and offered to take it. We started talking to him and it turned out he was from San Francisco and was only in Shinjuku for a week on business. He didn't know any Japanese, so we helped him learn a few words for a work meeting he had the next day. He was also asking if we knew of anything to do other than karaoke, since he couldn't read any of the signs and didn't know the area. We ended up going out to a restaurant with him and got some drinks and more snacks. It was really fun! It started to rain and we had to get back to the hotel for a meeting with the American Embassy, so we said goodbye and wished him luck on his client meeting.
The embassy meeting was pretty boring and afterwards I came back to my room before I was supposed to go to the izakaya. I ended falling asleep at my computer and missed the outing. I felt really bad because I really wanted to go, everyone said it was really fun! I did get a chance to hang out with my roommate. She went to Beppu in Oita-ken, so she's on the same island as me, but won't be very close by. It was nice to get to spend time with her before we leave.
Our plane left the next morning at 11:15 A.M. and landed in Kitakyushu around 1:00 P.M. There we met two of our bosses along with our JET adviser, Dan. We had udon for lunch with them in the airport, then headed off to the Board of Education to do our introductions to our new senior staff and to pick up the large luggage we sent from Narita airport. We all got on a bus with our suitcases and drove around to the different apartment buildings. There were current JETs waiting for us at all of our apartments to help us settle in. Afterwards, Dan came back to the apartment and showed Patrick and I around. Patrick and I had a great dinner after Dan left and even managed to find our way back home on the monorail!
No comments:
Post a Comment