Just wanted to post that my contract has been confirmed for the 2009-2010 year.
w00t!
Looks like it's year 4 for me.
Things I will need to do this year:
Get my visa renewed.
Get my passport renewed.
Things I may do this year:
Get a driver's license.
Grow up.
Ok, that last one is never gonna happen.
Showing posts with label JET Programme. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JET Programme. Show all posts
2/17/2009
9/09/2008
Laying down the law...
Yesterday was an interesting day for me, as I had one of my rare opportunities to express my anger at a class of students. And I do mean rare. I can literally count the number of times I've done it in my 2+ years here on one hand. Of those, it's a sad fact that 2 of them have been with this one class.
The class is on the lower end of the academic scale. Japan (or perhaps it's just this school, though I highly doubt it) generally places students into classes where the students have about equal academic ability. Lower homeroom numbers correspond to an overall high achievement in academics. The class in question is on the higher end of that homeroom number scale, and is not surprisingly full of jocks.
(N.B. I am not equating lower academics with high sports ability. Clearly, our world is full of people who are both physically fit and mentally astute. However, for the purposes of this class, while the students may be good at sports, they are poor at academics. So yeah. Jocks.)
I digress. The incident in question happened just after lunch. The funny thing about language classes is that if you don't understand what's going on, and you continue to not understand as the class progresses, there is a tendency to simply shut down. As students in Japan are less than pro-active about anything, really, students tend to shut down a lot. For most of this year, this class has bucked that trend, and during my non-grammar parts at least, they are...lively. A mixed blessing to be sure.
This class was shaping up like any other. I had spend a fair amount of time the day before prepping the class activity (effectively a vocabulary version of Who Want's to be a Millionaire), complete with PowerPoint presentation (with animations!), ABCD answer signs for each group (10), and the borrowing of the projector. While the content was academically based, the presentation was fun.
In a previous class, the activity went off without a hitch. Of course, that time it was with my most well-behaved students, but that's neither here nor there. In general terms, the rowdier my class the better, as long as students are doing the activity.
So when I set everything up, I immediately saw that things would be a lot harder. Where as in the previous class the students had made neat, clearly defined groups, during my jock class I saw clumps of 8-12 students. While they were technically in groups, they had decided to stick near their friends. Repeated requests for them to make who was in what group met with limited success, so in the end I simply decided to run with it.
The rules were explained, and the students (surprisingly) understood the basic concept almost from the get go. We launched into the game, but before we could even finish the first round, the game had started to fall apart. Students sat in their groups chatting and paying little attention. Answer signs were twirled around, making it impossible to see what answer each group was giving. Total Bedlam.
It's a funny thing. When you first come to Japan to teach as an ALT, you want to be all buddy-buddy with the students, and establish a sort of informal, not-teacher/student relationship with them. But as you enter your second year, this model starts to fail, and more and more I think you are required to take on a more teacher-like role. So as time goes by, the amount of bullshit you are willing to take from your students begins to diminish. I have, I think, a high tolerance for bullshit. But I have seen it diminish steadily over the last few years. The question is not one of students acting as drones, but of paying at least a modicum of respect to the teacher. It is not, I think, too much to ask that the students put in at least some level of effort, considering the effort that went into making the lesson.
Of course, this class would have none of that. So, I quietly went over to my JTE, Mr I, and told him that this would not work. He nodded to me in agreement, and suddenly turned to the students.
I had previously dismissed Mr. I, who is a super-nice guy outside of class, as a bit of a walk-over in class. I am happy to say that this is most definitely not the case. He unleashed the beast and opened up on the class with both barrels, and in an instant the class went from rowdy to dead silent. He harangued them for disrespecting me, disrespecting the class, and in a dubious voice asked them if they were really high school students. During this time, I made a show of both shaking my head in disgust and packing away my laptop and the projector. Most of the students were graceful enough to have hang-dog expressions, and after Mr. I had snapped at them to bundle up the answer signs and return them, most of them would hand them not to me but to Mr I. As they meekly returned their desks to their original positions, Mr. I caught my eye again, and I left the class without a word. As I left, and walked past the open window, I made sure to shake my head sadly, conveying the thought, I hope, of 'What a fucking waste.'
Next week, thanks to the ALT monthly meeting, I will not be able to go their class. Mr. I was pleased about this. My absence the following week would only serve to hammer in that I may not ever go back to their class. Gone would be the games and the candy. Gone would be the wacky, idiotic ALT. Of course, this isn't true at all. After all, I'm not paid to not go to class. However, it was a good chance to lay down the law and hopefully do a little attitude adjustment in the kids.
The class is on the lower end of the academic scale. Japan (or perhaps it's just this school, though I highly doubt it) generally places students into classes where the students have about equal academic ability. Lower homeroom numbers correspond to an overall high achievement in academics. The class in question is on the higher end of that homeroom number scale, and is not surprisingly full of jocks.
(N.B. I am not equating lower academics with high sports ability. Clearly, our world is full of people who are both physically fit and mentally astute. However, for the purposes of this class, while the students may be good at sports, they are poor at academics. So yeah. Jocks.)
I digress. The incident in question happened just after lunch. The funny thing about language classes is that if you don't understand what's going on, and you continue to not understand as the class progresses, there is a tendency to simply shut down. As students in Japan are less than pro-active about anything, really, students tend to shut down a lot. For most of this year, this class has bucked that trend, and during my non-grammar parts at least, they are...lively. A mixed blessing to be sure.
This class was shaping up like any other. I had spend a fair amount of time the day before prepping the class activity (effectively a vocabulary version of Who Want's to be a Millionaire), complete with PowerPoint presentation (with animations!), ABCD answer signs for each group (10), and the borrowing of the projector. While the content was academically based, the presentation was fun.
In a previous class, the activity went off without a hitch. Of course, that time it was with my most well-behaved students, but that's neither here nor there. In general terms, the rowdier my class the better, as long as students are doing the activity.
So when I set everything up, I immediately saw that things would be a lot harder. Where as in the previous class the students had made neat, clearly defined groups, during my jock class I saw clumps of 8-12 students. While they were technically in groups, they had decided to stick near their friends. Repeated requests for them to make who was in what group met with limited success, so in the end I simply decided to run with it.
The rules were explained, and the students (surprisingly) understood the basic concept almost from the get go. We launched into the game, but before we could even finish the first round, the game had started to fall apart. Students sat in their groups chatting and paying little attention. Answer signs were twirled around, making it impossible to see what answer each group was giving. Total Bedlam.
It's a funny thing. When you first come to Japan to teach as an ALT, you want to be all buddy-buddy with the students, and establish a sort of informal, not-teacher/student relationship with them. But as you enter your second year, this model starts to fail, and more and more I think you are required to take on a more teacher-like role. So as time goes by, the amount of bullshit you are willing to take from your students begins to diminish. I have, I think, a high tolerance for bullshit. But I have seen it diminish steadily over the last few years. The question is not one of students acting as drones, but of paying at least a modicum of respect to the teacher. It is not, I think, too much to ask that the students put in at least some level of effort, considering the effort that went into making the lesson.
