Today was... long. It was my first day of doing lessons all on my own and I'm tired! I'm also frustrated and feeling very tense (literally, I can feel it in my muscles and my neck). I just want to do a good job as a teacher. I want my students to like me and for them to actually learn and all I hear from the teacher who is training me is everything I'm doing wrong. I know he's trying to give me advice and constructive criticism, but a little positive feedback would be nice too. I don't know... I know I'm probably just being too sensitive, but I'll finish a lesson thinking that it went pretty well and then as soon as it's finished he'll tell me all of the mistakes I made and the things I should have done differently. I just can never seem to do anything right in his eyes, but the crazy part is there were a number of things he did during lessons that seemed wrong or unnecessary to me! To be honest, even though he has helped me tremendously in familiarizing me with the school and the neighborhood, I'll be sort of glad when he's gone and I can just figure all of this out on my own without worrying about being judged by him.

There's also the issue of my age. When I applied for this job I thought that most of the other teachers would be about the same age as me but I was wrong, they're all older than me and I just feel very young and stupid... and I think people have been seeing me that way, even though I'm trying my hardest to be mature and professional. I have classes teaching middle aged Japanese business men who have gone from having a very self assured 35 year old teacher who has already had a successful career as a commercial pilot and is about to open his own film making company, to me, the 22 year old female college graduate. I feel like I'm a joke to them.

I'm sorry to complain to all of you, and I promise not to make a habit of this, I just got off the train today and this was all just running through my head. I just keep trying to remind myself not to take this job too seriously, because what I really came here to do was experience a new place and a new culture. Tomorrow is Saturday (I work Saturdays) but then it's my weekend and I know all of you will be excited to know that I have what I think would be considered a date on Monday evening. Yeah, see reading to the end was worth it right?! I don't really tend to do this often, but I met this man through a website called gaijinpot.com (gaijin means foreigner in Japanese). We've emailed a bit and even though he is Japanese, he's been all over the world... even to Connecticut! For those of you who are freaking out at this point about the whole online thing, don't worry I will be very careful and use common sense. So that's about it, I'll keep you guys up to date on what happens... well to a point. Thanks to those of you who've been leaving comments, I really do enjoy reading them and I suspect that I may receive a few after this post!

What's really going on...

Two days down! Over the last couple of days I have just observed the teacher I will be replacing, but today I get to teach my first real lesson. I'm pretty excited, but a little nervous of course. Since I've started working and observing the teachers at my school I've come to realize a couple of things. First of all, everything at our school is a lot more laid back and less structured than what they taught us in training. For instance, when I was at training we had daily dress code inspections to make sure we weren't wearing anything that would be considered inappropriate in Japan. Then I got to my school and the men never wear their jackets in the lobby (which was pounded into our heads during training), one of my male co-workers has an earing (another big no-no), and the first time I met the co-worker with the earing he took one look at me and said "Wow! You look so professional!". Well, yeah... I thought we were all supposed to look like that! But hey, I'm all for a more relaxed atmosphere and since he's been teaching for three years I figure he knows what he's doing.

Another major difference is the lesson plans. During training we were taught a very specific format for creating and teaching our lessons, I've come to find that this structure is also a lot more relaxed. The teacher who is training me never writes anything down on the board or on paper for the students to see. I find this frustrating at times because some people are visual learners and need to see the differences in what is being taught rather than just hearing the differences explained to them. I personally learn better by seeing information laid out in front of me, if you tell it to me I'll zone out and get confused. So basically, I need to figure out a way to mold what I've been taught in training to what the previous teacher does and what I want to do so that the students aren't completely weirded out (or bored) by the way I teach, but still learn in the best way possible. I think it's going to take a little time to figure out, but that's okay, I've got time.

I'm going to go out with my co-workers sometime in the next few days so I'm excited about that. When I went with my manager to get a thing called a gaijin card (foreinger card) she turned to me in the elevator and asked "Do you like meat???" for those of you who know me well, you all know the answer to that question, for those of you who don't, the answer is YES. I guess they're going to bring me to some sort of Japanese BBQ place to eat and, more importantly, drink (at least it's more important by Japanese standards).

Well, it's time for me to get ready for work. Today I'm going to bring my camera with me to the school because there are a few ridiculous things I need to take pictures of to post here. Until then, I hope you all have a fabulous night or day depending on your time zone!

Video of my Hotel Room

The Story of Pleasant Animals

For anyone who has ever lived with me or just witnessed my sleeping habits, you know that I am the kind of girl who will happily sleep until 2 in the afternoon if given the chance. Things now, however, are very different thanks once again to this stupid time change. For the past 3 days I have not been able to stay up past 9 pm and sleep past 6 am and it is driving me freakin' crazy! This would not be too big a deal if it weren't for the fact that my work hours are 1 - 10 pm, so basically by the end of today (my first work day) I'm going to be dead... good thing I'm writing this now!

