So, I've finally finished packing! It took longer than expected mostly because I was trying to avoid the 50 lb limit, and my large suitcase is now 49 lbs! I'm so glad that checked luggage gets transferred when one changes planes...
Anyway, my first flight tomorrow will take me to New York, then I'll fly straight from JFK to Narita airport in Tokyo. The second flight will take approximately 14 hours... ugh. The good news is that I'm often able to sleep on planes (and in cars when I'm not driving). I plan to play around with my new Nintendo 3DS as well since I recently acquired the Legend of Zelda game (the same one I played as a kid with my brother)! Also my laptop batteries last for a pretty long time so I'll probably watch a movie too.
Once I arrive at Narita I'll spend the night at a nearby hotel then the next morning I'll be heading north on a train and then transferring to the bullet train (or shinkansen in Japanese). After that I'll arrive in Sendai, the capital city of Miyagi, followed by a bus ride to my new town... I can tell already that I'm going to be exhausted. Hopefully the internet will be up and running at my apartment, but if not it may take a few days for my next post.
And so the journey begins!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Buying trinkets and gifts
In addition to the list of tedious things to do from last time, there are also a few fun things that I still want to buy before I leave including: stickers, toys, and teacher gifts.
Basically I was told by other JET participants that having a ton of stickers would be really useful during my classes since they don't take up a lot of space in my bags and it's a nice reward to give to the students! At first I was only looking for stickers with English words on them (it reminded me of my high school Spanish class where we'd get stickers saying "¡Fantástico!" and whatnot) but recently I've been picking out others with US cultural themes as well. Today I got a bunch of Halloween/holiday stickers, and others with Disney characters on them... oh America, I guess this is what I think of when I think of you... haha. I've also been buying other small toys and nick-knacks that can easily fit in my suitcase. I had a lot of fun at the dollar store buying things like shaped erasers, children's books, grow-your-own dinosaurs, plastic watches, a cute embroidery kit, a couple calendars, some Red Sox baseball themed items (I hope they get into the playoffs!), and candy. My boyfriend tells me that I'll be a popular teacher with all the toys I'm bringing... hopefully that will be the case!
In addition to the class-related items I'm bringing I'll also be buying some gifts for my fellow teachers over the next few days. Gift giving and receiving is an essential part of Japanese culture that is very structured. For example, on Valentine's Day in Japan girls give the boys they like (and boys they work with) chocolates, then on March 14th the boys are expected to reciprocate by giving the girls a white-colored gift in return (this Japanese holiday is known as White Day). Luckily as a foreigner I'm not expected to know/understand all the idiosyncrasies of gift giving and receiving but according to my official JET General Information Handbook it is polite to give small gifts to the people I will be working closely with and to my supervisors when I first start work. The gifts will preferably be things that represent the area I come from so I've been trying to think of Massachusetts or Boston-related gifts to bring. So far I've decided to look for maple syrup, dried cranberries, and maybe some saltwater taffy. I'll also be printing out some picturesque photos of my hometown to give as well.
In other news I had a lovely Skype conversation with Anne, the girl who is going to be my roommate in Japan. I had a lot of questions for her and she had a ton of advice to give and so we ended up talking for a good two hours; my brother was impressed that I was able to talk so much to someone I've never met. Anne studied a lot of Japanese in college, completed a year in the JET program a few years ago and now is back for round two! I think we may be the only JETs in all of Japan who are sharing an apartment, since the town's situation is very unique. But I think we'll get along well based on our conversation!
Basically I was told by other JET participants that having a ton of stickers would be really useful during my classes since they don't take up a lot of space in my bags and it's a nice reward to give to the students! At first I was only looking for stickers with English words on them (it reminded me of my high school Spanish class where we'd get stickers saying "¡Fantástico!" and whatnot) but recently I've been picking out others with US cultural themes as well. Today I got a bunch of Halloween/holiday stickers, and others with Disney characters on them... oh America, I guess this is what I think of when I think of you... haha. I've also been buying other small toys and nick-knacks that can easily fit in my suitcase. I had a lot of fun at the dollar store buying things like shaped erasers, children's books, grow-your-own dinosaurs, plastic watches, a cute embroidery kit, a couple calendars, some Red Sox baseball themed items (I hope they get into the playoffs!), and candy. My boyfriend tells me that I'll be a popular teacher with all the toys I'm bringing... hopefully that will be the case!