Of course, this class would have none of that. So, I quietly went over to my JTE, Mr I, and told him that this would not work. He nodded to me in agreement, and suddenly turned to the students.
I had previously dismissed Mr. I, who is a super-nice guy outside of class, as a bit of a walk-over in class. I am happy to say that this is most definitely not the case. He unleashed the beast and opened up on the class with both barrels, and in an instant the class went from rowdy to dead silent. He harangued them for disrespecting me, disrespecting the class, and in a dubious voice asked them if they were really high school students. During this time, I made a show of both shaking my head in disgust and packing away my laptop and the projector. Most of the students were graceful enough to have hang-dog expressions, and after Mr. I had snapped at them to bundle up the answer signs and return them, most of them would hand them not to me but to Mr I. As they meekly returned their desks to their original positions, Mr. I caught my eye again, and I left the class without a word. As I left, and walked past the open window, I made sure to shake my head sadly, conveying the thought, I hope, of 'What a fucking waste.'
Next week, thanks to the ALT monthly meeting, I will not be able to go their class. Mr. I was pleased about this. My absence the following week would only serve to hammer in that I may not ever go back to their class. Gone would be the games and the candy. Gone would be the wacky, idiotic ALT. Of course, this isn't true at all. After all, I'm not paid to not go to class. However, it was a good chance to lay down the law and hopefully do a little attitude adjustment in the kids.
7/27/2008
Farewell...
...and good luck, departing JETs. For those in the JET Programme, the end of July signifies endings and beginnings.
Last night we in Fukuma had out Farewell party for 4 departing JETs. My co-ALT at Genkai, Elaine, who is headed back to school to be a boni fide teacher. Kathy, who's plans are still up in the air but is going home after a long 4 years, Andy, who is staying in Japan and now lives in Nagahama District in Fukuoka City, and Max, a friend of Kathy's from Oita Prefecture, who is also leaving after her 4th year.
I'll leave the documenting of last night to Rob, who is far more blog-savvy than I.
Last night we in Fukuma had out Farewell party for 4 departing JETs. My co-ALT at Genkai, Elaine, who is headed back to school to be a boni fide teacher. Kathy, who's plans are still up in the air but is going home after a long 4 years, Andy, who is staying in Japan and now lives in Nagahama District in Fukuoka City, and Max, a friend of Kathy's from Oita Prefecture, who is also leaving after her 4th year.
I'll leave the documenting of last night to Rob, who is far more blog-savvy than I.
7/06/2008
Beginnings and Ends
I'm always amazed at the subjectivity of time, and how time can seem to crawl or pass at the blink of an eye based on the situation a person experiences. I'm a sense, I'm going through a sort of time-crisis myself, as I consider the last 2 years.
On one hand, I feel like I've been in Japan forever. So much so that I can hardly remember my daily life in Toronto. Not of course that I've forgotten my friends and family there, but rather that I've so acclimatized myself to my life in Japan that at this point any other seems...impossible.
This is of course a slippery slope, and such delusions can lead to heartbreak later. Already, I am starting to feel the pressure of the ending of my next contract year, even though it hasn't begun. Where will I be once August rolls around. Will I be recontracted? Will I have a new job, here in Japan? Or will I go home, kicking and screaming, to a country where I have no appreciable job skills? In a very real sense, I cannot rely on JET to recontract me another year. Budgetary concerns have already seen a reduction in the number of high schools with JET ALTs, in many cases to be replaced by Interac ALTs, and while I have high confidence that Genkai will continue to use and request JET ALTs (the JET Programme continues despite reduced capacity), whether I am included in that as a 4th year hopeful is still up in the air.
And so I feel the crunch very acutely, of really thinking about getting my house into order. While I am technically just as unskilled here in Japan as I am in Canada, I have my English ability, but perhaps more important my Japanese ability, to fall back on. That said, I don't know if I want to continue teaching, and a happy ending for me would see me working somewhere where my bilingual skills would be put to use. Still, hoping for an ideal situation to come along is risky at best, so I need to consider making myself more ELT-worthy. Going for my TESOL certification is definitely on my to do list. A company from Canada runs a week-long seminar in Yokohama. Eventually, I might even consider going back to school for a BEd. in foreign language teaching, though that is indeed getting well ahead of myself. I have lived my life according to my own set of rules, that those include not getting overly worked up about my own future. I feel that I have an indomitable optimism with regards to this. Whether this turns out to be true, or simply the fantasies of an idle mind, remains to be seen.
I didn't mean this to be a rant, but the last few substance based posts have had a similar tenor, a sure sign that at least on some subconscious level, I am sufficiently worried. So that's good, I think.
But to return to the main point, while I feel I've been here in Japan forever, I feel that I have not much time remaining before some real action on my part must be taken. But as well as feeling long, my time in Japan has also felt very brief. To this I point to my co-ALT, or rather her departure.
Elaine will be going home, in just over a month. In about 3 weeks, she will stop being my co-ALT and will be replaced by a new girl. There is of course a certain anxiety I feel, as is usual when new co-workers enter the office, but as well a certain sense of excitement, as this new ALT learns the "wonders" of the environment she'll be working in. The gist of it is this: I cannot believe that it's been 2 years already. Where did this time fly? It feels almost like yesterday that I checked into the doctor's clinic on the 27th-or-some-odd floor of the Keio Plaza Hotel with an asthma attack, my first and lasting memory of arriving in Japan on the JET Programme. At the same time, that seems like a lifetime ago. I remember my initial growing irritation with Elaine distinctly, but also how our work relation mended itself until we were partner's par-excellence, a veritable teaching team here at Genkai. This too is both a distinct memory, but as well something which seems to be very much in the past.
Perhaps it is my growing senecense. Perhaps it is a form of culture-shock. Perhaps the early July heat is rotting my brain. Regardless, this dichotomy of time will haunt me for some time...
If you can guess, Current Mood: Contemplative
On one hand, I feel like I've been in Japan forever. So much so that I can hardly remember my daily life in Toronto. Not of course that I've forgotten my friends and family there, but rather that I've so acclimatized myself to my life in Japan that at this point any other seems...impossible.
This is of course a slippery slope, and such delusions can lead to heartbreak later. Already, I am starting to feel the pressure of the ending of my next contract year, even though it hasn't begun. Where will I be once August rolls around. Will I be recontracted? Will I have a new job, here in Japan? Or will I go home, kicking and screaming, to a country where I have no appreciable job skills? In a very real sense, I cannot rely on JET to recontract me another year. Budgetary concerns have already seen a reduction in the number of high schools with JET ALTs, in many cases to be replaced by Interac ALTs, and while I have high confidence that Genkai will continue to use and request JET ALTs (the JET Programme continues despite reduced capacity), whether I am included in that as a 4th year hopeful is still up in the air.