With so much daytime on my hands I did get some good exploring in yesterday. On Sunday I took a right out of my hotel, so yesterday I decided to explore what was to the left. I walked down the main road, Kananna-dori, for a while (I live along side a highway); went down a few side streets and turned around so I wouldn't get lost; and then, being very careful to remember land marks, made a few turns and ended up accidentally doing a big loop back onto Kananna-dori. I went into a couple of convenience stores to try and buy a hairbrush (the airline baggage handlers broke mine in half) and discovered that finding normally sized hairbrushes in Japan is tricky. I also discovered that the Japanese eat corn dogs, in addition to a number of foods that I did not recognize. I'm not sure if you guys knew this, but 7-11 originated in Japan, so there are lots of them and then a bunch of strangely named stores that are just like 7-11 and they all smell really strange! Like a mix between fishy foods and chemicals... actually, a lot of the streets in Tokyo smell like this too. Sometimes you luck out and the street just smells like good food, but more often than not it's that strange fishy-chemical smell... or sewage. Putting smells aside though, walking the streets in Japan can be quite amusing. At one point I saw a sign that said: "Hair - Rose or Lose". Ummm, what does this mean? I don't think we'll ever know. I also bought from one of the 5 million convenience stores what may be the most amazing notebook ever, I have put a picture of it at the bottom. The cover of it makes about as much sense as the Hair sign, but that's why I love it (plus it was cheap and notebooks always come in handy).

Finally, I turned around and headed back toward my hotel. Despite lots of walking, most of the restaurants I saw looked sketchy or didn't have pictures in their menu's, so I decided to eat at the same place I ate the first day because it was very good and well priced. I forgot to mention this before, but eating out in Japan isn't really more expensive than buying food from a grocery store because the food is priced about the same and you never tip in Japan. When I say never I mean never, not for servers, taxi drivers, delivery people... no one. And if you try to tip anyway, basically they'll get confused and try to give your money back. It's nice, but at the same time, even though I know it's not expected, I feel kind of guilty not leaving anything.

That's about all I can think to write at the moment. Just so you all know, once work starts (that means today) I probably won't be writing in this every day, but I'll do my best. I'm pretty nervous about starting at the school so please keep your fingers crossed for me that everything goes smoothly... oh and feel free to leave comments, I love comments. I'll write soon, take care.

Small print says:

Please have a wonderful time with this notebook.
The story of pleasant animals.

Here at Last

Well, after months of waiting I have finally arrived in Japan. It has been an exhausting, and at times overwhelming, process and I think it will continue to stay that way. I'm really relieved to know at least 1 person in Tokyo and to have made some friends who are scattered about Japan thanks to training. The night before we left 4 of us went out and it was just a really good time with some really awesome people (picture 1 and 2), so I hope we stay connected over the next year.

So now for what I'm sure you're all actually interested in... Japan! Well, to start things off, Japanese Airlines is totally amazing, each seat is equipped with a detachable remote control that lets you scroll through a menu with music, movies, and a bunch of video games to choose from on the screen in front of you. They also have storage departments by the window and hand out warm cloths at the beginning and end of the flight. I've never had a more enjoyable flying experience. We also flew over Alaska, so the view was absolutely spectacular (picture 3).
When we arrived at Narita (the airport) the 6 of us met Rita, the Sub Teacher who was picking us up. We split up from there and half of us went with Rita while the other half stayed at Narita to catch another flight. We took a train into Tokyo where I went with Rita and the other 2 were sent to meet other trainers/teachers. Rita and I took another train to the school that I will be teaching at. At the school I met my manager and the teacher whom I will be replacing. The school was kind of different from how I imagined it, which shouldn't have really surprised me because nothing ever turns out the way I imagine. It was very long and narrow which, according to the previous teacher, is pretty much how most places are in Tokyo... the long and narrow statement is supported by the dimensions of my hotel room/temporary apartment which is not only long and narrow, but also extremely small. It seemed like ages before we finally arrived at my hotel, partially because we stopped to eat, but mostly because it's ridiculously far way from my school. Luckily, the reason I'm staying at this crappy little place is because I will be moving into a brand new apartment on Dec. 4 and it's just not ready yet. When we arrived at my hotel (Weekly Mansion) it was discovered that the room hadn't actually been paid for yet by my company. Thank goodness I had a lot of cash on me so I was able to pay for it. I will be reimbursed on Tuesday when I return to the school for classes so it's not too big a deal and I actually end up not having to pay for 10 days worth of rent which is excellent.

