Sunflower Soft Cream: Life in Japan on JET

I haven’t written here in awhile!  tbh I’ve been slacking.  Not on work but on blogging and doing anything really creative.  Or I guess I’ve been channeling my creative energy into lesson plans and activities.  There’s nothing left afterward, so I just watch K-dramas.  Such is the life.

But if anyone out there is following this tumblr (maybe some incoming JETs, helloooo thar!) then I figured I should write something and share a bit about life in the wilds of peach country.

So it’s almost almost ALMOST summer vacation.  I am. counting. down. the days.  I’ve got one full week left of school/actual classes, and then this weekend is a long weekend because Monday is 海の日 aka Ocean Day.  No plans for this weekend as of right now (if it doesn’t rain, I should work on weeding around my apartment) but I’m thinking of going to the mall and going to see a movie.

One thing I love doing here is going to a late show at the movies.  For one thing, there are way fewer people, especially if you go on a Friday night.  For another thing, it’s like 500 yen cheaper than a normal priced ticket.  I like just going by myself, getting some Cinemike popcorn and a drink and escaping for an hour or two.  It’s a nice thing to do when you want to do something but everyone is busy.

So my plans for summer are...work.  Not all the time.  I’m luck that my elementary schools don’t require me to come in during summer unless I need to get something done.  And my JHS don curr either, but I go in every so often and spend a few hours browsing the web or working on YETI stuff.  I’m on the council for our Yamanashi group.  It’s not AJET, just a general all-inclusive Yamanashi community.

We’re doing dinners for our new ‘nash arrivals for Group A and Group B during Tokyo orientation.  Then we’re getting one newbie ALT here in Hokuto, and my supervisor asked if I could go around with her to help with bank and cellphone and all of that stuff.  She speaks Japanese, so I know she’d be fine on her own but it’s kinda nice just having someone there who knows how things go.  Especially since our supervisor this year speaks ZERO English and kind of has a complex about it.

Then we have the BIGGEST fireworks festival this side of Tokyo in August called Ichikawadaimon Fireworks Festival.  We always claim a place so everyone will have an area to go to and won’t have to fend for themselves the day of the event.

Not only that but July 22nd starts the AKENO SUNFLOWER FESTIVAL!!!  I’m so excited cause it’s a full month where you can just go and take pictures of sunflowers and eat delicious sunflower ice cream and bask in the sun.  Akeno is where I teach.  IT’S MY PLACE.  So I’m quite fond of it.  Also, fair warning if anyone wants to come here for the sunflowers...we get the most sunlight in ALLL of Japan.

I also volunteered to do presentations at the JET Local Orientation about teaching at JHS and ES.  They’re throwing them both together and I’m like...erm...Cause elementary school is a completely different beast.  One that will melt your heart every day.  But I’ll do mah best, sir.

Your second year on JET can be very different than your first year.  Your first is all about adjustment and new things and experiences.  Then you decide one year is not enough, so you sign up for that second year, expecting lots of the same.  But it’s not always that way.  Here are some things I’ve noticed in the few months since I started my second year on JET. - I don’t take as many pictures as I used to.  I’ve never been a big picture taker unless I make it a goal to take pictures of things.  But I did take quite a few pictures during my first year of random things like a meal or something I saw at school.  But I haven’t taken as many I used to.  That actually makes me sad because there are lots of things I want to remember later. - School is much of the same as it was.  The Japanese education system doesn’t change and won’t change until they change it at the base level.  Some new teachers have good ideas for English education but the older teachers are stuck in their ways because it’s comfortable and what they’re used to.  The same could be said for the American education system as well. - The dynamics change within your JET and/or ALT groups.  Now that two people are gone and two more have taken their place, the dynamics have changed, as I’m sure they did when I came in.  It’s not a bad thing or a good thing, but it can cause cognitive dissonance.

- Things like knowing what to do for classes and planning and teaching are easier.  Things like when I plan to leave Japan or taxes or any adult things are much harder.

Your videos have brightened my days.  I absolutely love them and am cheering you on from halfway across the world.  I think you are an absolutely lovely person and some day I would love to talk with you about books and music and food and life and everything.

がんばって！ aka Keep doing your best!

I am actually trying to update this for people who want to read about JET stuff and life in Japan.  Cause things happen but I tend to just be like, “Oh yeah, this happened.”  And people are like, “Why didn’t you get pictures?!”  And I’m like, “Haha yeah, should have done that lolz.”

This time I got pics.

I went to Shizuoka on Saturday with my Wednesday ES teachers.  Let me tell you, they are a crazy bunch of people.  Well, half of them are.  Dubbed by the other half as “the young people.”  I’m included in “the young people.”  Also, apparently kouchou-sensei (instigator of all things sketchy) is also included in “the young people.”

We took a chartered bus from Yamanashi down to Shizuoka.  Immediately, I was made to sit in the back with “the young people” what I consider “the party section” of the bus.  They had arranged the seats so they faced each other and set a table in the middle filled with drinks and snacks.

Yeah, the day-drinking began around 8:00am.

Also, this is totally normal, people who are coming to Japan.  Japanese teachers like to get turnt on these kinds of trips cause it’s one of the few times they can just let loose.

I was made to drink a pear chu-hi at 8:00am.  It was a bad idea, stomach-wise.

We had fun, though.  The “older people” sat up front, mostly consisting of the older ladies that work at school.  I never realized half of my school is older ladies.

We played games on the way there and gambled a bit with 100 yen coins.  And people drank.  The school nurse who is apparently now my new BFF just kept drinking.  She was pretty wasted by the end of the day.  Also, did I mention we’re BFF’s now?  Cause that happened, apparently, lol.

So the whole day consisted of going to different places, eating a ridiculous amount of food, shopping, and just hanging out.  I’ll post some pics in a different entry for anyone who wants to see.  We made our own wasabi pickles at one point.  That was kind of fun, even though I hate wasabi.

Guys, I highly recommend going on trips like these with your teachers.  It’s such a fun way to see people outside of the school environment.  Especially if you’re like me and want to be friends with everyone, it’s a great way to make new BFF’s.  A lot of bonding goes on when you see people relax and when you relax.

For a day where I thought nothing would happen, so many things have been happening.  I’m just, you know, sitting here, being a lump and desk-warming and many things are happening.

- JTE scheduled my next “English Workshop” as the teachers have dubbed it.  It’s not a workshop.  It’s English talking time and practice.  I dubbed it A5 (えいご) Time.  The kids loved the name.  I totally stole it from another ALT.

September 21st!  I love that this is something I’ve started.

- The librarian came up to me and asked where she could get English books because a few kids are too shy to ask me.  I told her Kinokuniya has a good selection of English books in their store and online.  I’ve bought books from them before.  She wants to get English versions of books like Harry Potter.

Yaaaassss people.  SLAY.

- Today was day the YETi Council was supposed to have their welcome packet stuff done for the new JETs, but we all sort of forgot.  So I extended the deadline to Monday.  I hope the newbie JETs like it!

- JTE also gave me this year’s speeches for speech contest in October.  IT BEGINS.

- Kouchou-sensei asked me to participate in a panel discussion called “Japanese is Hard.”  They wanted some foreigners who speak Japanese, and I’m all, “Ahahaha, it’s funny how you think my Japanese is good.”  I can’t go that day, anyway, because it’s the day of Welcome Party for Yamanashi peeps, and I’m on Yamanashi Council and also will be collecting money, so I have to be there.  I can’t do Sunday, either, because a friend and I are going to see Ikuta Toma’s musical in Tokyo.

No way in heck am I missing that.