Hashi faux pas alert!

I have been reading through the Japanese for JETs text book over the last week, and it has a lot of interesting cultural information, not to mention a pretty good explanation of a lot of Japanese grammar (at least as far as I can tell). Here is a quote from the book about dining etiquette:

"Most of the dining etiquette rules in Japan are associated with the usage of chopsticks. For instance, it is considered impolite to use 'hashi' for moving serving dishes around or skewering tasty morsels. Also, food should never be passed from 'hashi' to 'hashi' as this is how bones are passed at funerals. Another major faux pas is sticking 'hashi' straight up in a bowl of rice, again associated with the dead." (p 97, in case you are also a JET and want to find this passage for yourself)

Interesting, isn't it? Also useful for eating at Japanese restaurants in the US, so I thought I should share.

YIKES

Its still a little early in this whole process, but I got my General Information Handbook and other info in the mail this weekend. The handbook came with a DVD about what its like to be a JET which I have now watched. It answered some of my questions, but I am also incredibly nervous still!!! The JETs on the video were pretty varied: single, married, got married in the first year of the program; some in cities of more than 250,000, one in a city of 60,000, and one in a town of 4,000! The small town was beautiful, but rather small... I have been reading in the handbook about the different ways of life, and I think I would be best suited to one of the 60,000 cities or so. Not too big, not too small. I suppose anywhere will be a good experience, so I am not going to be picky. Of course, with my luck, I am going to end up in a super rural fishing village, and that would certainly be an interesting time.

What I now know from the video:
1. I need to focus on learning Japanese! Like, whoa. Example: ATMs are all in Japanese. As are the forms. And everything (it is Japan, after all)
2. I need to pack very carefully, because there will not be a lot of space in my apartment (though, they are rather reasonable, all things considered, or at least, the ones shown in the video were reasonable, even big)
3. In the end, this is going to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, I just have to calm down and enjoy it.
4. I am going to be working with wonderful people and wonderful students, and I will get a whole lot of teaching experience, and this is one of the main goals of this program, after all.
5. I also will get to (hopefully) be a part of something more than teaching. Actually change the community in some way, even if its small and just helping the students feel more confident about themselves. Little bit of cultural appreciation goes a long way, too.
6. I am silly, but I am VERY excited to get my Inkan, the personal seal that we get that is essentially an official signature. I love little things like that. hehe.