So I have finally reached Ichinohe. I got here yesterday. Takes about an hour and a half from Morioka. I am going to be down there every other weekend. Morioka is the capital of my prefecture Ichinohe. We got there by Shinkansen (bullet train) on Wednesday. I have a post to put up about that but it's on my laptop and I'm on the office computer, so I can't get it up until Monday the earliest. Last night, Alex and Dan, my two JET neighbours took me to the "mall" . There's a library over there and a grocery store, home goods, fruits, etc. I picked up some groceries and went home. Watched some Japanese tv (lol-very useful), cooked spaghetti and some horrible Osaka sausage that I am really beginning to think is made of some strange meat other than cow. I started to unpack and then I went to bed.
We left for work this morning at like 8.10 . It's only about 10 minutes walk. We have nothing to do today so I'm practicing my writing Japanese and making lesson plans. We're going to go home for lunch. Maybe I'll bring my laptop up after lunch and work from that.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Out on the town
Today we had workshops specific to our teaching level. I went to a Junior High School one and it was pretty informative. Then I went to an Independent Japanese learnign workshop which was conducted by my TOA, and which I found interesting. That was followed by my prefectural meetign where I met my PA, and the Japanese PA who'll be taking the train with us. I also got my itinerary. I have to be in Morioka til Thursday. Ack! I really want to get home and relax. Well I guess I need to meet the people who pay the bills. Afeter that the final workshop I went to was Managing Expectations. Didn't teach me a whole lot I didn't alredy know but the handout may come in handy.
Tonight we had an "embassy" night. Well, actually Barbados is administered by the British Embassy because we don't have our own and normally we just got to their night and half the stuff is not applicable. So instead the Trinidadian TOA organised a night out for us with some Japanese people with Trinidadian connections and other "friends" of Trinidad.
We went to a little restaurant not too far away and I succeeded in not eating anythign that would itch me til next week. I also met lots of people. By far the most interesting was a guy who had once been a JET but who was now running an international school here in Tokyo. Super cool. I also got to meet some people who I'd seen on the facebook group. Afterwards most of the new JETs wandered off to take in Japan or shop. Stores normally open til 10. I just went back to the hotel. I am tired and I have a headache. The only reason I am blogging is because I don't know what my internet situation will be like after I leave the hotel. I can't believe, it will be over a week from when I left home until when I get to my new one!
Tonight we had an "embassy" night. Well, actually Barbados is administered by the British Embassy because we don't have our own and normally we just got to their night and half the stuff is not applicable. So instead the Trinidadian TOA organised a night out for us with some Japanese people with Trinidadian connections and other "friends" of Trinidad.
We went to a little restaurant not too far away and I succeeded in not eating anythign that would itch me til next week. I also met lots of people. By far the most interesting was a guy who had once been a JET but who was now running an international school here in Tokyo. Super cool. I also got to meet some people who I'd seen on the facebook group. Afterwards most of the new JETs wandered off to take in Japan or shop. Stores normally open til 10. I just went back to the hotel. I am tired and I have a headache. The only reason I am blogging is because I don't know what my internet situation will be like after I leave the hotel. I can't believe, it will be over a week from when I left home until when I get to my new one!
Monday, August 4, 2008
It's a small world after all
So this guy just came up to me in the elevator and asked me if it took me 3 days to get here. I said yes, how did you know and he told me he had sat next to someone from my country (our country is on our nametag). So another guy asks how long it took him and he says from the time he got into a taxi to the time he got the hotel was 24 hours. So the other guy gets out of the lift and I ask guy 1 where he's from. He says Massachussetts and asks if I've been there. I tell him that I had when I used to live in Connecticutt. So he asks where I went and I say the Coast Guard and he says reall, my brother went there. Class of 2003. And I say I was class of 2004. It turns out his sister in law who also went to the academy was my class president!!! Small world.
Last night I told a guy I was from Barabados and he freaked out. He's from San Francisco and apparently went to UWI for year abroad.
Imagine meeting people who know people you know in Japan!!!
Last night I told a guy I was from Barabados and he freaked out. He's from San Francisco and apparently went to UWI for year abroad.
Imagine meeting people who know people you know in Japan!!!
JET lagged
It is nearly 6 in the morning and I have been up for like 3 hours! Ugh! Yesterday I almost died of sleep deprivation. I think it may have been then boringness of the lectures as much as the 12 hour flight the day before.
The Welcoming ceremony wasn't bad. The ministry dudes were cool. And the CLAIR PC's gave some good advice. The feature speech on Culture Shock was excellent. Not just informative but fun. We had to sit by prefecture. My prefecture only had 4 new JETs for this orientation, and one dropped out! Landmass we are the biggest on this island- the main island of Japan. To show you how few my prefecture has, Hokkaido has like 50 in all. The workshops I pretty much slept through. Travelling for 4 days (and losing one) is not easy.
