Shinozaki

Today was my first day at my second school, Shinozaki. I had such an amazing time at Futajima last week, I was skeptical that I would have a good a time at Shinozaki. I have also been listening to some of the other JETs complain about their placements. Some people say they are used only has a human tape recorder and some say they don't get brought to class at all. Leah wasn't in the classroom for two days. When she did finally get to go to class, the teacher had her read passages and nothing else.

Thankfully, my first day proved me wrong! I still have more friends at Futajima, but everyone at Shinozaki has been incredibly welcoming! I sit across from the school counselor, Kawai, who doesn't know much English but is really happy to be sitting near me. He used to be the principle of another school. He photocopied a seating chart of the teachers room for me and went through all the names to make sure I could read the kanji. He also pointed out all the English teachers to me and made a note on the seating chart. He gave me the school schedule for the next two months and even showed me the menu for school lunch for all the day's I'm here. Everyone is always worried I won't be able to eat kyushoku (school lunch) and is amazed when I can.

For my classes both here and at Futajima I have been doing a self-intro lesson over and over. I'm a little tired of it, but I still have about fifteen classes to go. I have big pictures I printed out showing many things about me and things from America that I talk about with the students. Then they can ask me questions. They always ask me how tall I am. If there is still time I have a self introduction worksheet for them where they can both draw and write. That way lower level classes can relay more on drawing, while more advanced classes can write more and still get the fun of drawing the pictures. It's been a big hit so far! I even had one class ask me if I liked Pokémon. I said yes and as part of their introduction to me they all drew their favorite Pokemon.

So far the teachers and students at both Futajima and Shinozaki have been amazing! Everyone is helpful and always willing to answer any of my questions. All the students run up to me in the hallways to say, "Hello teacher!" The staff at Shinozaki even pitched in and bought me a mug as a welcome present. I think I will enjoy Futajima a little more only because I sit next to Sugiyama, the first year English teacher. She is completely fluent in English and we have a lot of the same interests. We already have plans to hang out outside of work. That being said, Shinozaki is still an amazing school with wonder people.

I have a long weekend next weekend, so some friends and I are renting a car and driving down to Beppu! Beppu is about two hours away by car and is south east of Kitakyushu. It is in Oita prefecture and is famous for its hot springs. So next Monday or Tuesday I will let you all know how that trip goes! I can't wait!

First Day of School

My first day of school was finally here! I went to Futajima to start and next week I'm off to Shinozaki. Futajima is pretty far away and takes me close to an hour and a half to get to. Thankfully I went there twice before today. The first time I had work in the morning, but no school to go to. So I tagged along with Vixay since he was going to Futajima. Then last Friday I went with Tsuruta, my supervisor, because she wanted to meet the principle, vice principle, and teachers. So despite the long commute I had no trouble getting to school.

I had a nice welcome message on my shoe locker when I came in and everyone I had met previously was very nice. My desk is with the first year teachers next to Sugiyama, another English teacher. I did a quick introduction in Japanese for the teachers and then it was time for opening ceremonies. All the students and teachers gathered in the auditorium where awards were given out, the principle spoke, and the school song was sung among other things. I had to go up on stage and give a short introduction, thankfully in English. As we were leaving the ceremonies, many students came up to me to say hello.

Unfortunately the students were busy with more ceremonies the rest of the day and tomorrow they will be in exams, so I will not meet them until Wednesday. Despite just hanging out in the teachers' room all day, I was incredibly productive. I met a lot of the other teachers, including a very nice math teacher who asked me to come to one of her lessons some day. I learned how to use the school computers, printers, copiers, and laminators. I printed out a few worksheets for my first few days, made PowerPoint presentations, and printed and laminated big pictures for the classes that won't have projectors. I also helped some of the other English teachers make other worksheets.

Sugiyama and I get along really well and she's been incredibly helpful! She was happy to show me everything and how to use it and she says she is excited to start teaching with me. All in all I had a great time at school and cannot wait to go back tomorrow!

First Three Weeks

Hello!

I know it's been a while since I updated. I just got internet in my apartment today and I couldn't be happier! So I'm going to try and do a quick run-through of my first three weeks here.

We started by going out to lots of welcome parties that were very fun! It was great to meet all the new JETs arriving as well as all the JETs in Kitakyushu staying over from previous years. Our PA Dan was great at making us all feel welcome. I'm also super grateful that Patrick, another new JET this year, is in the building across the street from me. We have done lots of shopping and exploring together since we are in the same area. Leah is also someone I'm getting very close to, she is from Detroit and the only other American Kitakyushu JET.

