Week 1

I have SO much to update, I apologize in advance for the length. :)

Let's begin at the beginning and work our way forwards, shall we?

Saturday/Sunday
SFO to Narita (Tokyo) flight on Japan Airlines. Fun things about the plane ride:
-Sitting next to Jenny (Sendai ALT* - SUPER nice!) and Takahiro (random Japanese business man who unfortunately for him, had the isle seat, but put up with us, and turned out to be really cool)
-Annoyingly numerous bathroom breaks
-Chatting with the people at the back of the plane while stretching (Jeff & Co)
- Playing with the cool remote and headrest tv
-Bird’s Eye View Cam
-Flight Tracking
-Bzz the Bee/ Invasion games (turn the remote sideways, and it's a controller!)
-JAL Disney Channel (3-D Winnie the Pooh)
-Japanese movie about fat cats
-Spiderman 3
-Ice cream sandwiches for mid-flight snack!!!! (rock hard though)
-Salmon pasta dinner that smelled like Egg McMuffin
-The flight attendants’ wore cute aprons

We finally arrived in Tokyo around 3pm, totally exhausted, and had to shuffle through nearly endless immigration and customs lines. Once outside, we had to ship the bags we weren't taking to orientation. Unfortunately, I misunderstood the luggage allowance for orientation, and had an extra bag (backpack), so I hastily repacked/rearranged things on the curb so I would only have one (bulging) bag. We boarded the chartered buses to the hotel (~5pm?), which at rush hour, took 2+ hours. While on the bus, I sadly discovered I had left my ipod on the plane!! But being so exhausted, I had no energy to freak out, and decided to deal with it later. At the hotel, I dropped off my bags, and decided I needed to find food. Since I was separated from Chris, Vanessa, and Ryuta (fellow Cal ALTs) at the airport, I intended to just find the nearest convenience store and grab a snack and head to bed. Luckily, when I got down to the lobby, Chris, Vanessa, and Ryuta were there! So we all went out to eat in Shinjuku (I had curry rice, yum!). We came back to the hotel to regroup and iron clothes for the next day, then went back out to a cafe and took a stroll. After a full 24hr day, I finally got to sleep.

Monday
Tokyo Orientation!! The morning assemblies were okay, and we got to meet the other people going to our prefectures. I got to talking to this girl (Maggie) from Boston who's heading to a town south of me. She's really cool and we hit it off right away. Other noteables were John, from Portland, and a big red-headed guy named Phil from Manchester, Eng. During the lunch break, I talked to some people of the orientation leaders about my ipod, and they agreed to try to track it down. (Success! I found out when I went back later I just had to call a number and arrange to have it shipped to me. Gotta love Japanese honesty.) The afternoon was scheduled for workshops, but since I went to a bunch of orientations in SF and the sessions are geared to people who know NOTHING about Japan, I'd either heard about them all or didn't need to. Instead, Sally R. (friend from Berkeley doing a summer class in Tokyo) met me in the lobby (yay!!!) and we went out with Chris to wander Shinjuku. Oh, while I was waiting for her, I was wandering around, and this really cute little girl (maybe 4) came up to me (with her mom in tow), and said in impressive English, "Where are you from?" so I told her America, and she said, "May I take a picture with you?" I knelt down and her mom took a picture of us, and I told her, "eigo ha jouzu desu ne!" (your English is really good!). Her mom was a little surprised that I spoke Japanese, but smiled asked my name. It was such a cute, positive experience for my first day in Japan. :D Anyway, while we shopped, I was able to buy a new wallet (need one to fit Japanese money!), and we had a good time. Back at the hotel, I changed back into nice clothes and went to the Welcome Party. It was SO crowded, it was nearly impossible to find anyone, and the food was gone in like 5min. I left a little early, changed, and met my prefecture people in the lobby. As a group, our prefectural advisor guy took us to a karaoke place and we rented a room for 2 hours. Nothing like belting out ridiculous songs to really bond a group. :) Afterwards, we went out for dessert and chatted for a bit, then headed to bed.