And so I feel the crunch very acutely, of really thinking about getting my house into order. While I am technically just as unskilled here in Japan as I am in Canada, I have my English ability, but perhaps more important my Japanese ability, to fall back on. That said, I don't know if I want to continue teaching, and a happy ending for me would see me working somewhere where my bilingual skills would be put to use. Still, hoping for an ideal situation to come along is risky at best, so I need to consider making myself more ELT-worthy. Going for my TESOL certification is definitely on my to do list. A company from Canada runs a week-long seminar in Yokohama. Eventually, I might even consider going back to school for a BEd. in foreign language teaching, though that is indeed getting well ahead of myself. I have lived my life according to my own set of rules, that those include not getting overly worked up about my own future. I feel that I have an indomitable optimism with regards to this. Whether this turns out to be true, or simply the fantasies of an idle mind, remains to be seen.
I didn't mean this to be a rant, but the last few substance based posts have had a similar tenor, a sure sign that at least on some subconscious level, I am sufficiently worried. So that's good, I think.
But to return to the main point, while I feel I've been here in Japan forever, I feel that I have not much time remaining before some real action on my part must be taken. But as well as feeling long, my time in Japan has also felt very brief. To this I point to my co-ALT, or rather her departure.
Elaine will be going home, in just over a month. In about 3 weeks, she will stop being my co-ALT and will be replaced by a new girl. There is of course a certain anxiety I feel, as is usual when new co-workers enter the office, but as well a certain sense of excitement, as this new ALT learns the "wonders" of the environment she'll be working in. The gist of it is this: I cannot believe that it's been 2 years already. Where did this time fly? It feels almost like yesterday that I checked into the doctor's clinic on the 27th-or-some-odd floor of the Keio Plaza Hotel with an asthma attack, my first and lasting memory of arriving in Japan on the JET Programme. At the same time, that seems like a lifetime ago. I remember my initial growing irritation with Elaine distinctly, but also how our work relation mended itself until we were partner's par-excellence, a veritable teaching team here at Genkai. This too is both a distinct memory, but as well something which seems to be very much in the past.
Perhaps it is my growing senecense. Perhaps it is a form of culture-shock. Perhaps the early July heat is rotting my brain. Regardless, this dichotomy of time will haunt me for some time...
If you can guess, Current Mood: Contemplative
2/19/2008
News
If bad things come in threes, I suppose my posting must come in threes too. Not that I have bad news, that is.
In fact, there are 2 news items, in a way inter-related. Lets start with the good news. First, my re-contracting confirmation came in. So my third year is locked and loaded. /emote sigh of relief.
On to the other news. A fellow Fukuoka JET I know was denied re-contracting. When I heard this news, I was thrown for a bit of a loop. In JET circles, re-contracting was a sort of unspoken guarantee, provided that you didn't do something stupid like steal, break laws, get a student pregnant etc. As far as I know, this ALT did none of these things, and was in fact a pretty straight-laced guy.
They say that not knowing can make your fears and imagination run wild. So lets follow my imagination and see where it leads.
On the simplest level, ALTs are subject to a performance review. With the expansion of the JET Programme allowing for a 4th and 5th year, I think there was a thought that re-contracting was similarly an unspoken guarantee. After all, why keep an ALT 3 years if you're just going to get rid of him or her in the 4th year? Presumably a 3rd year ALT has built up enough of a presence/goodwill/connections to weather any possible threat of recontract denial.
Balance that with the warnings we've gotten from our Prefectural Advisor (liaison to the Prefectural Board of Education), that recontracting is NOT guaranteed.
So on the simplest level, the High School was not satisfied enough with this ALT's performance, and is opting to get a new ALT. That sucks, but such things are a reality in other jobs, so why not this one.
The next level up is that the school no longer wants an ALT. Our brand of teaching, while spiritually, and perhaps culturally enlightening, is of dubious value to the realities of the Japanese education system, which prizes rote learning via grammar translation method as a method of learning English. This is turn is forced upon High Schools due to the rigorous university exam system. In the end, the Japanese system trains students to pass exams, and not communicate in a foreign language. Presumably, the JET Programme grew out of a need to address this deficiency. So in end, if a High School wants to focus more on preparing their students for an exam, then it makes sense to cut the position of an under-utilized ALT.
This links to the next level up, in which the JET Programme is instituting budget cuts across the board. A major sign of this was the cancellation of the Kobe Recontracting Conference. Now this is a cut I agree with, because in the end it was essentially a giant paid vacation for 6 or 700 JETs. But JET jobs might be on the cutting block as well. I can see a situation where CLAIR, the organization that oversees the JET Programme, sends requests to the various prefectures to cut X number of positions. The prefectures in turn ask their High Schools to see if any of them can do without an ALT. In this case, ALTs at high academic schools, whose focus is to train students to enter high education, are in the most danger, as their jobs become more and more superfluous and their class hours are gradually converted to classes that focus on grammar.
What we might be seeing is the beginning of the end of the JET Programme. Admittedly this is a worst-case scenario. However, it's not out of the realm of possibility that, in light of private companies that are offering the same service to high-schools for cheaper. Who knows where the JET Programme will be in ten-years time? Leaner and meaner? Or gone the way of the dodo?
In fact, there are 2 news items, in a way inter-related. Lets start with the good news. First, my re-contracting confirmation came in. So my third year is locked and loaded. /emote sigh of relief.
On to the other news. A fellow Fukuoka JET I know was denied re-contracting. When I heard this news, I was thrown for a bit of a loop. In JET circles, re-contracting was a sort of unspoken guarantee, provided that you didn't do something stupid like steal, break laws, get a student pregnant etc. As far as I know, this ALT did none of these things, and was in fact a pretty straight-laced guy.
They say that not knowing can make your fears and imagination run wild. So lets follow my imagination and see where it leads.
On the simplest level, ALTs are subject to a performance review. With the expansion of the JET Programme allowing for a 4th and 5th year, I think there was a thought that re-contracting was similarly an unspoken guarantee. After all, why keep an ALT 3 years if you're just going to get rid of him or her in the 4th year? Presumably a 3rd year ALT has built up enough of a presence/goodwill/connections to weather any possible threat of recontract denial.
Balance that with the warnings we've gotten from our Prefectural Advisor (liaison to the Prefectural Board of Education), that recontracting is NOT guaranteed.
So on the simplest level, the High School was not satisfied enough with this ALT's performance, and is opting to get a new ALT. That sucks, but such things are a reality in other jobs, so why not this one.
The next level up is that the school no longer wants an ALT. Our brand of teaching, while spiritually, and perhaps culturally enlightening, is of dubious value to the realities of the Japanese education system, which prizes rote learning via grammar translation method as a method of learning English. This is turn is forced upon High Schools due to the rigorous university exam system. In the end, the Japanese system trains students to pass exams, and not communicate in a foreign language. Presumably, the JET Programme grew out of a need to address this deficiency. So in end, if a High School wants to focus more on preparing their students for an exam, then it makes sense to cut the position of an under-utilized ALT.