During my first week I went to an amazing festival in Shimonoseki. There are two towns across the river from each other, Shimonoseki and Mojiko. People bring blankets and sit on both sides of the river. Then both Shimonoseki and Mojiko shoot off fireworks and try to outdo the other side. The fireworks went on for hours and it was amazing! There were also food stalls around selling all sorts of food and desserts. It was amazing and a great chance to wear my yukata!

As for work, I have spent my time going to many different schools to help the students with speech contest. School isn't in session until next Monday and I haven't been to either of my base schools yet. In October, many middle school students recite a speech in English as part of Kitakyushu's annual speech contest. We are going around to different schools and helping students with memorization, pronunciation, and intonation. It's nice to meet the teachers and students, but unfortunately none of these schools are my base schools. So I will be in different schools during the year. Starting on Monday I'm going to be in Futajima and Shinozaki middle schools. I have only visited Futajima so far and everyone was very nice. I've heard nice things about Shinozaki and will be visiting it later this week!

Kantsu, my professor from Hofstra, came to visit me for dinner one night. He was on his way to Korea for work and stopped in Kitakyushu for a few hours. I got to show him around my apartment, Shiragane (my district), and the city. We had dinner with Patrick on a rooftop restaurant overlooking the city, it was amazing!

I took a trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima last weekend and it was really fun! I got to see Hiroshima Castle, which I didn't get to see last time I was in Hiroshima. We went to a great okonomiyaki restaurant. Okonomiyaki the specialty dish of Hiroshima consisting of a pancake-like batter, cabbage, noddles, and any topping of your choice (I had oysters) grilled at your table and topped with lots of sauce. We also went back to the Atomic Dome and Peace Park. It was kind of nice to show the other JETs around an area I knew. The next day we went to Miyajima, the floating shrine island. I have been before, but I had a lot more time this weekend. I went to see the five-story pagoda and climbed the highest point of the mountains. It was really cool!

So that's the very short version of what I've been up to. I've been having a great time and am so happy to be here!

Arriving in Kitakyushu

So I flew in two days ago to Kitakyushu and apart from the sweltering heat I couldn't be happier! Patrick is in the apartment building next door, so the two of us were shown around together. On our first night Dan, our prefectural advisor, took Patrick and I around town. We started by walking over the river to Dan's place so he could put his bags down and change out of his nice clothes. Then we walked down the river to the Board of Education so that we knew how to get there. We even walked to Kokura castle, which is less than a half hour walk from my apartment! We also went to Riverwalk, a big shopping mall/arcade/restaurant building with both a movie theater and live theater on the upper stories. If you go up to the 5th floor, there is a really nice place to sit outside that overlooks the castle and the city. We hung out there for a while. Then Dan had to meet some teachers for dinner, so he took us to the monorail station. Patrick and I decided to get some dinner while we were still downtown, so we went to a place Dan suggested. We each had some beer and shared some beef and cabbage in a spicy miso broth, it was great!

Yesterday we did all of our bureaucratic stuff. We filled out official change of address cards so we would be in the Kitakyushu system, signed our work and apartment contracts, got phones, and got bank accounts. It took a really long time, but Dan and Juha (another JET who's been here a few years) took us out to a restaurant yakyudori for dinner. It's a play on the word yakitori (a way to prepare food, usually grilled or fried and on a stick) and yakyuu (baseball). The food was amazing and we all had a few beers.

All the new JETs have today off, so we're doing our final unpacking and then meeting up for lunch and to go shopping for anything we need. I have so much more to write about how great the apartment is and great all the people are, but I really need to finish unpacking. I'll write more later!

Tokyo Orientation Day #2

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!

Tokyo Orientation Day #1

So today we started orientation. We had breakfast from 7:30 - 9:00. My roommate and I stayed at the breakfast table for the entire hour and a half. Two groups of people sat with us. First we met some people from the Tennessee, then after they left we were joined by some girls from New Zealand. Orientation started at 9:00 and everyone was in the same room. Our seats were assigned and we were split up by prefecture and/or city. Fukuoka prefecture is going on an outing tomorrow night at 8:00 to a prison themed 居酒屋 (izakaya), a casual bar that usually requires a cover charge and all-you-can-drink. I'm not sure how the prison theme works, but I'm really looking forward to it! This is when I got to meet my fellow Kitakyushu JETs for the first time! We had some talks about general information, the last of which was the best. He talked about culture shock and had so many great stories to share. At 12:00 we had a break for lunch.

