My Brain is Melting...
I am finally in my new home for the year. Yesterday was...long. Didn't get a good night's sleep before waking up to leave the hotel. Either I was too excited to get to Tsu or my biorhythms are still going haywire. I think it was a bit of both. After puttering around for a couple hours (gave up sleep at 5:30) eating breakfast, checking out, going to the hospitality room one more time because I didn't know I'd get internet so soon, the Mie group left for the train station. Ahh...trekking around Tokyo with luggage. How nostalgic.
The Shinkansen is awesome, guys. So freakishly roomy.
[Due to the author's laziness and lack of knowledge about how to upload pictures on this without photobucket, pictures to be inserted at a later date ]
I am ...not sure why everything is still in italics...but oh well. After the Shinkansen, more trains. Saw some people get off at their stops and be greeted by their supervisors and such. At my stop, I was greeted by a horde of ALTs. So overwhelmed. There was a big welcome sign and everything and so many more people then I thought. I only expected Yoneno-san, my supervisor and maybe Jennifer, my predecessor.
Then I was brought to the Board of Education offices, which were surprisingly small and much less intimidating than I imagined. Signed a whole bunch of papers and then was brought back to my apartment. There I met Reiko-san, the manager of Haitsu Akutoresu (Heights Actress....don't ask, I don't know either) and signed more paperwork involving my gas services. Reiko-san showed me around my apartment and explained some rules (no parties, no excessively hot water or oil down the sink because part of the drain pipe is plastic and will melt) and then I was left with another ALT, Pei, who helped me putter around until Jenn came back to talk to me more about stuff in my apartment and what I will be doing in my schools. I was left for a little bit to get changed (I so didn't have to dress in a suit to meet with Yoneno-san...curse you, Tokyo Orientation -_-) and then I headed over to Seiko's apartment, another ALT's apartment where Jenn was staying while she was on vacation. More talking and me asking stupid questions and explaining and then we went to Price Cut, the grocery store that's pretty much right behind the apartments. Just in this one day I went to Price Cut three times. I can tell it's going to be as bad as Safeway...and this store doesn't close until midnight...
[insert mind-picture]
At 6 Yoneno-san took us all out to dinner at an Italian restaurant. My god, when you order pasta with meat sauce and mushrooms, as I did, you get such an awesome variety of mushrooms. Strangely, no portebello or crimeni or even the button ones. It was tasty, even if I couldn't finish the dish. People lie when they say Japanese portions are smaller. I ordered the smaller size and I still couldn't finish it.
Gah, Yoneno-san is going to be picking me up soon to deal with more paperwork and my cellphone and stuff. Short story for the rest of the night: set up internet, Price Cut, Seiko's room for ALT bonding and reminiscing on Carley and Jenn's part (they're the ones who are leaving and being replaced by Leann and me), Price Cut, strange, strange videos and more pictures, me finally giving up and going to sleep at 1 am.
On the plus side, I think that completely fixed my jetlag issues.
The Shinkansen is awesome, guys. So freakishly roomy.
[Due to the author's laziness and lack of knowledge about how to upload pictures on this without photobucket, pictures to be inserted at a later date ]
I am ...not sure why everything is still in italics...but oh well. After the Shinkansen, more trains. Saw some people get off at their stops and be greeted by their supervisors and such. At my stop, I was greeted by a horde of ALTs. So overwhelmed. There was a big welcome sign and everything and so many more people then I thought. I only expected Yoneno-san, my supervisor and maybe Jennifer, my predecessor.
Then I was brought to the Board of Education offices, which were surprisingly small and much less intimidating than I imagined. Signed a whole bunch of papers and then was brought back to my apartment. There I met Reiko-san, the manager of Haitsu Akutoresu (Heights Actress....don't ask, I don't know either) and signed more paperwork involving my gas services. Reiko-san showed me around my apartment and explained some rules (no parties, no excessively hot water or oil down the sink because part of the drain pipe is plastic and will melt) and then I was left with another ALT, Pei, who helped me putter around until Jenn came back to talk to me more about stuff in my apartment and what I will be doing in my schools. I was left for a little bit to get changed (I so didn't have to dress in a suit to meet with Yoneno-san...curse you, Tokyo Orientation -_-) and then I headed over to Seiko's apartment, another ALT's apartment where Jenn was staying while she was on vacation. More talking and me asking stupid questions and explaining and then we went to Price Cut, the grocery store that's pretty much right behind the apartments. Just in this one day I went to Price Cut three times. I can tell it's going to be as bad as Safeway...and this store doesn't close until midnight...
[insert mind-picture]
At 6 Yoneno-san took us all out to dinner at an Italian restaurant. My god, when you order pasta with meat sauce and mushrooms, as I did, you get such an awesome variety of mushrooms. Strangely, no portebello or crimeni or even the button ones. It was tasty, even if I couldn't finish the dish. People lie when they say Japanese portions are smaller. I ordered the smaller size and I still couldn't finish it.
Gah, Yoneno-san is going to be picking me up soon to deal with more paperwork and my cellphone and stuff. Short story for the rest of the night: set up internet, Price Cut, Seiko's room for ALT bonding and reminiscing on Carley and Jenn's part (they're the ones who are leaving and being replaced by Leann and me), Price Cut, strange, strange videos and more pictures, me finally giving up and going to sleep at 1 am.
On the plus side, I think that completely fixed my jetlag issues.