In addition to the class-related items I'm bringing I'll also be buying some gifts for my fellow teachers over the next few days. Gift giving and receiving is an essential part of Japanese culture that is very structured. For example, on Valentine's Day in Japan girls give the boys they like (and boys they work with) chocolates, then on March 14th the boys are expected to reciprocate by giving the girls a white-colored gift in return (this Japanese holiday is known as White Day). Luckily as a foreigner I'm not expected to know/understand all the idiosyncrasies of gift giving and receiving but according to my official JET General Information Handbook it is polite to give small gifts to the people I will be working closely with and to my supervisors when I first start work. The gifts will preferably be things that represent the area I come from so I've been trying to think of Massachusetts or Boston-related gifts to bring. So far I've decided to look for maple syrup, dried cranberries, and maybe some saltwater taffy. I'll also be printing out some picturesque photos of my hometown to give as well.
In other news I had a lovely Skype conversation with Anne, the girl who is going to be my roommate in Japan. I had a lot of questions for her and she had a ton of advice to give and so we ended up talking for a good two hours; my brother was impressed that I was able to talk so much to someone I've never met. Anne studied a lot of Japanese in college, completed a year in the JET program a few years ago and now is back for round two! I think we may be the only JETs in all of Japan who are sharing an apartment, since the town's situation is very unique. But I think we'll get along well based on our conversation!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
So much to do...
I still have quite a few small things to do before I leave on Tuesday:
So... all in all I'm in good shape for now!
- I have to decide which clothes and belongings I'm going to pack as the baggage restrictions are pretty tight for international flights (strangely though I'm allowed to bring more to Japan than I was allowed to bring to Australia when I studied abroad there during college - maybe because I'm using a different airline?).
- I'll need to check my electronic devices to make sure they are compatible with the Japanese power grid (the electrical outlets in Japan give out only 100 volts compared to the 120 volts seen in the US so I may need to purchase some adapters).
- I have to call my credit card company and inform them that I'll be living in Japan and to not freeze my account if they see a transaction in Japan.
- Once I'm at the airport I'll also have to call my cell phone provider and tell them to cancel my account. It's a little annoying that I'll have to get a new cell phone number once I'm back in the states but it would be more annoying to have to pay a fee for my account to be suspended (I think they would still have me pay for my iPhone's data plan too even though I wouldn't be using it... what a scam). So once I get to Japan I'll just use my iPhone as an iPod touch since it has some very useful dictionary apps on it.
So... all in all I'm in good shape for now!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
The countdown has begun!
Well, only 8 days left until I leave for Japan! I'm both excited and nervous about what awaits me there.
While in Japan I'll be working as an assistant English teacher as part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program. I'll be arriving in Tokyo on the 28th (long after the other JET participants who arrived in early August). The application process for the JET program was very rigorous; I first sent in my application in late November last year, then I was interviewed in Boston in February, and I was selected as an alternate candidate in April. But due to some good luck I was selected to fill a position which became vacant unexpectedly (thus my late arrival). I'll be working at a group of elementary and junior high schools in Miyagi prefecture in the north-east of Honshu (the largest island in the Japanese archipelago). This is an area that was heavily affected by the March 2011 tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
I don't expect it will be easy (especially at first) but I know I'll try my best because it will be well worth it in the end!
So basically I plan to write about things that take place before I leave and while I'm there. I'll include pictures and maybe even some video but since I'll be working in schools I won't be able to post photos of the kids I work with (you understand). I'd like more people to learn about Japanese language and culture so I'll probably include posts about those topics as well (I'm working as a teacher after all)! Anyway, my original reason for creating this blog is to document my travels and to make keeping in touch with my family easier (now I won't have to send virtually the same email to all my relatives, they can just read my blog!)
My final note for today is that I'll probably be using pseudonyms (fake names) for anyone I mention in this blog to protect their privacy, so don't worry you guys!
While in Japan I'll be working as an assistant English teacher as part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program. I'll be arriving in Tokyo on the 28th (long after the other JET participants who arrived in early August). The application process for the JET program was very rigorous; I first sent in my application in late November last year, then I was interviewed in Boston in February, and I was selected as an alternate candidate in April. But due to some good luck I was selected to fill a position which became vacant unexpectedly (thus my late arrival). I'll be working at a group of elementary and junior high schools in Miyagi prefecture in the north-east of Honshu (the largest island in the Japanese archipelago). This is an area that was heavily affected by the March 2011 tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
I don't expect it will be easy (especially at first) but I know I'll try my best because it will be well worth it in the end!
So basically I plan to write about things that take place before I leave and while I'm there. I'll include pictures and maybe even some video but since I'll be working in schools I won't be able to post photos of the kids I work with (you understand). I'd like more people to learn about Japanese language and culture so I'll probably include posts about those topics as well (I'm working as a teacher after all)! Anyway, my original reason for creating this blog is to document my travels and to make keeping in touch with my family easier (now I won't have to send virtually the same email to all my relatives, they can just read my blog!)
My final note for today is that I'll probably be using pseudonyms (fake names) for anyone I mention in this blog to protect their privacy, so don't worry you guys!
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