DC Orientation 7/31/09

So after about 3 straight days of packing in Rock Hill (one of which was approximately 14 hours long), donating 3 trash bags of clothes to Schoolhouse Exchange/Goodwill/Cassie, donating a pile of assorted other belongings to Goodwill, and trashing/packing the rest...I filled my car to the brim and headed to Roanoke, where I dropped off some of my stuff for storage, then drove to MD where I spent another day and a half rearranging and getting rid of more stuff, only to have a suitcase that is slightly overweight, and another that is so jammed full of stuff it's probably going to explode, a humungo-purse that weighs a million pounds that may or may not count as my carry-on on the bus, and a miracle called "I'm actually able to bring my guitar as a carry-on".

^Run-on sentence? Yes. Accurate verbal representation of the way I've felt for the past few days? Absolutely.

July 31:

Woke up at 6am. Actually a little before as my mom decided to come wake me up about quarter of 6. Not that it mattered, seeing as how I didn't really sleep anyway, on account of stress due to packing, leaving friends, leaving my house, leaving my car, leaving my life as I've known it for the past 2 years at least. Showered, got ready in my businessy, 'real people job' attire, went to metro station, sent MM a text declaring 'No me gusta jobs that require me to wake up at 6am', got to station, went to Starbucks, met MM, exchanged money, cleaned out Currency Exchange of all yen, orientation.

Orientation was actually very informative. Since my interview site was in DC and I lived in South Carolina, I was unable to make most of the Q&A sessions and other useful JET events. We talked about cultural etiquette, culture shock, luggage, lesson plans, drugs are bad, JET alumni associations, getting involved, and got our plane tickets. It actually made me not stress out so much about things. Up until orientation, I really felt like I had no information. My predecessor really wasn't very helpful from that standpoint...it was mostly like pulling teeth trying to figure things out. Unless I wanted to know the location of the nearest McDonald's and important things like that (see pictures from previous blog). I had gotten in touch with the other ALT I work with, and he was able to tell me some thiebgs, but overall both of them just seemed kind of busy and not overly excited about their jobs, which kind of worried me. But after today, and talking with JETs from previous years, and actually getting answers and finding out what it's like to be a JET, I think I feel a lot better about it. The main message I got from many of the ALTs was that the experience is really what you make of it. I hope I'm able to get involved and have fun with my students so they don't hate me. They are high schoolers which means they're probably dramatic. I want to find clubs and whatnot that I can be involved in. If there is no Ultimate Frisbee I'm probably going to try to get that started. Best game ever.

Basically, I feel better. Although I kinda want the 12+ hour flight to be over. And I kinda don't want to wake up at 6 again, but I guess I have to. On one hand, I can't stand not knowing what's going to happen, but it's pretty cool knowing the next time I go to bed, I'll be in Tokyo:)

Picture of Area near school

It's up to you！～輝く未来を手に入れる～

Apparently this is the slogan ^ :)

More interesting finds on the website as well... some newsletter type things. This is the site that has all the newsletters... they are under the links in partial English--->
http://www.hyogo-c.ed.jp/~tomogaoka-hs/241%20suisinbu/suisinbu-top-frame.htm

The link at the bottom in the middle of the page is my favorite... it has pictures and introductions by the ALT that I'm replacing , Carla, and another ALT named Andrew, who I'll be working with. :)

Picture of Suma Tomogaoka

From the Website.... something about June 20-21, 2008... who knows... but it's a pic of the outside of the school!

http://www.hyogo-c.ed.jp/~tomogaoka-hs/161%20topikus/2008nendo/tomokosai2008/tomokosai2008-frame.htm

My School

This is the website of the school where I'll be teaching... it's all in Japanese but there are pictures and it's cool :)

http://www.hyogo-c.ed.jp/~tomogaoka-hs/

It's coming............