This links to the next level up, in which the JET Programme is instituting budget cuts across the board. A major sign of this was the cancellation of the Kobe Recontracting Conference. Now this is a cut I agree with, because in the end it was essentially a giant paid vacation for 6 or 700 JETs. But JET jobs might be on the cutting block as well. I can see a situation where CLAIR, the organization that oversees the JET Programme, sends requests to the various prefectures to cut X number of positions. The prefectures in turn ask their High Schools to see if any of them can do without an ALT. In this case, ALTs at high academic schools, whose focus is to train students to enter high education, are in the most danger, as their jobs become more and more superfluous and their class hours are gradually converted to classes that focus on grammar.
What we might be seeing is the beginning of the end of the JET Programme. Admittedly this is a worst-case scenario. However, it's not out of the realm of possibility that, in light of private companies that are offering the same service to high-schools for cheaper. Who knows where the JET Programme will be in ten-years time? Leaner and meaner? Or gone the way of the dodo?
6/03/2007
Professional business attire does not mean come to work dressed like a vagrant.
OK, so maybe it's not that bad, but I feel the need to rant a bit.
This past week, I went to Kobe for a JET conference for recontractees. The conference was fine, if a little warm that's to the A/C set to 25c throughout the building. Some really good workshops, some not so good. Ultimately, I think it was a valuable conference on professional development.
Yeah, professional.
While I realize that not everyone agrees on what exactly professionalism is, it seems that some sort of minimum requirement is necessary. Consider that the conference was for recontractees, people who want to do another year on JET. While for some people it's just a chance to fuck around and make more money, to many of us, it also signifies a greater commitment to our own jobs, even if they are contractual in nature.
Greater commitment doesn't necessarily mean that you need wed yourselves to your job, or throw you identity our the window in favour of conformity. Nor does it necessarily imply that JET is a career, though to a small percentage people it is a sort of feeder job into the world of EFL teaching. But if you make a commitment for another year, this means that you willingly play the role again of not only a representative of your home country, but of your school/CO as well.
Cargo shorts, untucked polo shirts, khaki pants, or running shoes do not fall under the realm of professional business attire, yet I saw an abundance of this in Kobe. There are some justifications I'm sure people cooked up for their attire: this is how I dress at work, or this is what is considered professional where I come from; or I'm not Japanese, so their conventions don't apply, or I don't want to lose my sense of identity; I didn't want to pack extra shoes because their heavy, or a shirt and tie are too hot for Japan; it's the last day of the conference and I didn't want to bother getting changed again or repacking my bags...
Ultimately, I think how you present yourself is indicative of how you view your commitment to your job. If you choose to be taken seriously, you will present yourself in that manner. Putting on a tie doesn't mean you lose your personality, a fact that is made plenty evident by the quality of some of the workshops I attended. But if you choose to dress like a tourist, then I have to wonder what kind of attitude you take with you into the office. Perhaps you do go to work with shorts and a t-shirt. That's fine if you're at work--I wouldn't want to run around the room with a bunch of 8-year-olds in a suit or tie either. Perhaps you dress in hawaiian shirts in your home country, as that's acceptable business attire. That's fine if you're back home.
But the simple fact of the matter is that you are NOT at your workplace, and you are NOT in your home country. You are at a professional business conference in a country where you are expected to dress appropriately for the occasion. I guarantee that those other teachers, who you work with and wear jeans and t-shirts to work with you, would be in their suits and ties if they were at a teachers conference.
This is a rant, so of course it is based almost purely on the distaste I felt at seeing people dressed like they were out walking the dog for whatever reason, especially when so many of us were in suits enduring the warm of a crowded hotel. Its sad that there's little real consequence to this, as the disapproving Japanese group eye has little or no effect on some people. But that doesn't stop me from wishing that something could be done about it. Photos are probably out of the question, as that would seem to smack of the sort of pseudo-fascist STASI-esque surveillance. Besides, we're adults right, and should know better. But a greater MEXT (Japanese Ministry of Education), or CLAIR (Council that in is charge of the JET Programme) presense might help curb some of the more excessive dressing habits.
It's a shame, because it's probably unprofessionalism like this which is helping destroy JET. The Programme already has a reputation for good pay for little or no work, and things like this can't help it. Assuming that the various Contracting Organizations get reports on what actually went on, it's no surprise that more and more places are opting for cheaper, probably more professional, non-JET ALT options like Interac.
OK, end rant.
This past week, I went to Kobe for a JET conference for recontractees. The conference was fine, if a little warm that's to the A/C set to 25c throughout the building. Some really good workshops, some not so good. Ultimately, I think it was a valuable conference on professional development.
Yeah, professional.
While I realize that not everyone agrees on what exactly professionalism is, it seems that some sort of minimum requirement is necessary. Consider that the conference was for recontractees, people who want to do another year on JET. While for some people it's just a chance to fuck around and make more money, to many of us, it also signifies a greater commitment to our own jobs, even if they are contractual in nature.
Greater commitment doesn't necessarily mean that you need wed yourselves to your job, or throw you identity our the window in favour of conformity. Nor does it necessarily imply that JET is a career, though to a small percentage people it is a sort of feeder job into the world of EFL teaching. But if you make a commitment for another year, this means that you willingly play the role again of not only a representative of your home country, but of your school/CO as well.
Cargo shorts, untucked polo shirts, khaki pants, or running shoes do not fall under the realm of professional business attire, yet I saw an abundance of this in Kobe. There are some justifications I'm sure people cooked up for their attire: this is how I dress at work, or this is what is considered professional where I come from; or I'm not Japanese, so their conventions don't apply, or I don't want to lose my sense of identity; I didn't want to pack extra shoes because their heavy, or a shirt and tie are too hot for Japan; it's the last day of the conference and I didn't want to bother getting changed again or repacking my bags...
Ultimately, I think how you present yourself is indicative of how you view your commitment to your job. If you choose to be taken seriously, you will present yourself in that manner. Putting on a tie doesn't mean you lose your personality, a fact that is made plenty evident by the quality of some of the workshops I attended. But if you choose to dress like a tourist, then I have to wonder what kind of attitude you take with you into the office. Perhaps you do go to work with shorts and a t-shirt. That's fine if you're at work--I wouldn't want to run around the room with a bunch of 8-year-olds in a suit or tie either. Perhaps you dress in hawaiian shirts in your home country, as that's acceptable business attire. That's fine if you're back home.
But the simple fact of the matter is that you are NOT at your workplace, and you are NOT in your home country. You are at a professional business conference in a country where you are expected to dress appropriately for the occasion. I guarantee that those other teachers, who you work with and wear jeans and t-shirts to work with you, would be in their suits and ties if they were at a teachers conference.
