#jet orientation

We were greeted by our PAs and once everyone had arrived, we made our way down to the tiny bus that was taking us up to the capital of Ibaraki, Mito, where we would meet our supervisors and then make our way to our respective cities. The drive up to Mito took roughly 1 and a half hours, and we had the chance to work on welcoming speeches (in Japanese) and to ask the PAs any questions…it was also a good chance to talk to the other group B JETs.

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Once we go to Mito, we went to the Prefecture Office and had enough time to see the view from the top floor, before making our way down to the room where our welcoming ceremony was to take place. The ceremony involved speeches from representatives of the prefecture and the education board (BOE). We then one by one were introduced to our supervisor and took a seat next to them. Finally, one by one, we were presented with our official contract and certificate from the head of the BOE.

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Initially I was quite confused when I was greeted by a man at my welcoming ceremony. From my understanding,　my supervisor was a woman….however the man was accompanied by a woman…but when introduced at the ceremony, the man was the one who got up and shook my hand. Long story short, the woman is my supervisor…Ms. H…she’s also an English teacher at my base school…unfortunately her English level is not too advanced…but she’s always willing to try and help. The man with her is another English teacher at my base school…his English is also not too advanced….but they kindly took me to lunch and drove me all the way back to Yuki where we went to my base school.

The heat was absolutely sweltering…particularly in the full suit attire I was wearing. I was pleased to make it to the base school where I put on some indoor slippers they lent me, and I met several staff members (thankfully in the air conditioned staff room). I was also pleased to see my luggage had safely made it to my school. Everyone was super friendly and welcoming too.

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After meeting various members of staff, we made our way to the town hall so that I could be registered with the city. This was a rather lengthy process which unfortunately meant missing out on going to the bank to sign up for an account as we ran out of time…but I was pleased to be making my way to my new apartment after we were down at city hall.

Upon arriving at the apartment, we were greeted by another English teacher from my base school,　Ms. I. I was relived to discover that her English ability was more advanced (she had also been my predecessors supervisor) and she was able to answer any questions I had, as well as show me around my apartment. Everything was going well until she asked if I had the “gift money” for the landlord. In Japan, its customary to give a rather large sum of money to a landlord when you first move into an apartment…I was aware of this practice but had already asked my predecessor about it and she informed me neither herself or her predecessor paid anything as they were only taking over an existing contract. Ms. I informed me that my predecessor did infact pay gift money, and that she must of forgotten as she was quite overwhelmed when she had first arrived…but I found it odd that my predecessor would have forgotten paying roughly $600 in gift money on top of her first rent payment…fortunately we weren’t meeting the landlord until tomorrow and I had the chance to speak to my predecessor about it…who agreed, that she would of remembered spending that amount of money. Long story short, my amazing predecessor spoke over the phone to Ms. I who was able to find the receipt from last year that proved that my pred had only paid roughly $100 in contract fees. So Ms.I spoke to the real estate agent who claimed  he had made a mistake (I found that hard to believe) but all was sorted and I signed my apartment contract. And as you may remember from previous posts…my rent is rather high…so I was VERY pleased to have that sorted.

With day one down. I made a quick visit to the supermarket with Ms.H and Ms.I before settling into my apartment, unpacking and calling it a night as I had a early start the next morning to get my bank account and school admin sorted.

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Orientation is mostly made up of welcoming ceremonies, guest speakers, panels and workshops. The idea is to give us a crash course on what to expect for the next year with our  life in Japan, both work and otherwise.  While they offer a wealth of different information…the key take away really is – ESID…every situation is different.　While most of the information is stuff we’ve  heard a 1000 times before, it’s still very worthwhile going to all of orientation to mentally prepare for what’s to come (plus they made us sign an attendance card for each part….whether they check them or not I’m not sure…but still, it’s worth attending…that’s why we’re there). There’s still plenty of time to see parts of Tokyo in the evenings too, and most stores are open till about 10pm…so it’s not all bad.

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On the 2nd night in Tokyo we had our official welcoming ceremony from the JET programme. We had the opportunity to meet other group B JETs going to our area as well as being treated to a amazing buffet…somehow both Jackie and I (the other NZ JET going to Ibaraki) weren’t able to find any other Ibaraki JETs (we had been placed at the same table as the Fukushima JETs and there were ALOT of them) so we just hung out together for a bit and then found a group of other NZ JETs who were keen to head out to the shops in Shinjuku. Mostly Uniqlo.