In the evening, there was a Reception for the new JETs. In Japan when you go to a formal reception you can't do anything with the food or drink until someone makes the speech and the toast. So all 800 of us, plus the Tokyo Orientation Assistants (TOAa) plus the Programme Coordinators (PCs), Ministry staff, CLAIR staff, etc, are packed into this room staring at this huge feast and we can't touch it. Then the Education Ministry gauy, Mr. Suzuki, makes the toast and everyone digs in. But at the same time the TOA from my prefecture wanders over and starts talking, so I didn't get to the food for a while. Then, when we finally go to eat, a girl who used to be in our prefecture who now works for CLAIR offers to introduce us to the Chairman. CLAIR is the office that runs JET. So we met him. He spoke to us through an interpreter, but I was fussy because I understood when he asked where we came from and answered him in Japanese. Yay me! When we finally got to the food all the dessert was gone but it didn't bother me, because I don't like most things people eat for dessert and there was still lots of fruit, which I love. I am soooo going to itch for weeks from all the fruits I ate. Fruit is great here. The chicken was awesome. It was in some white sauce and had berries on top. Yummy!!!
I also met a Jamaican who had been a CIR for 5 years and is now working with CLAIR. He wanted to meet the other Bajans. I couldn't find them but I did find 2 Trinis to introduce him to. The Akita TOA came over and invited us lonely Iwate JETs (all 2 of us since the CIR had wandered off) to come out with them. I told him I wasn't sure because I was tired. They shut the thing down at 8 and I went upstairs. The moment I go to my room I knew I wasn't going to be going back down at 10 to meet anyone and it was off to bed. I wokoe up at like 2 unfortunately. Oh well!
The Welcoming ceremony wasn't bad. The ministry dudes were cool. And the CLAIR PC's gave some good advice. The feature speech on Culture Shock was excellent. Not just informative but fun. We had to sit by prefecture. My prefecture only had 4 new JETs for this orientation, and one dropped out! Landmass we are the biggest on this island- the main island of Japan. To show you how few my prefecture has, Hokkaido has like 50 in all. The workshops I pretty much slept through. Travelling for 4 days (and losing one) is not easy.
In the evening, there was a Reception for the new JETs. In Japan when you go to a formal reception you can't do anything with the food or drink until someone makes the speech and the toast. So all 800 of us, plus the Tokyo Orientation Assistants (TOAa) plus the Programme Coordinators (PCs), Ministry staff, CLAIR staff, etc, are packed into this room staring at this huge feast and we can't touch it. Then the Education Ministry gauy, Mr. Suzuki, makes the toast and everyone digs in. But at the same time the TOA from my prefecture wanders over and starts talking, so I didn't get to the food for a while. Then, when we finally go to eat, a girl who used to be in our prefecture who now works for CLAIR offers to introduce us to the Chairman. CLAIR is the office that runs JET. So we met him. He spoke to us through an interpreter, but I was fussy because I understood when he asked where we came from and answered him in Japanese. Yay me! When we finally got to the food all the dessert was gone but it didn't bother me, because I don't like most things people eat for dessert and there was still lots of fruit, which I love. I am soooo going to itch for weeks from all the fruits I ate. Fruit is great here. The chicken was awesome. It was in some white sauce and had berries on top. Yummy!!!
I also met a Jamaican who had been a CIR for 5 years and is now working with CLAIR. He wanted to meet the other Bajans. I couldn't find them but I did find 2 Trinis to introduce him to. The Akita TOA came over and invited us lonely Iwate JETs (all 2 of us since the CIR had wandered off) to come out with them. I told him I wasn't sure because I was tired. They shut the thing down at 8 and I went upstairs. The moment I go to my room I knew I wasn't going to be going back down at 10 to meet anyone and it was off to bed. I wokoe up at like 2 unfortunately. Oh well!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
BOEING 777 and Tokyo
So today our flight was scheduled for departure at 12.50 Chicago time. We were early and checkin was uneventful. We went into the concourse and had mexican food for lunch. Steak quesadilla!!! Yeah!
When we got to the gate, the plane was a BOEING 777!!! This is the sexiest thing ever invented by man... I had to take a picture. Of course my camera battery decided to die right then. Great timing!
The inside of the plane is even cooler. The overhead bins pull down instead of just opening. And every one has their own personal tv screen and can select movies, tv shows, etc to watch or you can track the flight onscreen in real time. Somehow in the 12 hour flight I only slept half hour. Oh, and we crossed the International Date line and lost a day. Way cool.