This is a rant, so of course it is based almost purely on the distaste I felt at seeing people dressed like they were out walking the dog for whatever reason, especially when so many of us were in suits enduring the warm of a crowded hotel. Its sad that there's little real consequence to this, as the disapproving Japanese group eye has little or no effect on some people. But that doesn't stop me from wishing that something could be done about it. Photos are probably out of the question, as that would seem to smack of the sort of pseudo-fascist STASI-esque surveillance. Besides, we're adults right, and should know better. But a greater MEXT (Japanese Ministry of Education), or CLAIR (Council that in is charge of the JET Programme) presense might help curb some of the more excessive dressing habits.
It's a shame, because it's probably unprofessionalism like this which is helping destroy JET. The Programme already has a reputation for good pay for little or no work, and things like this can't help it. Assuming that the various Contracting Organizations get reports on what actually went on, it's no surprise that more and more places are opting for cheaper, probably more professional, non-JET ALT options like Interac.
OK, end rant.
1/26/2007
It's Official 2: Back in the Orient
Just got word in the form of a neatly typed and stamped paper. My request for recontract has been accepted, and so I'm here in Japan for another year.
OK OK, so recontracting, unless you're a total fuck up, or did some bad shit, is pretty much guaranteed. But it's another weight off of my shoulders. My income is secure for the next 18 months or so, perhaps longer if/when I recontract again. While nothing in life is certain, I think I can be confident that at least my JET job is reliable. If nothing else, 20 years of the JET Programme has resulted in exactly NO increases in salary.
Lol, no bitching from me, other than the vague sense of dim outrage at this percieved injustice. For me, JET life is a sweet ride.
OK OK, so recontracting, unless you're a total fuck up, or did some bad shit, is pretty much guaranteed. But it's another weight off of my shoulders. My income is secure for the next 18 months or so, perhaps longer if/when I recontract again. While nothing in life is certain, I think I can be confident that at least my JET job is reliable. If nothing else, 20 years of the JET Programme has resulted in exactly NO increases in salary.
Lol, no bitching from me, other than the vague sense of dim outrage at this percieved injustice. For me, JET life is a sweet ride.
8/17/2006
Interlude 2
Today, I was supposed to go to my Prefectural JET Orientation. Sadly, Typhoon Number 10 had other ideas, and early this morning I received a call from my school (my first official telephone call on my newly connected phone!) informing me that it had been cancelled.
Of course, that meant I needed to go into school.
I called a taxi-cab, and as I chatted up the driver, it turned out that he was the driver that often drove my predecessor to school. We talked for basically the entire trip, which ended up costing about ¥1200, or about $12. I leapt out of the cab after saying my thanks and dashed for the front door.
The sky is a light grey, and the rain that falls alternates in medium showers and heavy torrents. The only constant seems to be the wind, which shakes the trees outside the teachers’ office windows. At 9AM this morning, the Vice Principal announced to all that the reports said that around 3PM the storm in our area would peak. A-sensei, whom I got to chat with extensively when we were the only teachers in all day last Tuesday, said that he was going take a ½ day paid vacation to get home early, and suggest I might do the same.
So here I sit, having submitted my form that informs the school of my intent to take a ½ day off, leaving me with 19.5 more days this year. There is a form for everything here, from taking leave to taking business trips, and oddly enough many of these requests seem to be approved well after the fact. I guess this is not so strange in a society that treasures the collective over the individual. It is assumed, I think, that such things like vacation and leave will be taken at time that will be minimally disruptive to those around you, or will not interfere with your normal duties.
I also had to fill out the remainder of my business trip form, which I had filled out over a week ago, to explain that today’s JET Orientation was cancelled. Had it gone on as scheduled, I would have also had to write a report detailing what I did at the orientation.
Japan, it seems, is a country obsessed with bureaucracy. And like all bureaucracies, they move slowly. For my phone line, it took almost a week for a technician to toggle a switch and connect it. My Alien Registration card will end up having taking some 12 days to process, delaying my acquisition of a 3G phone. My internet, when I try to set it up, will take almost a week before a technician can come by. It’s an odd dichotomy in a society so advanced in many other aspects.
Ooh! Even if it’s coming out of my paid vacation days, I have a 2.5 day weekend!
Of course, that meant I needed to go into school.
I called a taxi-cab, and as I chatted up the driver, it turned out that he was the driver that often drove my predecessor to school. We talked for basically the entire trip, which ended up costing about ¥1200, or about $12. I leapt out of the cab after saying my thanks and dashed for the front door.
The sky is a light grey, and the rain that falls alternates in medium showers and heavy torrents. The only constant seems to be the wind, which shakes the trees outside the teachers’ office windows. At 9AM this morning, the Vice Principal announced to all that the reports said that around 3PM the storm in our area would peak. A-sensei, whom I got to chat with extensively when we were the only teachers in all day last Tuesday, said that he was going take a ½ day paid vacation to get home early, and suggest I might do the same.
So here I sit, having submitted my form that informs the school of my intent to take a ½ day off, leaving me with 19.5 more days this year. There is a form for everything here, from taking leave to taking business trips, and oddly enough many of these requests seem to be approved well after the fact. I guess this is not so strange in a society that treasures the collective over the individual. It is assumed, I think, that such things like vacation and leave will be taken at time that will be minimally disruptive to those around you, or will not interfere with your normal duties.
I also had to fill out the remainder of my business trip form, which I had filled out over a week ago, to explain that today’s JET Orientation was cancelled. Had it gone on as scheduled, I would have also had to write a report detailing what I did at the orientation.
Japan, it seems, is a country obsessed with bureaucracy. And like all bureaucracies, they move slowly. For my phone line, it took almost a week for a technician to toggle a switch and connect it. My Alien Registration card will end up having taking some 12 days to process, delaying my acquisition of a 3G phone. My internet, when I try to set it up, will take almost a week before a technician can come by. It’s an odd dichotomy in a society so advanced in many other aspects.
Ooh! Even if it’s coming out of my paid vacation days, I have a 2.5 day weekend!
8/16/2006
Interlude
I'm getting ahead of myself, but it's a fun diversion, I assure you.
For the most part, my route to school has been a brief 10 minute bike ride to the local JR (Japan Rail) station, followed by a 2 minute ride on the train to the next station over, followed by a 10 minute walk to school. Once it cools down a bit, I'll start biking to school and save myself the 3 bucks for a round trip on the train.
Except for today. In the recent local news is the latest typhoon to hit southern Japan, Typhoon #10 (tai-fuu 10-gou). It should pass by Satuday morning, but the leading edges of it hit Fukuoka Prefecture this morning. As I looked out the window, I noticed it was raining a bit. So donning my purpose bought raincoat, I trundled outside. As I started my walk (20 minutes), as I didn't really trust myself to a bike in the rain, I noticed that it was starting to rain harder. By the time I got to the local (different from the JR line) tracks, it was a torrential downpour.
Now, for the most part, I have never needed an umbrella. Toronto is nicely laid out so that unless you prize walking, you can wait out storms under bus shelters, and if you do get caught out in the rain, it's running between the bus and subway station, or car park etc. So, I figured, as a bold and rugged outdoorsman (yes, please roll your eyes now), I was going to be fine with just my raincoat.
Now I know why Japanese people all carry umbrellas.
