#jet program 2015

Soooooo it's been a while~ but I'm determined to start posting stuff starting today for realsies. Ok go! Today I woke up at 6am after a restless night of worrying about my introduction speech. I could already feel the nerves and awkwardness of fumbling through my words. Even though I practiced the heck out of my speech I knew it was going to be useless against my fear of public speaking~ anywho~ I got dressed and realized my suit was too big for me. I did a lot of stress eating my last semester of college at the time I purchased it...and it was already a little big at orientation, but I guess walking everywhere the last month has helped! Or not helped in this situation? Skirt too big, jacket too big~ oh well what could I do haha. So off to school I went. After my usual 20 min walk to the school of course I entered the staff room face flushed and sweating (nothing out of the ordinary lol). When I sat down at my desk my supervisor walked over and told me that the morning staff meeting would start in 5 minutes, so be prepared. Oh boy~ thankfully there was another new office worker who also needed to give an introduction speech, so I wasn't alone. However, her speech was only maybe 3 sentences long and bam done. I looked at my 10 sentence scribbled notes and kicked myself for not being simple! Why Marissa??? Why didn't you just make a short and sweet speech like her??? Needless to say I survived my speech. It went exactly like I thought it would haha. I'll leave it at that haha. For the next 20 minutes I sat at my desk sulking a little (even though everyone said I did a great job) and reading over what I was going to say for my student speech. Some of the teachers suggested that I should speak Japanese, but my supervisor had been telling me since day one that I should keep my Japanese ability a secret from the students (otherwise the students won't use English if they know I can understand Japanese a little). While I totally understand why it's a good idea, but at the same time I still wanted use Japanese haha. End the end I told my supervisor I would read off a written script so the students could see that my speech was rehearsed. First English and then the Japanese Translation. Moving on~ was taken by my supervisor to the gym. On the way I told him how nervous I was and to make me laugh he just kept telling me ~ "well there are maybe a thousand students you will have to stand in front of~ and they will all be looking at you, so do your best" lol so mean! (jk I love my supervisor!) After a short introduction, I followed my principal up on the stage and stood next to him as he introduced me. Once he was done I gave my speech. All I can say is that i was so nervous that I didn't even need to pretend to read my script because I literally held onto it for dear life and read it line by line, word by word--- I couldn't even recite the English version without reading what I wrote down. Oh lord. I got so many laughs from my supervisor... The rest of the day I worked on my self introduction presentation. It was fun to see all the teachers in the staff room at the same time, but everyone was also really busy~ its going to be like this from now on :c I just want to buy everyone cake and tell them they are the best teachers ever!! I realized that I also won't be able to talk to my supervisor often like we usually do everyday... Kind of makes me sad~ but I wish him luck! We got to chat after his classes were over though. The conversation started with him looking at my presentation >> more info about my school >> who paid for my school >> what I want to do after I'm done with jet (I answered that I want to do something with international or Asian studies) >> how did I get into Japanese culture>> And this is how the conversation went in a nutshell: Me: I don't want to tell you, it's a secret Him: why not, you should just tell me. Me: when I was little I started watching anime shows . Him: oh that's not bad, a lot of foreigners become interested In Japan because of anime. Me: I know, and a lot of Japanese people just see them as Otaku. Him: well maybe... So do you want to buy anime things? Me: of course I do! I want to buy everything!! I have to control myself otherwise I will spend all my money. Him: oh I see, now I know your true self. Your true self is an Otaku. Me: Are you judging me right now? Him: *laughs* everyone is going to know you are an otaku. Me: NOOOOOOOOO Dx don't say that!!! I know it's inevitable though.... Anyways...yeah... so that was my first day of school! Haha ~until next time!

I have to start preparing my introduction speeches for my two high schools, as the second term starts in just a few short weeks....so, seeing as how all us new JETs are still getting acquainted here, I thought I would write a brief post about myself for this blog as well. My name is Amanda, and I recently (as in three days ago) moved to Karuizawa-machi in Nagano Prefecture. Nagano is extremely mountainous and covered in thick forest, and Karuizawa is kinda nestled in the center of a mountain range right on the western corner of the western block of Nagano. So.....very very west. Pretty much the most west you can get.  I originally came from a small town in norther Idaho that was right on the Washington border. There are a lot of wheatfields in my area, so I’m more used to that than the giant trees, but growing up around the Washington area most of my life I’ve come to love mountainous areas. I was extremely pleased when I learned I was placed in Nagano Prefecture, as I knew it was a lovely and relaxing place. I mean, where I’m placed, Karuizawa, is like a retreat for people living in Tokyo who want to escape the heat and all the people for a little while.  I came to Japan through the JET Program, and I will be teaching two senior high schools, 1st and 2nd year. One of my schools is in Saku, just a train ride away, so if anyone lives in that area, hit me up! Ueda and Nagano City are also very close to me, so once I get settled I may try to go there for some day trips to see y’all placed in the big city, or just to get used to the trains.  So yeah. I realize I’ve already made quite a few JET posts, so getting to know me probably won’t be difficult. If anyone has any questions about the JET Program, high school education, or really anything, feel free to hit me up.