#eottokeamba

My first full day after arriving in my prefecture was busy! I was required to go to school for the full day, whereas other teachers were off and could spend their time unpacking and organizing their home. But, I didn’t mind going to school because I was able to do important things that needed to get done like get a bank account and a cell phone.

But before all that, I will first start with the most downright disappointing part of my foray into my new life…..my apartment! I wasn’t told much about my apartment before arriving, and although I got some pictures I always keep in mind that things look different in person. So I did not have much expectations of where I was living….and still I was disappointed! In short my apartment is the bottom half of an old house (which is fine). But, it was filled with things that my predecessor neglected to throw out. There was no room to unpack any of my own things because all the space was already filled up….with junk! Other than the unnecessary items (most of which I threw out) I was told that they found out after my predecessor left that the microwave was broken and the floor was damaged. The hard wood floor is flaking off so it’s very possible to get splinters if you don’t wear slipper inside. Both of these problems were not reported to the school beforehand, so the school learned of them when I did. 

Luckily the microwave and toaster oven had been replaced by the school, and my landlady generously agreed to change the floor with no cost to myself! Hopefully sometime next week the floor will be changed. In addition there is lots of mold in my apartment…..honestly Japan is very humid so mold is a normal occurrence….but I also think my predecessor did not clean very well or very often (his facial hair clippings was still all over the bathroom sink and vanity…gross!). Even though I’ve already spent a whole weekend cleaning and throwing out, it’s safe to say I still have a lot of cleaning ahead of me before I can truly call the apartment my own. After the floor is changed I will upload a virtual tour so you all can get a good idea of where I live and homes in Japan.

Next comes the bad. After setting up my bank account (which had no problems) we headed over to get a cellphone. It’s almost a law for foreign teachers to have a phone in an emergency. The school and government need some way to get in touch with us in case of a natural disaster. Most people just bring an unlocked phone to Japan and use that with a sim card. But, my phone is too old to be used with the new sim cards, so I needed to get a new phone. I picked out my phone and plan, but when the time to pay came I’m told since I don’t have a Japanese bank card they can’t let me leave with the phone. I had gone to the bank before and set up my account so I had my bankbook, but they would not accept this fact and demanded my credit card. Or to wait for my bank card and get the phone a month later. In the end we had to go all the way back to my apartment because I didn’t bring my Canadian credit card with me, and then back to the phone store to to pay for my phone. I also have to go back at some point with my bank card to change the main method of payment…..gah!

On a more pleasant note I also had some very good moments in my first week of Japan! All my co-workers are very nice, helpful, and speak reasonably good English. My school looks amazing and the students I’ve met so far have been really nice and speak to me in English! (If you don’t know anything about my previous students in Korea this is a huge deal for me!!!!!). I also had the pleasure of going to dinner with a couple of my female co-workers, and being invited for dinner at a new friend’s house. I met this new friend through Facebook because she was very excited that we were both living in Ritto city. Apparently, I am the only JET teacher living in Ritto and one of the only foreign people. So my new friend who’s living in Japan with her Japanese husband is super excited that I’m living like 10 minutes away by walking! We had a great dinner together and I was really happy to have someone close by to hang out with. The dinner with my co-workers was equally difficult and enjoyable. They spoke Japanese almost the whole time, so the translating part of my brain was working in overdrive even though I know minimal Japanese. It was nice to get to know the co-workers around me and see them in a different setting. We made plans in the future to go eat Korean BBQ!

 To sum up, my first week in Japan has been hectic but I would not trade it for anything! I’m happy to finally be here and starting my new adventure in Japan. I will try to regularly keep in touch.

 Sayonara!

(Goodbye!)