I'll admit the top half of my body was relatively rain free. Of course, being under a raincoat meant that in the sweltering humidity, the top half of my body was soaked not by rain but by sweat. My legs and shoes were soaked through and through, and though the laptop backpack I bought comes with a rain cover, that didn't stop the rain from soaking the shoulder straps and moving through into the inside. As a result, many of the papers in my backpack got wet, and more alarmingly, my laptop got wet too. Here's hoping that in 24 hours or so when its dried out, it works fine.
By the time I got to the JR station, I was a miserable, sweaty, foggy-glassed, mussed hair, wet pants and shoes and socks ALT. I limped into the AM/PM Convenience store, bought the biggest terry cloth towel I could find, bought an umbrella, and proceeded to the platform. Infuriatingly, by the time I was done paying at the counter, the sun had come out to grace the fair people of Fukutsu. More infuriatingly, I was the only visibly wet dog there, and those around me were dressed as they always were for work. What a sight I must have looked.
I am convinced now that Japanese people have some sort of ability to phase out of reality slightly, so that what seems like a torrential downpour to me is only a light refreshing shower to them. I am mostly dry now, but I will sagefully call this my first lesson on the practicalities of living in Japan.
I may try to update again later today, as I will be out of the office tomorrow for a seminar, but if not, stay tuned for further adventures next week.
For the most part, my route to school has been a brief 10 minute bike ride to the local JR (Japan Rail) station, followed by a 2 minute ride on the train to the next station over, followed by a 10 minute walk to school. Once it cools down a bit, I'll start biking to school and save myself the 3 bucks for a round trip on the train.
Except for today. In the recent local news is the latest typhoon to hit southern Japan, Typhoon #10 (tai-fuu 10-gou). It should pass by Satuday morning, but the leading edges of it hit Fukuoka Prefecture this morning. As I looked out the window, I noticed it was raining a bit. So donning my purpose bought raincoat, I trundled outside. As I started my walk (20 minutes), as I didn't really trust myself to a bike in the rain, I noticed that it was starting to rain harder. By the time I got to the local (different from the JR line) tracks, it was a torrential downpour.
Now, for the most part, I have never needed an umbrella. Toronto is nicely laid out so that unless you prize walking, you can wait out storms under bus shelters, and if you do get caught out in the rain, it's running between the bus and subway station, or car park etc. So, I figured, as a bold and rugged outdoorsman (yes, please roll your eyes now), I was going to be fine with just my raincoat.
Now I know why Japanese people all carry umbrellas.
I'll admit the top half of my body was relatively rain free. Of course, being under a raincoat meant that in the sweltering humidity, the top half of my body was soaked not by rain but by sweat. My legs and shoes were soaked through and through, and though the laptop backpack I bought comes with a rain cover, that didn't stop the rain from soaking the shoulder straps and moving through into the inside. As a result, many of the papers in my backpack got wet, and more alarmingly, my laptop got wet too. Here's hoping that in 24 hours or so when its dried out, it works fine.
By the time I got to the JR station, I was a miserable, sweaty, foggy-glassed, mussed hair, wet pants and shoes and socks ALT. I limped into the AM/PM Convenience store, bought the biggest terry cloth towel I could find, bought an umbrella, and proceeded to the platform. Infuriatingly, by the time I was done paying at the counter, the sun had come out to grace the fair people of Fukutsu. More infuriatingly, I was the only visibly wet dog there, and those around me were dressed as they always were for work. What a sight I must have looked.
I am convinced now that Japanese people have some sort of ability to phase out of reality slightly, so that what seems like a torrential downpour to me is only a light refreshing shower to them. I am mostly dry now, but I will sagefully call this my first lesson on the practicalities of living in Japan.
I may try to update again later today, as I will be out of the office tomorrow for a seminar, but if not, stay tuned for further adventures next week.
8/15/2006
Arrival at Genkai
I was greeted at the airport by K-sensei. Super friendly, and with truly amazing English skills, we drove from Fukuoka International to the school. The 40 minute trip flew by—I was in a daze from my first meeting, and the conversation flowed almost seamlessly from English to Japanese and back.
We arrived at Genkai High School around 2 PM, and I was struck by how like and unlike a “normal” Japanese school this was. There was of course the standard metal gate, familiar to anyone who’s ever seen an anime or show that featured a Japanese school. But instead of the single edifice bisected by a central column with school clock, I encountered a squat U-shaped building surrounding a courtyard. To the left was a large gymnasium, set beside a large dusty field that encompassed both a general sports ground and baseball diamond.
K-sensei led me indoors, where I first met a few of the administrative staffers, and then it was off to meet the Principal, U-sensei. The Principal is a kindly looking man, with an easy smile and a genial demeanour. Yet I will not soon forget the words he said that resonated with me, and revealed to me the steel core that must lie at his centre: “We expect great things from you.” I felt an electric shock run through me with those words. I was truly in uncharted waters. My only guidance was the dim recollections of my own high school days, of little help in a country on the other side of the world, in an education system so radically different from my own. After my meeting, K-sensei led me upstairs to the teacher’s room and showed me desk.
I was still in my suit at this time, nattily dressed if a bit wrinkled looking. The heat was oppressive, but survivable, and soon enough my supervisor, F-sensei appeared. A youngish looking man, I was later genuinely surprised to find out he was over 40. Again, my Japanese confounded him. While some people had known that I could speak some level of Japanese, no one had realized just how well I spoke it. This seemed to be a sort of point of contention. I had the feeling that perhaps it was better if I stuck to English, as that was what was expected. It would take a few days before this feeling went away, and instead I begun to feel solace in speaking in English with my JTEs (Japanese Teacher of English). The ability to use English naturally with people who understand it makes me feel inordinately better. I recall an intense desire to speak English after just a week in Japan during my last visit, so being able to speak it at work serves as an immense stress relief.
Soon after, it was off to my new home. A short 10 minute drive from the school, it actually takes about 40 minutes by the combination of walking, biking, and train-riding that I do. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The apartment was a squat, ugly looking building, 4 floors with two units on each floor. The central staircase split the building in two, and as I climbed to the second story and my front door, I felt a keen sense of déjà vu. The building, built no doubt in the 60s, was starting to show its age. As I followed the gas company representative that had preceded our arrival to set things up for me, I was struck first by the oppressive heat, the first time I had truly felt it, and the dinginess of the place. There was a true sense of feeling that the place had been lived in many times before. In Tokyo, we had been treated to a polished, modern hotel that catered to Western visitors. Here, I was faced by the reality of a Japanese apartment, strangely familiar because it reminded me of my cousin’s home in Fukuoka City.
