Back for Round Two

Back in Tokyo.
Do you know where this is?

Oh hey, hello there. Wow, it seems like only a few years ago that I was on here posting all kinds of cool and exciting adventures. How time flies...

Well, if you haven't been keeping up with me (or if you have no idea who I am), I should say that I'm back in Japan. And not as a student this time--no, no, no--I'm done with that chapter of my life, at least for now. I'm back over here as an assistant English language teacher through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme.

It's taken so long to get to this point. I think I began applying for the position almost a year ago now, and it's been nothing but paperwork, essays, letters of recommendation, interviews, passport photos, and orientations since. I finally took off from the States about a week ago, so the wave of excitement is still washing over me.

After the 10 or so hour plane ride back to Japan, the program put the other JETs and me up at the all-too-ritzy Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo. I was rooming with two other guys, so I suppose it was a bit cramped, but hey, compare it to places like those capsule hotels and I'm not complaining.

The JETs start to trickle into the auditorium for orientation.

There was an absurd number of us staying there for those first few days--I would guess somewhere between 800 and 1,000. We were all there for two days of orientation and workshops before heading out to our placements on the third day. And oh man, those first few days were packed. In the first two days I had about 24 hours of orientation. Most of it was pretty general information, but there were a few panels with alumni who shared their advice and experiences. Those seemed much more worthwhile.

The thing I was struck most by was the sheer diversity of people who are part of this program. I met JETs from all over the US, from Canada, the UK, Spain, Portugal, and Italy just to name a few. Everyone was very friendly and outgoing, so it was easy to make friends and latch onto others' late-night dinner plans :P

I also got to meet up with a friend from the east coast I hadn't seen since I was last here in Japan. He's part of JET now too, so we had a lot to talk about.

Soup, salad, and pasta for lunch. Not very Japanese :/

I can't talk about my hotel stay without mentioning the food, because holy shnikies did they feed us. I was surprised after all the free meals they didn't slice us up and put us between a couple slices of rye. Just cultural differences, I guess.

After all of that was over, I headed out to Maebashi in Gunma prefecture for some more Super Fun Orientation Time happaneings, and from there I headed out to Fujioka (same prefecture) with my newly-acquainted supervisor. Taka...taka...something-sensei. I'm bad with names, particularly foreign ones. He took me to the board of education, introduced me, took care of some paperwork, and then showed me around town. He's a super nice guy, but he's definitely still new at this. He brought me to my apartment and gave me a couple bottles of wine as a housewarming gift.

On the bus to Gunma. Didn't take the train, unfortunately.

After speaking for months online with the other language teachers who are out here in Fujioka--in the same apartment building as me no less--I finally got to meet them in person. Everyone has been extremely warm and welcoming to me. I'm really happy that I've already got a little community of friends out here. There are six of us, including me. They took me out to dinner my first night here at a local izakaya (pub-kinda deal--I'm not exactly sure how that translates). We all got to know each other better that night, and I've hung out with pretty much all of them individually since then.

Went out with some buddies for parfaits.

Most of my time here in Fujioka has been spent unpacking and setting things up in my apartment. Usually a new JET will replace an old one, which means they get their old apartment with all the accessories and furnishings, but I'm not replacing anyone out here, so my place is pretty bare-bones. I'm slowly accumulating the necessities like dishware and furniture, but I've still got a ways to go. I figure I'll wait to do anything too drastic until I get my first paycheck on the 21st.

It's rather late and I'm fading over here, so I apologize if this post has been rather general. I know I'm missing a lot of the details, but a lot has happened. Now that I'm here all safe and sound things are starting to slow down, so next time I should be able to cover things a bit more in depth. School doesn't start until the 31st, so I've got until then to prepare myself for the kiddies. I'll be teaching junior high most days, by the way, so that's my demographic. Do junior high kids still like Pokemon cards? I brought some over from the States for them. Hmm.

The view from my apartment.

Well thanks for staying with me this long. I appreciate you taking an interest in my life over here. I'm going to make a request though. Last time I was blogging over here I turned out to have way, way more readers than I thought. I figured there were just a few people because I only ever heard from a couple. It turns out most of you are just the silent type, I guess. So if you like what I'm doing over here, let me know. Leave me a comment, like my post, or share it on Facebook or something. I'm curious what all you people back home think of this, so let me know what you're interested in hearing about or ask me some questions.

That's it for now. See ya laaateeer~