I love Narita Airport. Its really organised and the lines have signs to tell you how long you should expect to wait in Immigration. When we came out of Customs, as expected there were like 8 million people in bright yellow shirts marked JET, directing us, smiling and waving. It was fairly embarrasing quite frankly, especially combined with the fact that we had on large white stickers marked JET. We went outside, mailed our luggage and waited for the bus. Tokyo is deathly hot. 35 degrees today with ridiculous humidity. Our Tokyo Orientation Assistant (TOA) on the bus was Allan, a Trini. He gave us lots of info about orientation and Japan. Then he told us it was alright to sleep. And I didn't hear a word after that. Apparently they played games and stuff on the bus, but I was out cold.
Keio plaza is a way cool hotel. I have so many pics. I'll be putting them on my facebook soon. We registered, got our JET Id's and room keys and headed in. Then we went back down to change money and go out to eat. It's amazing how organised the hotel staff are. We went to Subway but it was closed despite what the sign said, so we walked the other way to Sizzler. Our waitress spoke no English and I was the only body at the table who had bothered to study Japanese. It was interesting. I even had to ask where the bathroom was for someone. I think I did it in perfect Japanese too.
After lots of bowing and thanking we went back to the hotel and bought international cards for callin home since the phone that Cable and Wireless said would roam isn't. The room is so cool, but I'll describe tomorrow- I hope. Loving Japan so far. And I am wearing a complimentary KIMONO!!!
When we got to the gate, the plane was a BOEING 777!!! This is the sexiest thing ever invented by man... I had to take a picture. Of course my camera battery decided to die right then. Great timing!
The inside of the plane is even cooler. The overhead bins pull down instead of just opening. And every one has their own personal tv screen and can select movies, tv shows, etc to watch or you can track the flight onscreen in real time. Somehow in the 12 hour flight I only slept half hour. Oh, and we crossed the International Date line and lost a day. Way cool.
I love Narita Airport. Its really organised and the lines have signs to tell you how long you should expect to wait in Immigration. When we came out of Customs, as expected there were like 8 million people in bright yellow shirts marked JET, directing us, smiling and waving. It was fairly embarrasing quite frankly, especially combined with the fact that we had on large white stickers marked JET. We went outside, mailed our luggage and waited for the bus. Tokyo is deathly hot. 35 degrees today with ridiculous humidity. Our Tokyo Orientation Assistant (TOA) on the bus was Allan, a Trini. He gave us lots of info about orientation and Japan. Then he told us it was alright to sleep. And I didn't hear a word after that. Apparently they played games and stuff on the bus, but I was out cold.
Keio plaza is a way cool hotel. I have so many pics. I'll be putting them on my facebook soon. We registered, got our JET Id's and room keys and headed in. Then we went back down to change money and go out to eat. It's amazing how organised the hotel staff are. We went to Subway but it was closed despite what the sign said, so we walked the other way to Sizzler. Our waitress spoke no English and I was the only body at the table who had bothered to study Japanese. It was interesting. I even had to ask where the bathroom was for someone. I think I did it in perfect Japanese too.
After lots of bowing and thanking we went back to the hotel and bought international cards for callin home since the phone that Cable and Wireless said would roam isn't. The room is so cool, but I'll describe tomorrow- I hope. Loving Japan so far. And I am wearing a complimentary KIMONO!!!
Friday, August 1, 2008
MIA defeated- at last
Today was the second leg of the trip. My cell phone had a spasm and woke us up a n hour early at 2. We left the hotel at 3.30 and got to the airport before 4 for our 7.15 flight. For some reason they put me on standby. Barely got on the flight. We watched the Spiderwick chronicles and Penelope on board. I love Penelope. I mean it is really stereotypical hollywood but I loved it.
Miami was hell. We took forever through immigration but they opened new lines and I got through. Then luggage pickup, customs, hand in luggage and security. But since I was on standby they didn't ticket me for Chicago and they sent me back to the check in. It was 1.00 and the flight was 1.15 so I schowed this crewmember and she told me to do a self service check in at a machine. Since I live in Barbados I had no idea how to use the machine. Then my passport wouldn't read. Luckily the thing they gave me in T n T had on the E ticket number and I used that. Also got to put in my AA number that I suddenly remembered.
The gate was so far. I barely made it in time. The travel agent with us was already making flight arrangements on another flight when I got there. Four JETs missed the flight and the travel agent stayed with them.
But I made it. For the first time in my life I got out of Miami at the time I was scheduled to on the plane I was supposed to be on. Turns out they had set up the plane for transcontinental travel so we got free earphoones. The movie was 21 but the audio was poor.
When we got into Chicago some fo the luggage was missing so some of us waited for the luggage and the remaining JETs and some went shopping. When the JETs came we found out how they had all missed the flight. One girl\s immigration agent decide to make oodles of small talk with her, the guy was mistaken for a criminal because he shared a name and birthday with one, another girl went to the bathroom.
The bags that were missing didn't come on that flight so the girl filed for lost luggage and the AA lady ASSURED her it would be here before we leave for Japan in the morning. Finally we came to the hotel. The others were already at the mall. And we had dinner at the Italian Steakhouse. 23 oz Porterhouse Steak. WHOOOOOO!!!