Having successfully gotten my gas affairs in order, F-sensei then took me to the local Home Wide, a large Walmart-like store that encompassed everything one might need for house and home. I bought a couple of bags worth of groceries, and soon we were on our way back. F-sensei treated me to dinner at a nice, off-the-road steak house. I’ll confess that by this time I was too tired and still suffering from my cold to make much conversation. After a dinner mostly free of any awkward silences, F-sensei drove me home. I of course had to come in the next day—I was already on the company clock and wasn’t getting paid to lounge about. F-sensei explained that he would pick me up tomorrow, but on Friday I would be traveling to school myself. I nodded my thanks, the gravity of his words unable to penetrate the fugue settling into my mind, and I went upstairs, quickly put away my groceries, set my clock and fell into a troubled JET-lagged sleep.
We arrived at Genkai High School around 2 PM, and I was struck by how like and unlike a “normal” Japanese school this was. There was of course the standard metal gate, familiar to anyone who’s ever seen an anime or show that featured a Japanese school. But instead of the single edifice bisected by a central column with school clock, I encountered a squat U-shaped building surrounding a courtyard. To the left was a large gymnasium, set beside a large dusty field that encompassed both a general sports ground and baseball diamond.
K-sensei led me indoors, where I first met a few of the administrative staffers, and then it was off to meet the Principal, U-sensei. The Principal is a kindly looking man, with an easy smile and a genial demeanour. Yet I will not soon forget the words he said that resonated with me, and revealed to me the steel core that must lie at his centre: “We expect great things from you.” I felt an electric shock run through me with those words. I was truly in uncharted waters. My only guidance was the dim recollections of my own high school days, of little help in a country on the other side of the world, in an education system so radically different from my own. After my meeting, K-sensei led me upstairs to the teacher’s room and showed me desk.
I was still in my suit at this time, nattily dressed if a bit wrinkled looking. The heat was oppressive, but survivable, and soon enough my supervisor, F-sensei appeared. A youngish looking man, I was later genuinely surprised to find out he was over 40. Again, my Japanese confounded him. While some people had known that I could speak some level of Japanese, no one had realized just how well I spoke it. This seemed to be a sort of point of contention. I had the feeling that perhaps it was better if I stuck to English, as that was what was expected. It would take a few days before this feeling went away, and instead I begun to feel solace in speaking in English with my JTEs (Japanese Teacher of English). The ability to use English naturally with people who understand it makes me feel inordinately better. I recall an intense desire to speak English after just a week in Japan during my last visit, so being able to speak it at work serves as an immense stress relief.
Soon after, it was off to my new home. A short 10 minute drive from the school, it actually takes about 40 minutes by the combination of walking, biking, and train-riding that I do. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The apartment was a squat, ugly looking building, 4 floors with two units on each floor. The central staircase split the building in two, and as I climbed to the second story and my front door, I felt a keen sense of déjà vu. The building, built no doubt in the 60s, was starting to show its age. As I followed the gas company representative that had preceded our arrival to set things up for me, I was struck first by the oppressive heat, the first time I had truly felt it, and the dinginess of the place. There was a true sense of feeling that the place had been lived in many times before. In Tokyo, we had been treated to a polished, modern hotel that catered to Western visitors. Here, I was faced by the reality of a Japanese apartment, strangely familiar because it reminded me of my cousin’s home in Fukuoka City.
Having successfully gotten my gas affairs in order, F-sensei then took me to the local Home Wide, a large Walmart-like store that encompassed everything one might need for house and home. I bought a couple of bags worth of groceries, and soon we were on our way back. F-sensei treated me to dinner at a nice, off-the-road steak house. I’ll confess that by this time I was too tired and still suffering from my cold to make much conversation. After a dinner mostly free of any awkward silences, F-sensei drove me home. I of course had to come in the next day—I was already on the company clock and wasn’t getting paid to lounge about. F-sensei explained that he would pick me up tomorrow, but on Friday I would be traveling to school myself. I nodded my thanks, the gravity of his words unable to penetrate the fugue settling into my mind, and I went upstairs, quickly put away my groceries, set my clock and fell into a troubled JET-lagged sleep.
Shinjuku!!
OK, not really so exciting as to warrant the double exclamation marks, especially in light of my asthma problems, but I didn’t let something as simple as a cold keep me down.
We arrived at the Keio Plaza Hotel, and were escorted by JET staffers to pick up our keys, orientation packages, and luggage. Inside our orientation packages were a variety of books and papers, all pertaining to JET life and the up and coming year. The room keys were electronic RF cards, and I kept mine in my wallet and just held up my wallet to the lock to gain room access. Neato.
I hauled all my bags up to my room on the 21st floor and was the first to arrive. I immediately took the bed closest to the window. Stupid, because I didn’t realize said bed was actually a fold-out couch. Oh well. My roomies ended up being people from Toronto, so that was a really nice touch. No having to make convo with a bunch of rowdy ass Americans.
My first order of business was a shower, and then me and one of my roomies went out for dinner. Our first dining experience in Japan? Royal Host. It’s a family restaurant kinda deal, but with it being in the heart of the Shinjuku hotel district, I guess they’re used to foreigners. After that, despite our tiredness, we decided to explore. Man what a good idea. For the first time since leaving Canada, I felt that I had arrived in a foreign country. Shinjuku at night is pretty cool, and we didn’t even manage to get to the really downtown portion of it. I think though we were in the night-life area, so we walked around generally making asses of ourselves as we gawked at things and spoke overly loud English for the benefit of the passers by. At one point, we were approached by a club greeter, asking if we were looking for a good time at the bar, probably complete with hookers. I brushed him off with a “naw I’m cool man.” The look on his face was priceless.
Before long however, exhaustion set in, and we decided (after a brief bout of being lost) to head back. We had, after all a full day tomorrow.
The next day was all conferences and seminars. Like a good little JET, I attended most of mine, with the brief excursions to the walk-in clinic and pharmacy to get my meds. The meds completely fucked me up, possibly because I hadn’t eaten all that much, but more probably because I was already jet lagged. So despite my ardent desires to go out and get fucked up that night, I ended up collapsing in my bed and sleeping most of the night. The only really exciting thing that happened was my trip to Yodobashi Camera, the electronics superstore, to buy my Canon Wordtank V35 Electronic Dictionary.
Next morning, yep more seminars. In the afternoon, we had our Prefectural meetings, a messy and disorganized affair where we learned of our flight plans, and the fact that virtually all of us were going to have to repack our stuff to get it under the 25 kg domestic flight checked + carry-on luggage limit. As panic and pandemonium set in, we were all wondering just what the fuck was going on. Thankfully, there was already a delivery service being set up for us, courtesy of the Keio Plaza Hotel and Kuroneko Yamato Delivery, so it was a simple thing to go and get a shipping box, toss in the stuff they gave you from the various seminars, plus some stinky worn clothes, tape it up and ship that shit. It cost me about ¥1700 (about $17 CND) to send my stuff, and even though they ended up not charging us for extra weight at the airport, I was glad not to have to carry an extra 15 kgs of crap with me.
The next day was an early morning, once again. We were supposed to assemble at 8:40 AM, but two people were late and got a pretty serious dressing down from the head of the Fukuoka BoE JET Programme Office that, I heard, almost left them in tears. Rough business in a country that values punctuality.
