The First Few Weeks

Note: These are writings from the last couple of weeks without internet for Jeri. Enjoy!


(here is a picture of the road I ride my bike down to get to school)

August 3rd, 11

I’ve made it to Kuriyama.

I am pretty sure that yesterday was one of the most stressful days of my life.

Tokyo Orientation was comfortable. It was familiar. I was surrounded by other foreigners doing the same thing as me. I was in a hotel. I heard only English. I was in a big city, where there were many English signs and other foreigners. I was living in a hotel.

Needless to say, it is quite the opposite here. There is no English in my town. There are no other foreigners in my town, other than the two ALTs I haven’t met yet. Most of my fellow teachers don’t speak English. It is so overwhelming. Yesterday I broke down in tears when I realized that this was my real life. I’m over it, though. I’m ready to integrate into society.

It will probably be a while before I post this, as there is no internet at my apartment right now. Today, the office administrator is going to take me to get a bank account, a cell phone, and internet. He doesn’t speak any English either. This should be fun.

Soon, I’ll post some pictures of my apartment, my town, and my Tokyo orientation, but for now I have enough to deal with just trying to figure out how to sort my garbage. They gave me a 30 page book, all in Japanese, regarding the garbage system. I have NO idea what it means. I am going to have to ask someone. Apparently they get really really angry if you do it wrong, and it’s really strict. Eep!

Chat again soon, promise!

xoxo

Jeri

(side note from today: here is a picture of the view on my way to school. I swear this photo doesn't do it justice)


August 7th, 11

I’m feeling much much better.

3 things happened that contributed to this:

My supervisor invited me to lunch with another teacher the other day. We went to an onigiri restaurant in the middle of nowhere, and it was great to connect with my fellow teachers in a less formal setting. We chatted about the other teachers, and they introduced me to new and exciting foods. I ate a mushroom onigiri and a sour plum one. Unfortunately I forget the Japanese names, but they were both super impressed that I tried the sour plum. Score one for Jeri! It was so cool, feeling like I’d started to integrate into another culture, experiencing things I’d never experience as a tourist.

I got to meet one of the ALTs in the town that teaches at the junior high and has been here for a while. It was nice to see that I wasn’t the only foreigner in the city (instead, I’m one of 3!), and she gave me some great advice about settling in and the next few weeks from another ALT’s perspective, so that was really great

I took my new bike out for a spin today! I drove around downtown, past the supermarket and circled back around the entire town. I went into the 100 yen shop to buy a couple of bags, and a young man approached me absolutely fascinated by the fact that I didn’t look like him. He followed me around the store for a little bit, then came up to me and said “ nani-jin desu ka?” (I think. I’m probably wrong. My Japanese is obviously still quite rough but basically he asked where I was from). And, get this, I managed to reply with “Kanada-jin desu”!! I answered a question in a conversation with a stranger in Japanese! GO JERI! I realize that there is obviously a long way to go, but I was pretty pleased with myself.

So yep. Starting to feel a bit more comfy. Still no internet. Still a little bit unsure of what to do with all my free time. Still a little bit scared to go outside by myself. I think I am going to make dinner today for the first time! Real dinner! I was going to yesterday, but then I realized I didn’t have a frying pan. So today I bought one.

Tomorrow I have to go to the school all by myself. I’m going to work on my self introduction. Use powerpoint. Lots of pictures. Info about Canada. Should be wonderful!

Chat more later, lovelies!

xoxo,

Jeri