Hi again. Not as long of a gap as I thought. Apparently I am super lucky, and they got my internet set up very quickly. I have a cell phone now, too, so I am pretty much good. After a few rough days/nights, here I am, all set up. FYI, this will be a long-ish entry, so be ready.
Soooo, Iiyama is pretty Inaka (that's rural) and its really beautiful here. We left Tokyo at 8:30am on Wednesday and we stopped a few times in Nagano to let people off (the people way in the south of the prefecture) The bus made its last stop in Nagano City at 2:30, and I was met by Sakaguchi-san (my supervisor) and Krissy (starting her second year as a JET in Iiyama). It was nice to have both of them there, because Sakaguchi-san does not speak much English. Actually, it seems that my Japanese overlaps perfectly with her English (meaning, very basic, numbers, greetings, etc) so we are pretty much unable to communicate without someone to translate. I was able to tell her this morning that the mountains are beautiful, but that is the extent of our conversations. Oh, she asked me if I had enough groceries for dinner, and I said yes. haha, so I still have a LONG way to go with the whole Japanese thing.
Right after I got here, we went to City Hall where I met the mayor. That was great, I had been on a bus all day, my suit was wrinkled, I was sweating up a storm, and they took me to meet the mayor. He was nice, though, so it was fine. Apparently his Japanese is hard to understand, even for the native people here, and his English was pretty much non existent.
I also met most of the people from the Board of Education, and they all stood up and bowed to me, and then clapped after my very choppy self-intro in Japanese. I did the very most basic introduction, and they all applauded like I had just delivered a huge, important speech. Very funny, and then I felt sort of silly because I knew the intro was awful. Oh well. I guess there is this idea that if you are white, you cannot speak any Japanese, so if you say anything, you get these expressions "ah, sugoi!" "jouzu!" "Yoku dekimashita!" All of those essentially mean, "Wow, great job!"
After that, I applied for my "gaijin" card, aka foreigner card, and that was fine. I needed passport pictures, so we went to this little shop and the lady there had the biggest camera I have ever seen. Ever, in my life. Big flash, and then she pulls out a hairdryer and blows on the print to develop it.
We then went to my apartment (after switching to a bigger car to accommodate my HUGE bags) and Krissy and Sakaguchi-san helped me lug my bags up the steps into my apartment. I also made my first faux-pas when I walked into my apartment without taking my shoes off. Whoops, here I was, trying to get out of the way so we could get the suitcases into the apartment, and then I hear the gasp of surprise, and Krissy tells me to take my shoes off. Live and learn, I guess. She said not to worry about it, cause it's my apartment and I can sort of do what I want, but at the same time, I am in Japan, so a little change of habit is good too. I know now.
Pretty much the rest of Wednesday was taking me to the grocery store and applying to get my internet set up. I had to get internet with a local company, so I do not know if there were cheaper choices, and I really do not know what I signed up for. I have internet now, so whatever. If it gets too expensive, then I will go back and figure it out.
So next day, Krissy came and we ran some basic errands. I got a set of shelves which I built (yay, me!) The directions were in Japanese with pictures, so it was fun to figure out. And I got some other things for the apartment. I did not need much cause my pred left me a lot. Some people get to their apartments and have to buy everything. I do mean everything, as nothing is included with apartments in japan. You have to get light fixtures, appliances, everything. So I just needed one power strip, the shelves, and some command hooks. Krissy took me to Beishe, which is like walmart. They have food, clothes, and the electronics, toys, everything!! It was overwhelming and fun at the same time. I will go back and take some pictures when I am not so jetlagged. I will also need to go back to the 100 yen store, because they have SO much that you can get! 100 yen is about a dollar, by the way, but the quality is much higher. For lunch I had soba, which were fantastic. These were the cold ones that you dip in this other sauce and then eat. You are supposed to slurp, and you pretty much have to to get them all in your mouth. Silly gaijin that I am, I was trying to eat all politely, until the chef who makes the noodles came over and asked Krissy if she could slurp. Apparently the people here can eat the whole plate of noodles in like 5 very slurpy chopstick bites. It took me a half hour to eat it all. Practice makes perfect, so I will just have to keep trying.
Today, Sakaguchi-san came and got me at 9ish and took me to a junior high school to meet some teachers. I was not at my junior high school, so it was funny to meet people that I will not actually be working with. I have some training with them in a few weeks, but they are not the JTEs at my school. They did take me to my school, but there are hardly any teachers there! My school will be in session starting August 24th, and I will get to do an introduction for the whole school at that point. A little scared for that, but everyone is so nice, so it should be ok. I will just keep practicing it so I can be ready and not fumble over my words. They would like some of the introduction to be in Japanese. The teachers I met today spoke great English, so it was fine. They just talked to me a little and showed me around. The best part of the day was going to Kappa Sushi for lunch. It's a sushi chain in Japan, and it was so fun! Check my pictures, but they have these conveyor belts that take sushi from the kitchen around the whole restaurant, and you just reach up and grab what you want. OR, if you cannot find what you want, you order specifically on the little touch screen and then this cute little train comes by and stops right in front of you with a plate of what you ordered. It is also cheap, especially compared to sushi in the US. They also had these amazing desserts, so I had chocolate mousse. Pretty fantastic.
After lunch, I went with Alaina (the CIR) and Sakaguchi-san to get my bank account set up and get a keitai (cell phone). That took the rest of the day, because the bank took about an hour, and the keitai even longer. They brought out iced tea for us, which was SO nice. I cannot believe the service here, with no tips, I might add. They greet you when you come in the door and they are just nice and helpful all the time. Anyway, here I am, in my apartment, with a bank account, internet and a keitai.
I suppose I should point out that all is not fantastic, like this post seems. I have had some rough nights. It is SO hot here, and there is no way to cool down. Some stores have AC (aircon as it is called here) but not all, and not my apartment, the BOE or the schools. In honesty, I have woken up twice now and had to run to the bathroom to throw up a little from being overheated. TMI, I am sure, but I might as well share the negative as well as the positive. I am drinking a lot of water, but seeing as I am pretty much constantly sweating bullets, it is just not enough. I honestly have spent a good amount of time just sitting here in front of my fan. Last night it rained (Stormed, really) so that helped with temperature, but I could not open the windows because the rain was blowing sideways and came into the apartment. I have also had some of the classic homesickness, which was not helped by the fact that I was completely alone in an apartment in a foreign country with NO WAY to contact anyone. Probably two of the hardest nights of my life just sitting here alone, but it is a lot better now. THANK GOD I have internet and such now, because most JETs take longer to get any sort of connected-ness. I am very lucky, and I know it.
Tomorrow, I may be brave enough to venture out of my apartment on my own. I am so afraid of getting lost, and I know I will not be able to ask anyone how to get back to my apartment, so I just do not leave the apartment unless there is someone outside to pick me up. Yes, it is sad, but I have no idea how to get orientated here, so I am just afraid. I am not allowed to drive yet (no insurance) so I get to bike or walk for the next week or so. Good for the body, but, again, in the heat, perhaps not the most enjoyable. There is also a BBQ in Suzaka (I think an hour away) so Jo (the old CIR), Alaina (the new CIR) and I are going to go. Jo will drive, and I will ask her lots of my questions too, while she is around. She has been here for three years, so she will probably know a lot of the answers I need.
Still with me? I did warn that this would be a long post. Also, I have just typed this and I did not proofread or anything, so forgive any major typos or sentences that make zero sense. I will go back later and fix. Don't forget to check my pictures, cause I just posted some from Iiyama and from the bus ride. Captions will come later, too.
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