In just the one day that I have been here I have already seen some pretty interesting things and had some unique, and at times frustrating, experiences. First of all, I have come to learn that it is not unusual to see people walking around wearing doctor's masks, even some children and teenagers wear them. They're meant to just keep the wearers healthy, and those around them too I suppose, but I'm not going to lie, I find something about these masked people rather disturbing. I was informed that some of my students will probably wear them during class, so that's definitely something I'm going to have to adjust to. I also completely freaked out this morning when I could not for the life of me shut the window to my room. I had just opened it so that I could take pictures of my view (picture 4) but when I went to close it the thing would not budge. Since the receptionist last night had not spoken English I assumed that I would not be able to explain what had happened to the front desk. As it turned out, the receptionist this morning did speak English and when she came up to "fix it" I discovered that you just had to push down on the metal bar that attached the window to the ledge. I have never in my life seen a window like this and even though I ended up looking like an idiot, I am relieved that I did not actually break the window and end up having to pay for it. The most frustrating part of the whole experience though was being unable to communicate what was wrong. Being unable to speak the language makes you feel completely and utterly helpless... it's scary. But you know what, scary is okay sometimes.
Today I went and walked around the neighborhood a bit and got a bite to eat at a local restaurant. A lot of restaurants here have fake food displays in their front windows and lots of pictures in their menus so I can just point at what I want. I also walked around a grocery store and bought some band aids and a mini christmas cake (a strawberry and cream cake). I know it's a little strange, but I really love going to grocery stores in different countries. I like seeing what we do and don't have in common in terms of eating and shopping. The bakery was actually very similar to one I went to in Mexico. All the breads and pastries are out in the open and you go around with a tray and tongs and choose the ones you want. Well it's pretty early, but I'm getting tired thanks to that lovely littl thing called jet lag, so I'll leave you with this delightful package of gum that I sat on when I got on a bus last night (picture 5). Goodnight, I love you all.

First Day of Training

Well, 1 day down, 3 to go... so far so good. I'm rooming with 2 girls, Jen and Caitlin, who to my surprise are actually somewhat older than me. Plus, you're not going to believe this, but Caitlin went to Mary Washington... my college! But she graduated like 4 or 5 years before I even started... still I think that's pretty freakin' weird. I met my other roommate, Jen, within the first 5 minutes that I arrived at the hotel last night, she was sitting in the lobby using her laptop and she actually recognized my name when I checked in so she introduced herself. She's from Queens and she's very nice. Besides us girls, there are 3 guys who are doing the training with us. They are all very nice and one of them, Dele, was part of my group interview from when I went to Toronto in August. He's a good guy and I'm a little disappointed that he's been placed in Southern Japan, which is kind of far from Tokyo. Today wasn't too bad in terms of training, kind of basic stuff, all taught by a really nice girl named Wendy who just started working for the Vancouver office (she was a teacher/trainer in Japan for 4 years). Tomorrow the head honchos, my actual employers, will be taking over and I suspect it will be a little more challenging.
Well, time to go eat and do a bunch of reading and paperwork that half of us forgot to do. I'll write more in a few days... a bunch of us have planned to go out for Thanksgiving, even the Canadians, so I'll probably fill you in after that. (I ALTERED THIS BLOG for reasons of confidentiality).

No, this is not a joke.

So basically, I work for the most indecisive company in the history of the world. That's right ladies and gentlemen, 2 days before my departure for training and I have been moved back to Tokyo once again. I'm at a different school than my original Tokyo placement and on a different side of the city (west instead of east). I'm not going to lie, I am not particularly thrilled about this change because Urayasu City seemed pretty wonderful, but so be it, that's life. I haven't looked up my new school yet, but it is called Takashima Baira and it is in downtown Tokyo in a section called Itabashi. So that's my big news for the week, hopefully it'll be the only news, but do not be surprised if I leave a post on Monday explaining how I have been re-assigned to Timbuktu, because at this point I wouldn't really be that shocked.

Change of plans... again!!!

Oh my goodness, it's hard to believe, but just two weeks before my departure my plans have been changed again! I'm still leaving for my training and for Japan at the same time, but my placement has been changed... I'm no longer teaching in Tokyo! I've been reassigned to a school in Urayasu City called Shin-Urayasu (New Urayasu). Urayasu City is only 10-20 minutes outside of downtown Tokyo by train and it's where Tokyo Disneyland is located... even though it's not actually Tokyo. I'm really excited about this switch because I was pretty freaked out about living in such an extremely Metropolitan area, this city is far smaller (more similar in size to Hartford if you're familiar with CT). It was originally a fishing village so it's on the coast and has a sort of Japanese version of Mystic Seaport (sorry to those of you who don't understand the CT references). The old fishing section is split off from the newer section called Shin-Urayasu, which is what my school's named after, and it was only developed/established in 1981 so it's very new and popular with families. This website has some more information about it if you're interested: http://elidun.googlepages.com/urayasu-index

Now I'm just crossing my fingers that there will be no more changes because this placement seems pretty perfect for me and a lot closer to what I had wanted in the first place. I just hope they remember to send my Leila Poster over to the new school because I really really love that poster!