P.S. Thus ends my volumed saga :)

Once we got to Otsu we headed to the Board of Education to prepare for the ceremony. To be professional, we were told to bring a formal suit that we would change into once at the BOE. Once we were finished changing, we had to line up and sit in our designated seats in front of our school representatives. There were about 16 of us foreign people, and each school brought 2-3 people. So as you can imagine the room was full with teachers and people from the BOE. Nervously, one by one, we each got up and said our introduction. Honestly I was so worried that I would forget all the Japanese I memorized, and would speak Korean instinctively that I have no memory of that moment. I remember standing up and sitting back down, but not what I said at all! It seems like I did well though because I wasn’t glared at by my school reps. The people from our schools also had to do their introduction.It was then that I realized the people from my school were actually one of my coworkers and my PRINCIPAL!!!! It was after my speech, but I automatically felt nervous again. After our turn at introductions my principal was totally unimpressed and was not paying attention to any of the other introductions. In fact he looked like he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, which was made true when as soon as the ceremony ended he booked it out of the room. He asked me where my bags were, and hardly waited for the door to be unlocked before grabbing my 25 pound suitcase and hefted it over his shoulder with one hand! Like what the heck!

He literally ran out of that building like a bat out of hell and left my coworker and I struggling to catch up with him. Just to let you know my principal is a short and slim older man who I later learned was 59! After that we went straight to school so I could do my introductions to everyone who was at school. I also met the vice principal who actually sits only a couple desks away from mine. At this time I was hoping to be brought to my apartment so I could start unpacking before having to be back at school the next day. Was I so lucky?........no. We then left school and made our way to city hall where I needed to register as a resident, and set up my water. After a long paper process I was finally able to go to my apartment…..only so that the gas man could come and set up my gas.

Afterwards we were on our way to greet my landlady and change the name on the apartment from my predecessor. Finally we were done and I was able to go back to the apartment, but then I was invited out for dinner with a couple of the teachers. Unfortunately I had to decline because by this time I hadn’t eaten or drank anything since 11 am and it was already 6:30 pm. I was dehydrated, tired, and feeling nauseous. So I decided to head to the grocery store for some drinks before crashing at 8:00.

 Thus ended my third full day in japan.

Thus starts Volume 3 of my first week in Japan!

Now I’m a pretty social person, most people who know me (or my family) know this, but there are limits even I have. And 2 days of endless meetings, pretending to be friendly and interested, and general small talk while dealing with jet lag, is my limit! The last thing you want to do when in a foreign country for the first time is having to go to class and learn, but that was what I had to do for my first few days in Japan. We had a 3 day orientation, 2 days of seminars and 1 day of travel to our prefectures.

****Note: Instead of provinces Japan has prefectures. Prefectures include places like Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Nagasaki,and Shiga. Of course there are many prefectures and I just named some of them.****

 Back to orientation day 1~ the first day started bright and early with a few welcome speeches and introduction to Japan. To be honest I don’t really remember most of the first day because it was a whole lot of sitting while being talked at. The worst part of the day was lunch which was a measly bowl of pasta and soup that was expected to hold us until the welcome reception at night. The welcome reception was nice, because they split us up by prefectures so you were able to meet the people who would be in your area from places around the world (including Trinidad!!). The food was good, and although I experienced some  stomach problems, it was a nice and early night. The next day was filled with workshops in which we were divided by school level. So being a senior high school teacher I was not able to be with my friends who taught in elementary or junior high school. Although I had already been teaching for 2 years, I was still able to pick up some activities that might be useful in the classroom. At the end of day 2 was the most important meeting in my mind…..finally we met with the people from our prefecture that would help us travel there. The 3 people who came were super helpful, amazing, and ended up becoming very familiar faces to us now. They work in the Shiga board of education, and they are our contacts if we need help with school or life.  

