Last night was a lot of fun, but very intimidating as well. The school hosted a going away party for Naomi, the teacher I am replacing. I went, and met a lot of her students plus a lot of students in the school. One woman and I got into a small argument about which okonomiyaki is better, Hiroshima or Osaka, so we decided she would just make both, and I’d eat them. I wish she was one of my students, but she is taking classes with the JET (Japanese English Teacher, not to be confused with the JET program). There was one kid at the party who was drinking like crazy, so we got into talking about alcohol and I recommended he get a long island iced tea, because they were delicious, so he did and then I asked how old he was… 17. I was like, oh! Well then. I didn’t take the drink away from him, but I should have, because 10 minutes later he knocked over his glass and it broke, leaving me with a small glass shard in my hand from trying to clean it up (it’s out now, but it was a pain, literally). Being there last night really really made me excited for my week of teaching. Now I know a lot of them and their English level, so I’m not too worried about creating stellar lesson plans, just worried about remembering names. Today I am going to get my alien registration card and then to the school to use the internet, hopefully. THEN maybe on to get a cell phone, because life would be so much easier with one of those. I could at least e-mail with it. But anyway, time to get ready, so until then.
Naomi, our student Yoshiyuki who broke the glass, and me
Kawachinagano school teachers! And a student.
Ok, I am back from a very long day of running errands. Let's start with the beginning of the day when my coworker volunteered to take me to the city office to get my alien registration card because it was near his house. His name is Pat and he's from West Virginia. So anyway, I met him at the station, after spending 200 yen on a ticket, and it turned out, it was the wrong city office! Soooo we were in the middle of the application when the lady said, um you're in the wrong place, bye. So he took me back to the station, and was like, "well have fun going to the right place. I'm on my bike so I can't go with you" He thankfully gave me the 200 yen for the train ride, or I would have been super angry. BUT No, just a little. I went and applied myself and everything was fine.
Then, I went to the school in Kawachinagano to see my manager and use the internet to tell everyone I was alive. I succeeded thankfully. I then gave my manager a list of everything I wanted to do, and she was like, "ok I'm not busy" so we went and tried to get my cell phone, but I can't until I have some paper from the city office or my registration card. Then we got a hanko made, the stamp-signature thing Japanese people use. I'll take a picture of my hanko when I get it back on Wednesday. THEN we tried to apply for a bank account, but I needed my hanko first.... ugh. Too many restrictions. Luckily my manager got my internet working and my hot water turned on. SO All was not lost. Then we tried to buy a chair for my apartment because it was included in the apartment checklist, just not included in my apartment.... we couldn't find anything for under 3000 yen (roughly 30 bucks) so I said I would find one later, and I did! I found a fuzy chair for 4000 yen, so a pretty comfy chair for 10 bucks, not bad.
I start classes tomorrow, and I am kinda nervous because Naomi, the teacher who is leaving, basically told me all of her students are scared to have a male teacher, and the parents are worried I'm going to molest their kids. I was like, oh... well then. So, I'm sure it's going to be a long week.
Ok, I am back from a very long day of running errands. Let's start with the beginning of the day when my coworker volunteered to take me to the city office to get my alien registration card because it was near his house. His name is Pat and he's from West Virginia. So anyway, I met him at the station, after spending 200 yen on a ticket, and it turned out, it was the wrong city office! Soooo we were in the middle of the application when the lady said, um you're in the wrong place, bye. So he took me back to the station, and was like, "well have fun going to the right place. I'm on my bike so I can't go with you" He thankfully gave me the 200 yen for the train ride, or I would have been super angry. BUT No, just a little. I went and applied myself and everything was fine.
Then, I went to the school in Kawachinagano to see my manager and use the internet to tell everyone I was alive. I succeeded thankfully. I then gave my manager a list of everything I wanted to do, and she was like, "ok I'm not busy" so we went and tried to get my cell phone, but I can't until I have some paper from the city office or my registration card. Then we got a hanko made, the stamp-signature thing Japanese people use. I'll take a picture of my hanko when I get it back on Wednesday. THEN we tried to apply for a bank account, but I needed my hanko first.... ugh. Too many restrictions. Luckily my manager got my internet working and my hot water turned on. SO All was not lost. Then we tried to buy a chair for my apartment because it was included in the apartment checklist, just not included in my apartment.... we couldn't find anything for under 3000 yen (roughly 30 bucks) so I said I would find one later, and I did! I found a fuzy chair for 4000 yen, so a pretty comfy chair for 10 bucks, not bad.
I start classes tomorrow, and I am kinda nervous because Naomi, the teacher who is leaving, basically told me all of her students are scared to have a male teacher, and the parents are worried I'm going to molest their kids. I was like, oh... well then. So, I'm sure it's going to be a long week.
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