Hmmm. Tomorrow, Japan!
Miami was hell. We took forever through immigration but they opened new lines and I got through. Then luggage pickup, customs, hand in luggage and security. But since I was on standby they didn't ticket me for Chicago and they sent me back to the check in. It was 1.00 and the flight was 1.15 so I schowed this crewmember and she told me to do a self service check in at a machine. Since I live in Barbados I had no idea how to use the machine. Then my passport wouldn't read. Luckily the thing they gave me in T n T had on the E ticket number and I used that. Also got to put in my AA number that I suddenly remembered.
The gate was so far. I barely made it in time. The travel agent with us was already making flight arrangements on another flight when I got there. Four JETs missed the flight and the travel agent stayed with them.
But I made it. For the first time in my life I got out of Miami at the time I was scheduled to on the plane I was supposed to be on. Turns out they had set up the plane for transcontinental travel so we got free earphoones. The movie was 21 but the audio was poor.
When we got into Chicago some fo the luggage was missing so some of us waited for the luggage and the remaining JETs and some went shopping. When the JETs came we found out how they had all missed the flight. One girl\s immigration agent decide to make oodles of small talk with her, the guy was mistaken for a criminal because he shared a name and birthday with one, another girl went to the bathroom.
The bags that were missing didn't come on that flight so the girl filed for lost luggage and the AA lady ASSURED her it would be here before we leave for Japan in the morning. Finally we came to the hotel. The others were already at the mall. And we had dinner at the Italian Steakhouse. 23 oz Porterhouse Steak. WHOOOOOO!!!
Hmmm. Tomorrow, Japan!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Trinidad and Tobago- the first leg
Well, I left my wonderful home in Barbados this morning aty 9. No tears at the airport, but I felt funny. My Mom, Dad, son, boyfriend and ex-boyfriend saw me off. My girlfriend slept at my place and said her goodbyes before heading out to work. I spent the whole night cleaning my room and didn't go to sleep til 4 am.
The flight to Trinidad was pretty uneventful. I slept most of the way through it. We split the taxi fare five ways so it only cost like $12 US for a 40 minute ride. Had something called Chicke Marsala for lunch. The highlight of the day however was finally meeting the Trini JETs. I feel like I already know some of them. We've gone back and forth so much on facebook. Since I was the only Bajan on for so long, everybody came and said " You're the Bajans. Who's Claire?" Laurence even remembered to bring me the copy of a Japanese learning software that I asked for. And Adele invited us all up to Hokkaido for Snow Festival. Yay!!!
There was a reception at the ambassador's house. All the press was there. One guy took a pic of me eating with my chopsticks. Lol! There was sushi there. I tried some, but now my skin itches. No more sushi for me :(
Tomorrow we leave for Miami. Flight is 7.15, check-in is 4.15. We leave the hotel at 3.30. Ick! I am going to sleep. Between the itchy skin, the lack of sleep last night, the early flight and the fact that my allergies are acting up, I have no desire to be up at all. Hopefully when I get to Chicago there'll be an opportunity to post a bit.
And the Japanese public relations officer asked me a question and I answered in Japanese. Granted the answer was "seven" or "shichi" but he was quite shocked, as was the Japanese travel agent, and I am proud. It seems I have mastered more Japanese than the rest of the Bajans. 3-kyu in December, anyone?
I'm off to conquer the world!
The flight to Trinidad was pretty uneventful. I slept most of the way through it. We split the taxi fare five ways so it only cost like $12 US for a 40 minute ride. Had something called Chicke Marsala for lunch. The highlight of the day however was finally meeting the Trini JETs. I feel like I already know some of them. We've gone back and forth so much on facebook. Since I was the only Bajan on for so long, everybody came and said " You're the Bajans. Who's Claire?" Laurence even remembered to bring me the copy of a Japanese learning software that I asked for. And Adele invited us all up to Hokkaido for Snow Festival. Yay!!!
There was a reception at the ambassador's house. All the press was there. One guy took a pic of me eating with my chopsticks. Lol! There was sushi there. I tried some, but now my skin itches. No more sushi for me :(
Tomorrow we leave for Miami. Flight is 7.15, check-in is 4.15. We leave the hotel at 3.30. Ick! I am going to sleep. Between the itchy skin, the lack of sleep last night, the early flight and the fact that my allergies are acting up, I have no desire to be up at all. Hopefully when I get to Chicago there'll be an opportunity to post a bit.
And the Japanese public relations officer asked me a question and I answered in Japanese. Granted the answer was "seven" or "shichi" but he was quite shocked, as was the Japanese travel agent, and I am proud. It seems I have mastered more Japanese than the rest of the Bajans. 3-kyu in December, anyone?
I'm off to conquer the world!