settling in

all the new english teachers.


yamanashi fruit park




sattellite view of yamanashi with mt. fuji


apartment





after hiking up a nearby mountain until the trail ended and i had hay fever.


shosenkyo waterfall

I woke up and unpacked my suitcase and began to mov
e and check out my new “old” apartment. My neighbor across the hall who is the building manager visited me and told me that the building wasn’t up to code and if there was an earthquake that it would probably crumble. But to be honest, I think this place is really nice, the rent is cheap and it’s bigger than my place in Korea was. Tetsuka Sensei picked me up and took me to the school to fill out some paperwork and showed me my desk and gave me a tour of the school. Class didn’t resume until August 27^th which gave me about 3 weeks to become acclimated to my surroundings and prepare for my first lesson. Much different from Korea where I was basically teaching as soon as I stepped off the plane.

I came during the hottest time of the year and the humidity in Japan can be unbearable at times.
The next week all of the new teachers from Yamanashi had a press conference in which we all introduced ourselves to the mayor and even got our picture in the paper and made it on the evening news. From what I understand it’s quite a big deal when the new JET teachers arrive every year. Being a teacher in Japan is quite a respected position and every time I tell somebody that I’m a teacher, they always bow to me. It’s quite surprising. After that we went for a sushi lunch where I once again smashed my head off of a doorway and added to the collection of bumps all over my head. We then took a trip to a “Fruit Park.” (pictures) My prefecture is well know for having delicious fruit and has the second highest fruit production in Japan. It was really funny when during then mayor's speach he said he is proud that Yamanashi once again claimed the title of "The Kingdom of Fruit," as if somebody is competing with us for it. We also took a tour of the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum.

Then next day we attended a local orientation provided by JET. They went over everything; daily living, home care, teaching, traveling, on and on. It was very helpful, but a little redundant. It was easy to tell which new teachers were nervous because they asked endless questions that only pertained to them. “Do I need a heater for my apartment?” "What should I say when I introduce myself to my teachers?, Should I bow or shake hands, or both at the same time?” I just kept my mouth shut and waited for the questions to end. But, I have to admit that the JET alumni who voluntarily gave all of the presentations were really helpful and tried to answer everyone’s questions. On the last day a Japanese Calligraphy teacher came to teach us Shodo or how to draw Kanji (Japanese Characters) using ink and brushes. That was fun and a good break from all the workshops.

The following week we had a teacher’s training conference at Yamanshi University where I first met Ookii Sensei. She is another one of my partner teachers and has become a great friend of mine. She speaks excellent English and we had a lot of laughs working together there. We had to bring in an item important to us in our lives and then distribute them among the other foreign and Japanese teachers then guess who’s it was and why. I brought a bottle of vitamins so I could tell the story of my first big interview after college where I was asked "What is a goal you’ve set for yourself and how did you go about achieving it?" I responded with, "I want to wake up and take a vitamin everyday," and it was probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever said, but I learned a lot from it, specifically always being prepared. The following week we had another conference at Yamanashi Gakuin University. The idea of the conference was to expose the Japanese teachers to English for a few days after summer break to prepare them for the upcoming classes.

In my free time, I went to Kaiten Sushi for the first time with Lee and visited Shosenkyo Waterfall which was quite beautiful and a nice hike too. I also visited Kofu Castle at sunset, or I should say, the Ruins of Kofu Castle. It’s mostly just a lot of walls and towers, but no actual castle because it was destroyed. Nevertheless it’s a really nice place with great views of my city. Other than that I spent a lot of time with Lee and his Japanese friends to try to expose myself to more Japanese, but they talk circles around me and I have trouble keeping up. Most of the time I don’t know what anybody is saying, but I still feel like it’s good practice for me.

Other than that, I just began to prepare for my first lesson about my self-introduction and the
speech I had to give in front of 700+ students.