So I've recently realized that I am, in fact, actually going to Japan. It's not something that I just randomly talk about to take my mind off Cheesecake Factory. No. I'm really going. For real. Crazy.
I'm actually very grateful to have my wifey, MM, coming with me. The last time I was in Japan when I studied abroad, I more or less went by myself. Of course I went to school with people and made friends and whatnot, but there's something to be said for having a person that you already know to share your experience with. It will definitely be nice to know that I can call her whenever and stuff like that, which sounds kinda dumb, but if you've ever lived for an extended period of time in another time zone you should understand. I'm not one to need company for everything necessarily, but this is quite a large change in my life, and having a bit of consistency I think will make it a bit easier.
So now that the day draws closer, and the majority of the paperwork is finished, I, the eternal procrastinator, need to start getting serious about the daunting task of packing. I've been working on it in bits and pieces for awhile, as I understood awhile ago that my classic move of "let's pack the night before" or my favorite "let's pack at 4:30am the morning of my 1:00pm flight that I have to drive 8 hours to catch", will probably not fly on this occasion. Luckily, my friend Cassie is moving into my house and is in need of furniture and vacuums and whatnot, and so I won't have to move every last little thing out, which is awesome. Because I have a lot of stuff. It's quite the no bueno.
By the way, if anyone needs a piano or various Swarovski knick knacks, let me know:)
Other things I need to get in order:
-omiyage (gifts to give to coworkers, neighbors, etc.). Also, pictures and whatnot to show my classes about my life. Apparently I have to do a lot of self-introduction so I'll probably be working on that on the plane.
-boxes to ship winter stuff, Herbie my stuffed moose (who is definitely coming with me), possibly my guitar, and some art supplies
-buy some businessy clothes. Not too many, Japan has awesome fashion and I'm looking forward to buying stuff there, but I'm a server and have absolutely no business appropriate attire so I need a base. Especially pants, as I am a giant cow in Japan and none of the pants will fit me. And shoes, as I have clown feet ::shout out to my parents for that one :) ::
-pick up currency I ordered from the bank.
-buy a computer... which I actually did a few days ago. (Thank you, Barnes-again-for selling me the wrong one. It was quite the happy accident:)) A computer is uber necessary for keeping in touch.
-boring stuff: sell my car, cancel things like insurance, cell phone, et. al.
Quite the list, really. It doesn't look like it, but I promise you, it is.

Fotografias de mi casa!

Happy day! My predecessor sent me pictures of my apartment and nearby stuff.
Estan aqui---->

What would Jay-pan be without McDonalds a.k.a. "Makudo" :)

Nearby shopping center.

Yay fridge and microwave!

Yay, blender next to computer:) I can drink while blogging...

I have a bed! Exciting to know I don't have to sleep on the floor everyday for the next year or so.... :)

Jay-pan's getting closer... pretty crazy.

In addition to my pictures, I also got info about the classes I'll be teaching. Apparently I'll be teaching 14 classes a week, with 9 different teachers, ranging from the US equivalent to 10th grade through 12th. That's a lot of kids names to learn. No bueno. I'm excited though because from what I read, I'll actually be doing a lot of the teaching and not just being an English speaking tape-recorder... although apparently some of that is involved, but not a lot so its cool:)

Also, my rent is only $200. I can't get over how ridiculously awesome that is.

My Address!!!

I got my address in Japan!
Everybody send me ranch, buffalo sauce, and postcards of love!

501-103, 2-2 minami ochiai
Suma-ku, Kobe-shi
Hyogo-ken 654-0153
Japan

Kobe!!

3 weeks and Counting!

I leave August 1, 10:05am from Reagan Airport in DC, short layover in Chicago, and I'm off to Japan, where I will spend the next year...or two or three... being an assistant English language teacher at Sumatomogaoka High School in Kobe, Japan.

My BFF and Official Facebook wifey, Mary Margaret aka MM, will be going too, but sadly she will be on another island. Luckily, MM discovered a ferry we can take back and forth so that I can go surfing at her fantastic little beach apartment, and she can come hang out and eat Kobe cows. Although the last time I was there, I didn't see any cows so ::shrugs:: we'll see.

I'm pretty excited as well that I will be decently close to Osaka, where I studied abroad in 2006. My host family, the Takas, live there. It will be fun to see my little brother Reize. He was only 3 when I was with them so he must be getting big by now:)

While I'm excited to go, I've lately developed a bit of anxiety about the whole thing. Not necessarily the being in Japan part- been there, done that. But I've got a LOT of stuff to get rid of and ship home... and inevitably right before I sell my car, it decides to get run into by a trailer hitch on a truck, and belts start squeaking, the little plastic thing on the gear shift is popping out and making my life complicated every time I want to reverse the car. I pretty much hate cars and can't wait til I don't have one anymore. Just a bunch of little stuff.

Also, I'm not quite sure how I'll survive without my Cheesecake Factory family, and Sunday Funday and Half-Off Wednesdays at Fairview. It'll be okay, and I know it, but it's going to be a lot harder leaving this time. This time, I'm not lame and spending all my time with a stupid boyfriend, so I actually have friends to leave behind. No bueno. For the record, I love all you CCFers. Even Jeff Brown and his Matrix will be missed at some point. Not too much. But a little.