As expected, I experienced a bit of a rough patch for a few days there. During that time, my head was swirling with such thoughts as, "What the hell am I doing here?" and "I can barely speak with anyone here at all!" and "Damnit, I gave up the awesome weather and good friends I had in California!" and "I want to go home... NOW!"
Needless to say, these thoughts are pretty much gone. My sanity has returned, I'm finally over jet lag, and I'm getting to know people here just a little bit more as each day passes.
First, there is my supervisor. He is awesome. I can tell that he genuinely cares about any concerns I bring to him, and he tries his best to accomodate me and my requests. Yesterday, I mentioned the fact that I STILL didn't have a bicycle yet. The position which I am filling has been borrowing a bicycle from a liquor store lady in town. After a few unsuccessful attempts to get in touch with her, rather than trying again, he took me to the store and bought me a brand new bicycle. :D
Second, we have one of the ladies in my office. Between her English and my Japanese we really struggle to communicate. However, we've been getting along terrifically (with the aid of google translate, charades, and our broken dialogue). Just yesterday I found out that she LOVES American football, and she actually calls in sick on Superbowl day to stay home and watch. She followed this by a "Shh! Secret! Don't tell!" :D She is awesome.
Next, is the local news reporter. He speaks pretty good English, and tonight I attended my first Taiko lesson (which he is in charge of). It is a group for elementary school students ranging from first graders to one seventh grader. Despite being so young, they are really quite good. Oh, and they are SO GOSH DARN CUTE. I asked them to call me JJ (even though I've always hated the nickname back home, it's easy for them to remember me by) and they thought that was the coolest thing ever.
At the end of practice a fourth grade girl came over and gave me a hug. Without getting too emotional on you, let's just say that I can't remember the last time when I had such a strong wave of emotions come over me (I didn't cry... but it's definitely the closest I've come in quite a long time and took some willpower to prevent). Of course leaving the US was emotionally taxing, but at the time it didn't seem quite so real. Now that I am here however, and after those rough couple days I mentioned earlier, this is as real as it gets. I guess what I'm trying to say here is this: because of my lack of ability to communicate with the adults around me, this cute little fourth grader giving me a hug has been the single most reassuring thing to happen to me since I've been here. I think I already have a favorite student.
I hope that made sense. It's hard to put my feelings in words.
Switching gears, I got to see the newspaper articles which I was featured in. Of course I can't read them, but the pictures aren't bad. Also, my TV interview/self-introduction is set to air next week. It will be on the local news station and will run once every hour for six days.
I know that I've been lacking on posting pictures/videos to go along with these posts, but rest assured they are coming! I'm just to lazy to dig through them all right now. I have a ton from the Taiko festival I went to in Kumano, and I've also got a bunch of random ones from around town.
Mmk, that's enough for now. I apologize for getting so candid for a bit - that's not like me at all.
Please stay tuned for next time!
Jordan
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