 ****Another note: by this time I have mentioned ‘Shiga’ quite a bit. This is because I live in Shiga prefecture in a small town called Ritto. So from Tokyo I had to travel to Shiga which is around 2 1/2 hours away by bullet train*******

Anyways, during the meeting we learned that we will be leaving the hotel at 7:00 am sharp to grab a bus that goes to Tokyo train station. From there we would take the bullet train to Kyoto station, and then the local train line a couple stops to Otsu the main city of Shiga. At Otsu we will be meeting with our supervisors in a ceremony in which we will have to introduce ourselves in front of everyone in JAPANESE!! Many of you are thinking…..but Amba, you already know Korean, how hard can Japanese be? Let me tell you that I know basically zero Japanese, and have come here with the faith that my brain will not fail me and I’ll be able to pick up Japanese as quickly as I did Korean. So for me, this ceremony was a major event that I needed to do my best, so that I could impress my school representatives who were coming to the meeting. Therefore, in between pulling my luggage, trying not to get lost from the group, and transferring train lines I was busy memorizing my Japanese introduction.

Forget small talk people…..leave me alone so I can memorize and practice in peace!!

Welcome to Volume 2 of my new adventure!

While on the plane to Canada I felt a strange sense of calm with a massive desire to just get out of my blasted uncomfortable plane chair. I’m going to gloss over the frustration I suffered at the hands of Air Canada, but I will tell you that I have never been so frustrated on a plane before!!! But the happiness of seeing my family far overcompensated for that!　I spent a glorious 2 weeks with my family and friends; camping, eating, movie marathoning, and overall hugging before I had to face the very real reality of having to go back to Asia. 

The day before departure we (JET participants) had to go to Toronto to get more information about the next day and pick up our passports+ visa. But we also had to stick around for a couple of unnecessary hours to mingle and hear speeches. Don’t they know that the one thing you don’t want to be doing before leaving to live abroad is mingling with random strangers? Also everyone already seemed to be besties, and I was the poor person who was late to the party (and thus didn’t know anyone) while everyone else was already on ‘facebookfriendsletstakeaselfietogether’ status. So I sat with a random person who ended up becoming a really good friend, because we both had not been to any other the previous events which allowed these people to become such good friends (sorry if I have a life and can’t get to Toronto every week :p ). Funny thing is this girl and I ended up sticking together for the trip to Japan and our first 3 days in Tokyo for orientation……… LONERS UNITE!!!

After the pre-departure meeting, I had my last dinner with my family before completely repacking my 2 suitcases and heading to bed. We got up bright and early the next morning to go to the airport 3 hours before departure at 2:00 pm. The reason for going so early was because the JET participants were all travelling in a group and so we were all sitting together. As a group booking they booked our seats but did not tell us where we were siting. If you wanted a change of seat you had to go early and change it at the counter. In hindsight, it actually didn’t make sense to go as early as we did because I had got the aisle seat that I wanted! Mom, Dad, and I just chilled for an hour or so before I finally went through the gate and started my journey to…………….Tim Hortons!

 I really wanted timbits for the plane, and decided to line up for the Tim Hortons in terminal 1. If anyone knows where I’m talking about they would know that this Timmies always has a line and they’re bloody slow. I waited for 45 mins before I was actually close enough to realize that they didn’t have any timbits in the first place! It was too late for me at that point though, so I made up for it by buying 2 doughnuts and calling it quits. The following flight was very smooth and other than the guy sitting at the window who kept making us all get up so he could check on his carry-on in the overhead (like seriously dude you bag isn’t going anywhere…sit back down), and the general loudness from people not understanding that they are on a freaking airplane!

Once in Narita airport drama started to happen. Apparently we were going to make our residence cards at immigration. But immigration was not prepared to take our pictures and do this for us. So after a lot of shuffling, multiple lines, and confusion finally we had our residence cards and could make our way to the bus. On the way to the bus were a helpful line of volunteers in turquoise shirts that lined our path like bread crumbs, so that we wouldn’t get lost on our way through the airport. Finally leaving the airport felt like opening the magic wardrobe in Narnia…..and heading off on an amazing adventure in a mystical land. :p

 But before battling a fire queen (yes its ridiculously hot here) and saving the world (hey we’re teachers) we had to deal with our heavy as hell luggage. At the bus we were able to hand off our heavy luggage to be shipped to our schools while we had our small carry-ons and backpacks. It took almost 2 hours to drive to our hotel and so once I got there I was firmly against any and all moving transportation for a while!