Tuesday
Morning workshops on teaching and lesson planning that were surprisingly useful. There were more workshops in the afternoon, but like the day before, redundant for me. Instead, I got some hands-on Japan experience. I navigated the trains to Sally's school (or the station near it)! I was really nervous, but, after asking two random people for a little help, I managed to make it on the right train, and felt pretty proud of myself. I was all excited that my Japanese skills were coming in handy. That is, until I was on the train and they made all the announcements in English as well as Japanese. Slightly less exciting, but whatever. :) I met Sally, and we hopped back on the train to meet Azusa, Annie, and Yuki (Annie's friend) - all Berkeley friends in Japan for various reasons. We had lunch at an Italian place that was surprisingly delicious! After lunch, we headed back to the hotel because I had a mandatory meeting, so the girls waited at a cafe for me to finish. We met up again, this time with Chris, Vanessa, Ryuta, and Lisa (who's studying abroad with Annie). We stood around the lobby for a about a half hour trying to decide what to do/where to eat, etc, and it was getting kind of late. Sally and Azu had to leave soon because their commutes would take at least an hour. So, we decided I would go with Sally to her grandparents' place to spend the night, and off we went (leaving the big group to wander in indecisiveness and STARVE... well, not really). When we made it to Sally's town, we got food and headed home where I met her grandparents. They were SUPER nice and friendly, so that was very pleasant. Eventually we went downstairs so Sally could do homework and I could read US Weekly (leftover from the plane ride!). I know a lot of people went out and partied like crazy that night, but I think, in the end, our comfortable quiet night beat them all. :)

Wednesday
After a pre-departure breakfast with Vanessa, I gathered my stuff, checked out, and met my prefecture people. We took a bus to Haneda Airport (the domestic airport), and I spent the hour teaching Maggie (from Boston) some key Japanese words/kanji. She's nervous because she doesn't know ANY Japanese, but she picks up really quickly, so I'm sure she'll be fine. Anyway, we had a little lunch at the airport and boarded the hour flight to Akita City. Maggie and I sat together and checked out the beautiful scenery from above. :) We arrived, and I was really nervous! While we were in Tokyo, I was still with my friends, and it just felt like we were on vacation... but vacation time was over! When I got my luggage, I went out to find three people holding a sign that said "Welcome to Mitane, Katherine!" It was my supervisor, Makino-san, a woman who translates for us when we go to elementary schools, Sato-san, and the other ALT in my town Stephen. They were really nice, and I was soon at ease. Though, once they figured out I could understand most of what they said in Japanese, they gave up using English all together (well, except Stephen, though his Japanese is waaay good - he's been here 4 years!). It was like 2pm, and after the hour drive to Mitane, we ran endless errands (I don't even remember anymore, but I know it included stopping by the BOE to meet everyone and see where I'll work), and finally had dinner with someone from the office. Everyone was really great, but by the end of dinner, my brain was so tired from Japanese overload, flying, running errands, I just wanted to go home. And then, I did. :D My house is really, really nice. I will post pictures and describe more later. So, I unpacked EVERYTHING, which took around 2 hours, made my bed, and went to sleep!

Thursday
Another day of running around. Sato-san picked me up from my house at 8:30, and we went to the BOE office where I signed my contract and various other items. I also got to look through all the notes and such my predecessor left me - numerous and helpful! Then we headed out to the bank, the tax office, the Alien Registration Card office, etc. We stopped for lunch and I ate this dish I'm not sure how to describe, but it was good! Towards the end of the day Makino-san took Stephen and I to pick up my car, and Stephen rode shotgun for my first drive in Japan. It wasn't too bad, I just followed Makino-san's car back to my house, but I arrived alive, so we'll count it as a success. Honestly, the driving on the left isn't too weird, I just have to pay a little more attention to where I am in the lane. The really confusing part is that the turn signals and windshield wiper controls are switched!!! So the turn signals are on the right! Needless to say, I turned on the windshield wipers a lot. :) Safe at home, I finally got a chance to relax a little (and start this blog). I don't have any real food here because I haven't gone to the grocery store yet, but I found a thing of instant noodles Clare (predecessor) left behind, so I made that for dinner. The funny thing is, being in the land of instant noodles, oddly enough, the package she had was from Britain! Anyway, at 6:30, Christy and Corey (my ALT "big buddies" or sempai) came to pick me up, and Corey rode with me (driving, part 2) to their Japanese class 2omin away. They're both really friendly, and the class was kind of fun. It was rather informal, and I ended up just sitting and having a conversation with one of the volunteers. Good practice, but again, today I'm Japanese'd out. One step at a time, I suppose.

Ta-da! All caught up! Now I'm going to go to bed. This weekend I will write about my house, town and other discoveries about Japan, as well as post pictures on my photo blog, so check back soon! Hopefully, this weekend things will slow down and settle in.

Wish you were here!

*ALT = Assistant Language Teacher (aka my title)