Morioka

Morioka! It's really a nice place. I love that I get to see mountains every time I go to work.

So, let me give an update on the basics of my life

1. School
My school is very far south. I get up before work between 5:30 and 6am, depending on how ambitious I am. I make myself some coffee with my wonderful, wonderful aero press, eat breakfast, get dressed and spend 5-10 minutes on facebook chat with my mother or sister. Really, this has become my before work routine. It's great!
I'm out the door before/around 7 and I bike to the bus center where I wait around for my 7:20 bus. I have not worked out a schedule where I arrive at the bus center only a few minutes ahead of my bus...I am always afraid I'll miss it so I'm there ten minutes early. This is fine, as it gives the locals plenty of time to stare at me.
The bus center is like a spot that time forgot. It has a small indoors area with various stalls selling i-don't-know-whats, and only old people go there. The lady that helped us during orientation told us that it was a very old-fashioned place, and I totally get that...
After a 25-30 minute bus ride, I'm at work:

My school!

In the mornings there's always a teachers meeting, which I never understand. I just sit at my desk, bow when everyone else bows, and try to use the appropriate polite language. 

My school is really great: it's more rural, so my students are more energetic and less shy (although they can be a bit shy...). I have three teachers that I can communicate with in English, and my vice principle is totally approachable (not that I ever feel the need to just walk up to him and start chatting...). I sit right across from one of my JTEs (Japanese Teacher of English), and close to another. I'm already becoming friends with the female teacher, although I'm sure our friendship won't involve long phone calls about cute boys...Oh well. 

Last week started on Tuesday, and it was just the opening ceremony and a bunch of tests for the students. I was lucky enough (sarcasm) to have the chance to give a speech to THE ENTIRE SCHOOL on that day. I only messed it up a little...

The next three days I introduced myself in English class (3 classes a day, 3 days, total of 9 classes). My introduction involved saying a few things about myself then quizzing the students to see if they understood. Of course, for the first years I used props, but the second and third years had no such help. It was fun for me because I got to experience first hand how rambunctious Japanese students are. If a student is called on and he/she does not know the answer, they turn to their classmates and ask "what do I say?" and everyone in the class will just start telling them the answer. Of course, this always happens! Students who are called on *never * know the answers, they always ask. It's a thing here.

2. Lunch

I am making this a separate category because I feel like it. This week I had lunch with the students from 3A, but Tuesday and Wednesday I made my own lunch. So, here are pics of the 'bento' I made. The high quality factor makes them look gross, so I suggest you don't click on the thumbnail. 

Check it out! The one on the left is just a chicken/egg salad sandwich, potato salad and tomatoes but the one on the right!!! It has the FIVE COLORS! My friend Kiah would be proud! Potato salad, tomatoes, rolled omelet with spinach, chicken nuggets, rice and an umeboshi. The potato salad in BOTH lunches went bad because I could not find those little ice packs you pack with your lunches, but overall I would say I ate well...
Thursday and Friday I ate with the students in class 3A. When lunch time rolled around, two boys from 3A came into the teacher's room and said, "Miss Forman. Please come with us" or some botched, adorable version of that. Needless to say both Thursday and Friday I had an energetic lunch period, where the same three boys asked me the same three questions "Do you like sports? What are your hobbies? Do you have a boyfriend?" I think those are the same three questions everyone gets, and for some reason are the only important things to know about a person.
My favorite student is from class 3A, I call him "pizza" (in my head). Whenever I see him, he always shouts "I like/love pizza!" and it's always hilarious to him. He said it about 5 times to me during lunch on Friday...Maybe one day I'll make him a pizza.

3. Apartment


It's small. Still. And messy BUT I vacuumed it today, and I'm sorting trash which I hope to throw away before my sister comes here to stay...

I live on the first floor, right there! Can you see it?

Okay...so I don't have anything exciting to say about my apartment...Sorry!

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That's it for now! I'm enjoying myself, working "hard" and dealing with stress the best way possible: eating lots and lots of chocolate. I will be in Tokyo this weekend, picking up my sister from the airport and hopefully seeing people I missed when I first arrived!

Later <3

First Post! (In Morioka...)

The first part of this post is from the night of the 28th, when we first arrived at Morioka:

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I have reached my [almost] final destination for the next two years of my life: Morioka City in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. The impression that I get from Morioka is that it is similar to Tokyo, just a lot smaller. Like how Chicago and Kansas City are similar....They're in the same country. HAH!

Our hotel is attached to the train station, so I suppose this is the center of town. There is a nice shopping mall attached to the train station as well, so I have a feeling I will be coming here often (I do adore looking at Japanese fashion...).

I flew into Tokyo on the 26th and was greeted by my wonderful Waseda-era host mother. She was already at the airport saying goodbye to the host daughter that came after me, so she was kind enough to wait for me and help me with my luggage. We arrived ‘home’ a little after 4 p.m. and I took the rest of the day easy. Dinner with the host family was nice, relaxed and the elder host-brother had no idea why I was in Japan, but just accepted it as a normal thing. He was very surprised to learn I would be here for two years. I don’t think he even knew I had graduated.

The next day I went to the Imperial Palace (the ‘gardens’ that is) and walked around in the terrible heat and humidity. I forgot how hard summers in Tokyo could be...The grounds around the palace (which I didn’t actually see...the palace, that is) were very nice. The landscaping was impeccable, there were some pretty flowers and even a cute little orchard. 

Imperial Gardens and Tokyo

   

citi bank looks so nice..

After that I went to Citi Bank, which happened to be right next to the subway station entrance and exchanged my traveler’s checks. I was afraid I would not have enough money for the Shinkansen ticket, but in the end I did...now I have copious amounts of yen, and I don’t know what to do with them (spend? save? Maybe I’ll save them. Maybe...). The teller gave me a hard time because my signature was not 100% the same as the original one, so I had to write it five more times! It was crazy. At least I was in the air conditioning. 

After that I walked through the subway station (otemachi station) all the way to Tokyo JR station (it was probably a fifteen minute walk) and took the yamanote to Ueno, where I walked around for a bit then decided to go home. The combination of heat and jet-lag really got to me so I just gave up. When I arrived at my home station, I went to my favorite conbini (7-Eleven) and bought a pack of mini-onigiri, peach jelly and some milk tea (yum). It was a good lunch, and after that I was so exhausted I stayed in bed until dinner.

Overall, I had a decent day in Tokyo. Unfortunately, most of my Waseda friends were in their home towns so I was unable to see them.

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So, that's what I wrote waaaay back when. 

Since then we have had a week of orientation (learned basics about the school system, went on a walking tour of Morioka's 'downtown', applied for the Alien Registration card, opened a bank account, got a cell phone, signed up for internet and even learned how to sort my trash! Speaking of which, I missed trash day on Thursday so I have a giant bag of trash--but that is irrelevant. 

This past week was our vacation week and I've spent it learning how to, among other things, ride a bike in Japan, and how to get to the three nearest grocery stores. I suppose it is the same in America, but in Japan it is common to go to different stores for different items. One store has special sales on Wednesdays, one store has cheaper rice, and another store sells cheaper, but still good quality, produce. That's not very interesting, but it's what I've learned.

I start work on Tuesday, so if I'm not super lazy, I will post again soon about work!

Until next time!

You know what I like ;)