After lunch I walked around with some of the other JETs going to Kitakyushu. We went to see the AJET (The Association for Japan Exchange and Teaching)fair and we got a lot of good information. I also bought two books, "Planet Eigo" and "Foxy Phonics." They are all about how to set up lesson plans as a team teacher and have tons of great pre-made lesson plans as well. After looking around, all the ALTs met again in the same big room as before. There were four talks in the next hour an a half about English education standards in Japan, what to expect in elementary school, what to expect in middle school, and what to expect in high school. I'm only in a middle school, so it was kind of boring to hear about the other schools. It didn't help that we had been sitting all day on the plane yesterday, then all day this morning, and now it was just more sitting.

After finishing those lectures, we got to choose our next three panels. First, I went to one about how to incorporate pop culture into our lessons. It was an AJET talk and it was a lot of fun! It was only 45 minutes, but they had a lot of great ideas and even did a few games with us. The second panel I went to was about technology in the classroom. We talked about the different technology we most likely find in our classrooms as well as what we probably won't find. They gave us examples of what we could do in classes with very limited technology and talked about how sometimes teachers in Japan are not as tech savvy as people from other parts of the world because they don't teach basic computer skills in school. So things we might take for granted such as PowerPoint, many people in Japan don't know how to use. The speakers explained how to respectfully teach not only our students, but our coworkers as well.

I skipped out on the last panel because they were either topics that didn't apply to me (e.g. Driving in Japan or Senior High School Teaching) or topics I'd already heard. Instead I went with the other Kitakyushu JETs to dinner in Shinjuku. We went to a nice udon place and walked around for a little bit. We came back in time for a reception at 6:30 where we had a toast and ate some desserts. The reception was a nice chance to mingle with people in or near our prefecture that we hadn't gotten a chance to talk with yet. Some people went out after, but I came back to my room to reorganize my suitcases. I only have my two carry ons with me right now, but we have to send one bag to the airport tomorrow, so I was making sure I would have everything I need for an overnight in one bag.

Today during my very limited free time, I worked on my introduction. Everyone needs to memorize a short paragraph in Japanese to use to introduce ourselves. I have been e-mailing with my old professor to help make sure all of my Japanese is correct. I think I have it all set and my goal for tomorrow is to have it memorized.

That's it for now, hopefully tomorrow is a shorter day for me because I am exhausted!

Flight and Arrival

So today I finally made it to Japan! My flight left at 1:00 PM from Logan Airport on August 3rd. Mom, Dad, Mike, and Reid all came with me to see me off. After checking my bags, we all got some breakfast. I went through security around noon since the line was very small. We started boarding around 12:30 and I was surprised at how quickly they got everyone on the plane. We were in the air about an hour later.

I was lucky enough to fly on a non-stop Japan Airlines flight. I was flight 007 on the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which was amazing. I sat in the middle of the second to last row and it was a little squished, but I was able to stand up and walk around whenever I needed to. There's a USB port in every seat so you can charge any electronics that charge via USB. Some seats also had outlets, but mine did not. There's a personal TV in the back of all the seats and you can watch anything from Finding Nemo to Game of Thrones. The food was also good as far as airplane food goes and they even have complimentary wine and beer. (I believe they have other alcohols free, too, but I do not know for sure.) All this made for a pretty enjoyable flight!

Once arriving in Narita airport we headed for immigration. We all had stickers on to show we were in the JET Program and when an attendant saw us, he opened up a previously empty immigration room for us to go through. This obviously made going through immigration much faster! Immigration is also where we got out Residency Cards. Japan up until very recently used Alien Registration Cards, similar to a Green Card in the United States. The only probably with the Alien Registration Card was that it took up to a few weeks to process and ship. You need this card to sign up for more permanent things in Japan such as internet or a cell phone. Now, however, when you go through immigration they just check your visa, take your index finger prints, and snap a photo of you. They print out your Residency Card right there on the spot and send you to baggage claim.

After we had all gotten our bags, it was time to go through customs. We had received and filled out our custom form on the plane and there was no line, so we got through rather quickly. Walking into the Narita main terminal we were greeted by many JETs all wearing bright green shirts. We were directed where to go and when we got there, they took our luggage that was getting shipped to our placement and we got on a bus that brought us to our hotel. Once at the hotel we all got name tags, tote bags with various JET material, and our room keys.

I went out for dinner, but am now extremely tired since I didn't sleep much on the plane. Breakfast is at 7:30 tomorrow and then we have orientation all day. We have orientation for most of Tuesday as well. Tuesday night we are free and then early on Wednesday I will be heading to Kitakyushu. I'll be very busy these next few days, but I'll do my best to keep you posted on orientation!