My first week in Japan

So, I've been in Maibara for over a month now, but I just got internet set up at home, so I figured it was about time to set up a blog. Not sure how much I'll use it though -- I'm usually pretty bad at updating this sort of thing. But I'll try.

I don't even know where to start... For now I guess I'll just go with the basics -- a month is a long time to try to catch up on. After a summer of gallivanting around Europe with my family and just 7 days back in the States (during which I hit 4 different states to visit friends), I landed in Japan on Sunday, July 26th. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday I spent in Tokyo for Orientation. It was really quite boring, but I got to meet a lot of cool JET peoples and stuff. Jet lag was present but not unbearable -- it gave me a good excuse to bow out of a couple boring sessions. I didn't have too much chance to explore Tokyo, but that's okay -- I'll be back soon enough.

On Wednesday we all departed for our respective prefectures. I took the shinkansen with my fellow new Shiga-ites to Otsu, the prefectural capital. At the Board of Education building there, we all met our new supervisors. We also all had to introduce ourselves to everyone. In Japanese. Luckily, we had a 2 hour train ride ahead of it to write our introductions and learn them.

After the welcome ceremony thing, we were all left to travel to our new homes with our supervisors. My supervisor drove me and my vice-principal (who'd also come to the meeting) to Maibara. The ride was okay, though a little awkward. My supervisor's English is very good. Kyoto-sensei's ("vice principal" in Japanese) is not. He tries really hard though, which I definitely appreciate.

Arriving in Maibara we went straight to my new apartment, where we were met by another English teacher, who showed me around and taught me how to use my appliances. She and I and another English teacher then went shopping and picked up a couple necessary items for my apartment (shampoo, conditioner, a knife... that kind of thing). Then we went out to dinner with most of the English department, including my predecessor (who was still around for the first week I was here). It was nice to meet everyone, but I was definitely ready for bed by the time we finished -- it was the first day that I hadn't taken an afternoon jet lag nap since arriving.

Thursday mainly consisted of me and my supervisor filling out forms -- getting me a bank account, paying my first month's rent, setting up direct debit for my utility bills, etc. Not very exciting.

Friday I was back down in Otsu for "survival orientation." They taught all us newcomers basic things like, how to use the trains, what to do for taxes, how to get a cell phone and internet, etc. Then we went out for a welcome party in Kyoto. That was a lot of fun. We hung out a bar for happy hour and then a bunch of us went to karaoke. It was great to see everyone again, even though it had only been one day that we'd been on our own.

Saturday and Sunday I didn't really do much -- just unpacked and moved things from my predecessor's apartment to mine. Yeah, because we overlapped by a week the school decided to move me into my own apartment. Which is great and all, but it meant that we had to move all her stuff that she wasn't taking with her (including 3 couches, a bed, TV, dresser, bookshelves, plus countless other random things) from her place to mine. Most of which we did without a car. In the insanely humid heat of the Japanese summer. That was fun.

Anyways, that was my first week in Japan! I think this post is longer than anyone will actually read, and not all that interesting, so I'll stop there. Hopefully next posts will be less boring. I may even add pictures!