Sunday, August 5, 2007
The Road to Yamanashi
On Wednesday it was time to hit the road and head to Yamanashi. I said goodbye to my roommate and then hopped on the bus. The ride over was full of good conversation and a bit of excited nervousness. We made a pit stop half way through the ride and I decided to use the restroom. It was crazy! There was this board that lit up to show people whether the stalls were occupied or not. It just seemed to confuse everyone!
Anyway, one we finally arrived in Kofu, my supervisor and 2 JTEs (Japanese Teachers of English) were waiting for myself and another JET. We grabbed a bite to eat and then headed over to the BOE where we were introduced to the superintendent. After that, we headed to our apartments (me and the other JET both live in the same complex).
OMG is my apartment small! It's more like a hallway with a room attached. But it seems newish and the appliances are all in working order, so it's not horrible or anything, just small (which a common feature of most apartments in Japan). It also happens to be almost directly across the street from a train station, which is awesomely convenient! Here's a picture of it:
We went shopping after viewing the apartment and then the JTEs who where with us came back with little desert cakes as it was the other JETs birthday. It was really sweet of them and the cakes were incredibly cute!
Now that I've divulged a bit of my living situation, I'll explain my working situation a bit. As you may or may not recall, I was a bit nervous after finding out that I'd be working in elementary school as they don't have JTEs. Most of the time you work with individual homeroom teachers who don't speak English. However, our city is apparently pretty progressive on the elementary teaching front. I'll be teaching all my classes with one JTE (one of the ones I'd spent the day with) and we both travel to 3 different elementary schools in the area. One on M/T, one on W/R, and another on Friday. It works the same way for the other JET as well. My schools are about 15-25 min away by bike, but the BOE is looking into getting me a scooter so I don't have to bike so far. Yay!
Next up: Exploring the town
Anyway, one we finally arrived in Kofu, my supervisor and 2 JTEs (Japanese Teachers of English) were waiting for myself and another JET. We grabbed a bite to eat and then headed over to the BOE where we were introduced to the superintendent. After that, we headed to our apartments (me and the other JET both live in the same complex).
OMG is my apartment small! It's more like a hallway with a room attached. But it seems newish and the appliances are all in working order, so it's not horrible or anything, just small (which a common feature of most apartments in Japan). It also happens to be almost directly across the street from a train station, which is awesomely convenient! Here's a picture of it:
We went shopping after viewing the apartment and then the JTEs who where with us came back with little desert cakes as it was the other JETs birthday. It was really sweet of them and the cakes were incredibly cute!
Now that I've divulged a bit of my living situation, I'll explain my working situation a bit. As you may or may not recall, I was a bit nervous after finding out that I'd be working in elementary school as they don't have JTEs. Most of the time you work with individual homeroom teachers who don't speak English. However, our city is apparently pretty progressive on the elementary teaching front. I'll be teaching all my classes with one JTE (one of the ones I'd spent the day with) and we both travel to 3 different elementary schools in the area. One on M/T, one on W/R, and another on Friday. It works the same way for the other JET as well. My schools are about 15-25 min away by bike, but the BOE is looking into getting me a scooter so I don't have to bike so far. Yay!
Next up: Exploring the town
This is Paul when are you going to tell us more