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I was very pleased to see that I can just fit into western brands they have in Japan…particularly as it has become clear that I do not have enough summer clothes for work…. the 85% humidity has meant I would probably get heat stroke if I wore half the clothes I had planned to…plus there’s no way in hell you would wear the same outfit 2 days in a row…it’s just far too hot to be able to get away with it.

At the end of the 2nd day of orientation, we met up with our respective prefecture advisers for information on our transport plans to our designated placements. This was the first time we properly got to see all the Ibaraki group B JETs in a  the room together. In our group we have a mix of NZ/Canadian/American and one Scottish JET. Cassie, our PA and a CIR in Mito, told us we would be busing up to Mito at 8:30am the following morning and to bring our luggage down now in preparation…so off we went too sort our luggage….turns out all 800 other JETs were pretty much told the same thing about the luggage, so getting the elevators back to our rooms was a blast.

On the 3rd and final night in Tokyo, the New Zealand JETs were invited to a reception at the NZ embassy in Shibuya. This was our first opportunity to meet other new NZ JETs from the Wellington embassy and Christchurch consulate. A group of us thankfully opted for taking a taxi (the embassy is up a massive hill from Shibuya station) and we were greeted  by a representative from the ministry of education and the ministry of tourism. It was a really great way to finish off the orientation…admittedly most JETs stayed in their clicks…but still, it was good to have most of us all in the same room to celebrate being Kiwi.

One again, a group of us headed out to shop…but this time in Shibuya. We came across H&M and I was over the moon to find a pair of pants for 500￥ ($5.80 NZD). After the crowds and heat got to us, we decided to go in search of food and found this amazing traditional Japanese restaurant, seiza style (sitting on the floor). Thankfully Phoebe speaks excellent Japanese and was able to help the other 6 of us navigate the menu…it definitely motivated me to work on my Japanese.

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We finished up at the restaurant at about 10:30pm,  and decided to make our way back to the hotel via train for our early start the next day…more to come soon!!

Let me start from the beginning…

Friday night I had a small dinner event with close family and friends. My beautiful, amazing friends got me this wonderful necklace which I haven’t stop wearing since receiving it. It features patron saint of travelers Saint Christopher,  I absolutely adore it and it couldn’t be more perfect! I received a  truly touching card from another friend, and also had a friend fly all the way up from Christchurch to say goodbye. It was a fantastic send off from all the amazing people in my life, and THANK YOU if you’re reading this!! I’m going to miss them all like crazy.

  On Saturday morning I made last minute  changes(typical) to my baggage due to weight issues (also typical). But I managed to get everything sussed and underweight and was on route to the Auckland based hotel for pre departure orientation.

The hotel we stayed at for pre-departure orientation was fantastic and definitely not a bad way to kick off the big day for the move to Japan. We had an afternoon of workshops and guest speakers and then rounded things off with a farewell reception in the evening. I also had the opportunity to catch up with mum after the reception and say a proper goodbye which was really nice (as she had been in Palmerston North and I’d only had given a brief goodbye earlier in the day before her flight).

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In the morning we were given a 4:30am wakeup call and had an hour to get up, get ready, check out and be down at reception for the bus to take us to the airport.

Checking in at the airport was pretty manic and numerous people encountered issues checking in on the machines, but in the end we all got through and to the lounge in time. It was also the first time meeting the Christchurch and Wellington JETs… They had flown up a day earlier and stayed at airport hotels while the Auckland JETs had their pre-departure orientation.

The flight itself went ok. 11.5 hours all up and through a mixture of napping, eating and watching various episodes of TV shows, I was able to get through it. We left at 8:30am NZ time and arrived at 16:30pm Tokyo time.

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After a long stroll through Tokyo airport to customs, we were greeted by two airport staff holding JET signs who directed us to the line for immigration. When getting into the line we were greeted by the Toronto JETs who had just arrived before us. While it was great meeting other JETs, there was no air conditioning in the immigration line and it was HOT to say the least. The longest hour wait ever. But once we got through immigration, we got our foreign residence card, collected our luggage and headed out to the buses for our 90 minute ride to Tokyo. We were nearly there!!!

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After finally after our commute into Tokyo, we were warmly welcomed by the beautiful Keio Plaza Hotel.

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  After settling into our hotel rooms (3 people to a room) most of us headed out in search of sightseeing and food. Conveniently, our hotel is located right downtown in Shinjuku….so the sights and sounds (and food options) were endless. After much stumbling about, our group decided on a local eatery which required us to order on a touchscreen tablet… and miraculously, we were able to work it out and get our 0rders.

It has been non stop for the past day, and there’s so much more to update on..but I’ll leave that for another time when my brain isn’t so fried and confused…but all in all, it was a brilliant first night in Japan!!

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