Later I was able to relax in the hotel room I shared with 2 other girls after we went to find dinner in the surrounding area. My 2 roommates were nice and also from Toronto (we all actually sat in the same row on the airplane, just different seats!)  

And so ended my last day in Canada and my first night in Japan.

Hello minna-san!

 This is my first post about my past couple of weeks and the big move I made to Japan.

This will be a multi-part saga of my recent adventures.

 Volume 1: The End of a Chapter

 I had applied to the JET PROGRAMME (don’t ask me why it has to be in all caps) in Oct 2015. The process takes almost a year and is super competitive! I passed the application section in January, did the interview in February, and was notified of my acceptance into the programme in early April. After passing the interview I had a lot of documents to send to Canada, background checks, and medical checks to do before I was placed on the list of final acceptees. The only major problem I had was how to break it to my school that I would be leaving my contract a month early. Why do you need to leave early you ask? It’s because the programme is super anal about having things done in Canada, so even though I was living in Korea (only an hour away by plane) I had to come back to Canada to leave with the other Toronto JETs.  

 It’s safe to say that notifying my break in contract did not go well. Due to inexperienced handling and too early notification, my principal became angry, work stress increased, and petty actions were made towards me. Eventually most of that drama was resolved, but my principal continued to be (for lack of a better word) butthurt about not having 1 out of 2 native English teachers for only 1 month (insert rolling eyes here). We eventually found a teacher to replace me and so everything was going smoothly, BUT I was lacking important information from Japan.

I still did not know any information about where I was working or living in Japan!!!! So as you can imagine many plans were put on hold until I found out that information, which FINALLY happened on July 6th!!!  If you don’t understand why I was freaking out so much, let me illuminate you. I had to leave Korea on July 17 so that I could come back to Canada to hand in my passport for my Japanese visa to be attached. This means when I finally found out about where I’ll be living and teaching in Japan I only had a week and a half to gather my stuff together (mentally and physically). I was planning to mail a couple boxes to Japan but couldn’t pack them without an address. A week and a half of major stress and back pain later I was on the plane to Canada! My Korean soul mate sent me off with a smile and a wave, as I closed one of the most rewarding and difficult chapters in my life.

 I don’t regret going to Korea or staying 2 years. I’m happy with the progress I made in Korea and the things I leaned about myself. More than a career finding trip this was my soul searching adventure that surprised, saddened, and elated me turn after turn. I had precious experiences while being challenged every day. But even at my lowest moments I found strength in my friends and family who supported me through the distance and the busyness of their own lives. My 2 years in Korea have made me a much better person and I’m thankful to my coworkers, students, friends, random people, and Korea for that.

 Now it’s time to start my new adventure in Japan, the country of the rising sun!

This is the final update of my 3 post saga!

After the heartache,  I had to deal with the headache of moving to a new apartment. Thinking about this still makes me angry and frustrated! I obviously knew I had to move before I left on vacation to Canada....and being the organized and slightly anxious person I am I wanted plans to be in place before I left. But as fate would have it, all of my organization was matched with an equally unorganized person on the other end. You see I was taking over the apartment from the person I replaced. And legally they had to be out of the apartment by September 1st allowing me to move in and start working on the same day. Now if you are dealing with a flexible school or flexible person who is leaving they might leave earlier or allow you to move in earlier. What happened to me was that I didn’t know when I could move in until it was very close to my actual moving date. I had contacted the teacher I was replacing MULTIPLE times and though MULTIPLE ways but she just did not respond. Until I couldn’t wait any longer and booked a moving company for a day she said would be okay. Luckily when she finally did reply only 5 days before I was supposed to move she said the booked day and time was okay and she would be there. The problem is I was only allowed to drop my stuff because she needed to stay in the apartment one more night before her flight back to the States. At the time it was fine with me because I needed to go back to my town for my last day at work. Everything was settled....until a BOMB was dropped in my lap.

