Jordan in Japan

Here it is!

The one I've been waiting to write and hopefully the one you've been waiting to read!

I arrived in Japan on Sunday July 31, 2011. After landing all the SF JETs went to pick up our luggage. One of my bags was already on the turntable when I got there, but my other bag never showed up!!! Yes, that's right, they lost my second piece of luggage on a DIRECT flight... -_- This ended up delaying me quite significantly and I ended up getting to Shinjuku around 8pm that night... whereas I probably would've been there at around 6pm if I had had all my luggage. I ended up filing a lost baggage claim, and everything ended up being all sorted out (the lost bag made it to my Board of Education before I even made it there! And I didn't have to pay for it!) Even still, it was stressful nonetheless.

On Monday and Tuesday (the 1st and 2nd of August respectively) I attended many a workshop. Both days these ran from about 9-6ish, but I had to wake up around 7 each day to get breakfast and whatnot. Combined with Jetlag, these days proved to be insanely exhausting. Still though, I was able to meet up with Takeya and Yasuchika two times and overall I had a pretty good time and met some pretty awesome people. On one of the nights, there was a 6.2 magnitude earthquake at around 1am. I was already asleep, but the initial surge was so strong that it woke me and my roommates up. Because we were on the 20th floor, it felt a lot more like we were riding some waves on the ocean, rather than a strong quick burst of force. I would say it probably lasted a good minute. It was pretty surreal and it was the first earthquake I've felt in several years. Throughout the Orientation in Tokyo, I felt a good 3 or 4 more mild earthquakes - more than I've felt in the last 10 years in California.

On Wednesday August 3rd, 2011 the Mie JETs all left Shinjuku station at around 9am. We rode a local train (the good ol' Chuo line!) to Tokyo station. There, we caught a bullet train headed for Nagoya. Despite this being my first time on a bullet train, I spent more time reveling in the good company than I did focusing on the fact that I was moving so darn fast. After the relatively quick bullet train ride, we caught the Kintetsu Limited Express down into Mie. After about an hour on this train, the Mie JETs all started getting off at different stops. Myself and two others got off at Matsusaka, where we were met by our supervisors.

From Matsusaka, I hopped in a car with my supervisor (as well as the supervisor of another JET to the north of me) and it took about 2 hours to get to my town. The car ride was not nearly as awkward as I had imagined it would be, and on the whole I enjoyed the ride. I feel like this is a good time to mention that the area where I live IS SOOOO AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL.

Upon arriving in my town, we headed straight for me BOE (where I have a desk in the office). I did a brief self introduction, and then I was whisked away by my supervisor who took me to my house. We set up the basics (ie water and electricity), and then we went to a store called Komeri (which I would describe as somewhat of a Japanese Walmart). I bought some odds and ends, then we went to the City Hall to do some official paperwork stuff. Eventually, I was taken back to my house where I immediately showered (by this point I was drench in sweat, haha). I then set up my bed and hopped in bed around 8pm.

The next day I went on to meet the Mayor of my town, as well as a local reporter and his crew. My interview with the mayor will supposedly be in a newspaper somewhere, and later this week I have a video interview which should be on the local news - crazy! Anyway, the head reporter is a really nice gentlemen who speaks pretty darn good English (he lived in the US for a year or two in the 70's or 80's... i think). I expressed interest to him about joining a Taiko group, and as luck would have it, he actually runs a Taiko group for elementary school students. He invited me to join, and I think I'm going to go to my first session sometime next week. That was pretty much it for my second day in my town.

On Friday, August 5, 2011 another JET from up north came down. With his help I was able to get a bank account, set up my TV and internet, and get a cell phone. He is a really nice guy and without him there is no way any of this stuff would have happened.

Today is Saturday the 6th of August and I made my first trip to the grocery store on my own. I came back with quite a lot of drinks, and not so much food, so I'll probably have to go back in a day or two, lol. BTW: the drinks here are AMAZING. I am in love with milk tea.

I plan on spending most of the weekend sprucing this place up as it needs a lot of work. Tomorrow I'm going down south to Kumano to meet with a bunch of other JETs and attend a Taiko festival.

Overall, things are going pretty smoothly thus far. There's not much else that I can think to write about for now, and I am suddenly sick of typing... So stay tuned for next time!

Jordan

PS. sorry for spelling/grammar errors... i'm too lazy to go back and read/fix this beast of a post