In a different unrelated call with my landlord about a lamp in my apartment, he told us that my lease is actually finished on August 30th, and someone was coming in that day to move in. Meaning that I could not stay the night before my last day of school like planed. So basically I had to move all my stuff on August 30th and not come back. This was a huge shock because now I suddenly had nowhere to stay. Normally the procedure is that the school whose contract the teacher is under is responsible for finding  accommodation for me in this situation (this is my past school not my new school). The usual thing is to be put up in a hotel for the night....but for some reason my past school would not do that for me. Instead they asked if I could stay with a friend. I told them no....that it was in my contract for the school to take care of it. I was getting mixed signals because some teachers said it would be okay for a hotel....others said I would stay with my department head (a nice teacher who I know and like). Turns out my co-teacher made arrangements for my to stay with a different co-worker who had never even talked to.....talk about uncomfortable!

Eventually I decided to just stay with my friend because I didn’t want to go through the hassle of making small talk to a complete stranger. I was sick and tired of all the jerking around that was happening to me. I didn’t understand why this was suddenly happening until I realised I was in the middle of a hidden power struggle between my dept head and supervisor.

On my actual moving day my supervisor co-teacher came to help out, and I was grateful for her help. BUT the moving truck came late because they double booked and my landlord wanted me to pay for water damage that happened with the past tenant. Although he knew the damage happened with the previous tenant he misunderstood, and thought he would ask for payment when the school’s contact was up. I was not impressed....there was NO WAY he was making me pay for past damage! (luckily in the end I didn’t have to...SAFE!). After those hiccups the moving process was pretty smooth and I was able to move everything within a few hours because my moving guy was a PRO! I crashed at my friends house after, I was absolutely exhausted and I knew my life was just going to get even busier.

Needless to say those last couple days were long, frustrating, and hella stressful.

This is the second part of my super long update. 

I had to deal with the heartache of leaving my school. For those who aren’t aware the high school that I worked at was the first teaching job I ever had (in Korea and outside). So although it was a rough school and not the best situation living wise, I am very attached to my students and fellow teachers. Safe to say that it was an emotional parting.

 I had told my students before the break that I was leaving our school but I don’t think it really sank in until my last week. After coming back from Canada I taught my last week totally jet lagged, but it was important to me because that was my last time teaching each class (I had 17 classes which I saw only once a week). By the time my week was finished I had said my final goodbye to my students and took pictures with all of them.

 On my last day I only stayed for 2 hours before I had to go to my new school to meet the principal and sign my teaching contract. During those 2 hours I gave my co-teachers gifts I made for them and letters I wrote expressing my sad and thankful thoughts, took pictures with my co-workers, met and hugged some of my students, received letters from my students and a gift of lovely face products from my co-workers. I almost cried and broke down a little on the bus to my new school. I’m so very thankful for the wonderful co-workers I had and the experience at my old school.

Pictures of my students and staff!

Hello everyone!

It has been a busy past few months for me and it feels like everything is now settling in. So if you’re curious about what I have been up to I will very briefly tell you about what I have dealt with while I was tumblr dead :P

1) I went on vacation to my home country Canada! I had a great time back home and was able to see friends and family while having mini vacations within my 3 week adventure in Canadaland. Now that I have experienced flying from Korea to Canada twice, the jet lag that comes from that long loooong flight is ridiculous. It took me basically 2 weeks to get used to the time difference and by the time I was able to do things and not be sick or sleepy it was time for me to go back home....which then took me another 2 weeks to get used to being back in Korea. But, while I was home I didn’t let jet lag stop me and went camping 2 days after I landed, went on vacation to Cuba a week after I arrived, and had multiple places to go which included a wedding. I was constantly busy...so much so that it didn’t seem like a vacation at all. However, I loved every minute of being home because I was able to recharge on the good energy that home, friends, and family have. I was sad to come back to Korea but I knew that I had responsibilities and a new job waiting for me, so while I went with a heavy heart I knew I would be seeing everyone again soon.

I’m going to split this update up into a trilogy (it’s just too much word vomit to have in one post).

Up next- Update Part 2- The Heartache!