From there, a short jaunt to Haneda Airport. My companions were a couple of other kool kats I had met, all of course headed to Fukuoka. Michelle from Toronto, headed to Iizuka, Ben from West Virginia headed to either Oomuta or Kurume (I don’t remember), and Kousaku, a Nisei from Cali with a fairly similar story to my own, headed for Fukuoka City (the lucky bastard).
The flight, a JAL 777, was such a welcome relief from the crap that was NWA, and was brief. As we tracked the flight’s progress on our individual television screens, as we neared Fukuoka, as I we touched down, I was getting more and more nervous.
What was to await me here? How would I get along with my new teachers? Collecting my luggage, I walked out only to be greeted by a sea of placard holding people. My new life as an ALT had truly begun…
We arrived at the Keio Plaza Hotel, and were escorted by JET staffers to pick up our keys, orientation packages, and luggage. Inside our orientation packages were a variety of books and papers, all pertaining to JET life and the up and coming year. The room keys were electronic RF cards, and I kept mine in my wallet and just held up my wallet to the lock to gain room access. Neato.
I hauled all my bags up to my room on the 21st floor and was the first to arrive. I immediately took the bed closest to the window. Stupid, because I didn’t realize said bed was actually a fold-out couch. Oh well. My roomies ended up being people from Toronto, so that was a really nice touch. No having to make convo with a bunch of rowdy ass Americans.
My first order of business was a shower, and then me and one of my roomies went out for dinner. Our first dining experience in Japan? Royal Host. It’s a family restaurant kinda deal, but with it being in the heart of the Shinjuku hotel district, I guess they’re used to foreigners. After that, despite our tiredness, we decided to explore. Man what a good idea. For the first time since leaving Canada, I felt that I had arrived in a foreign country. Shinjuku at night is pretty cool, and we didn’t even manage to get to the really downtown portion of it. I think though we were in the night-life area, so we walked around generally making asses of ourselves as we gawked at things and spoke overly loud English for the benefit of the passers by. At one point, we were approached by a club greeter, asking if we were looking for a good time at the bar, probably complete with hookers. I brushed him off with a “naw I’m cool man.” The look on his face was priceless.
Before long however, exhaustion set in, and we decided (after a brief bout of being lost) to head back. We had, after all a full day tomorrow.
The next day was all conferences and seminars. Like a good little JET, I attended most of mine, with the brief excursions to the walk-in clinic and pharmacy to get my meds. The meds completely fucked me up, possibly because I hadn’t eaten all that much, but more probably because I was already jet lagged. So despite my ardent desires to go out and get fucked up that night, I ended up collapsing in my bed and sleeping most of the night. The only really exciting thing that happened was my trip to Yodobashi Camera, the electronics superstore, to buy my Canon Wordtank V35 Electronic Dictionary.
Next morning, yep more seminars. In the afternoon, we had our Prefectural meetings, a messy and disorganized affair where we learned of our flight plans, and the fact that virtually all of us were going to have to repack our stuff to get it under the 25 kg domestic flight checked + carry-on luggage limit. As panic and pandemonium set in, we were all wondering just what the fuck was going on. Thankfully, there was already a delivery service being set up for us, courtesy of the Keio Plaza Hotel and Kuroneko Yamato Delivery, so it was a simple thing to go and get a shipping box, toss in the stuff they gave you from the various seminars, plus some stinky worn clothes, tape it up and ship that shit. It cost me about ¥1700 (about $17 CND) to send my stuff, and even though they ended up not charging us for extra weight at the airport, I was glad not to have to carry an extra 15 kgs of crap with me.
The next day was an early morning, once again. We were supposed to assemble at 8:40 AM, but two people were late and got a pretty serious dressing down from the head of the Fukuoka BoE JET Programme Office that, I heard, almost left them in tears. Rough business in a country that values punctuality.
From there, a short jaunt to Haneda Airport. My companions were a couple of other kool kats I had met, all of course headed to Fukuoka. Michelle from Toronto, headed to Iizuka, Ben from West Virginia headed to either Oomuta or Kurume (I don’t remember), and Kousaku, a Nisei from Cali with a fairly similar story to my own, headed for Fukuoka City (the lucky bastard).
The flight, a JAL 777, was such a welcome relief from the crap that was NWA, and was brief. As we tracked the flight’s progress on our individual television screens, as we neared Fukuoka, as I we touched down, I was getting more and more nervous.
What was to await me here? How would I get along with my new teachers? Collecting my luggage, I walked out only to be greeted by a sea of placard holding people. My new life as an ALT had truly begun…
8/13/2006
Come fly the ghetto skies...
Ghetto airline. That’s the flight I took to Japan. It’s interesting, because I’ve flown to Japan a number of ways before. Of course the ones that stand out the most are my most recent—Air Canada/ANA flights through Vancouver to Osaka. Fair food, if a little cramped, but nothing to really complain about. In the dim recesses of my memory, I recall taking JAL, the king (queen?) of the crop way back when. Great food, pretty stewardesses, a comfortable way to cross the Pacific.
Then there was my JET flight to Japan. Now, I seem to recall hearing somewhere that Northwest Airlines was once primarily a carrier for soldiers moving to and from duty stations, or on leave visiting their families. I guess they never really made the transition into serving paying customers.
Ok, so I didn’t pay for my ticket. The Fukuoka Prefectural Board of Education did though, and considering the cost associated with it ($2500 USD, compared to the almost $1000 less for the American Airlines flight), you figure that they’d treat you right. Apparently, that part of the training and operations manual got tossed out.
In Toronto, we managed to get to the taxi runway before being called back for being overloaded with baggage. How and why this was discovered at that point I will not know. I do know that this delayed our departure by an hour, and when we finally were in the air, it was for less time than we were waiting.
While Detroit airport was nice, we didn’t really have time to explore it. A few hours later we were being boarded for our long flight to Tokyo. The 747 was old and showing its age. I, being ever so lucky, was stuck in the middle seat of the left bank of seats, far to the rear of the plane. While this was uncomfortable, I had already mentally prepared myself for a long and tiring flight, so I wasn’t expecting too much out of it. In retrospect, knowing I had a cold, I should have just bought some cold medicine to knock myself out for the duration. At least then I could have been rested for Tokyo. However, at least I could look forward to knocking back a whiskey or two, right?
Guess again. While beer was being served, it was $5USD per can, and cans of Budweiser and Miller at that. While the juices and pops were free, half-way through the drink service they ran out of Ginger Ale, and the following morning they ran out of orange juice. For my first meal, I was offered chicken or beef. When I asked for chicken, the stewardess promptly informed me that they were out of chicken. Fan-fricken-tastic. I knew there was a reason why my BoE was paying so much for my flight.
At least the movie line up was not too bad. The first movie was the Antonio Banderas give hope to disadvantaged inner-city youth flick (filmed in Toronto). That was followed by Ice Age 2. Next up was the painfully hard to watch RV, with JoJo and Robin Williams. I cannot adequately describe the crappitude that this movie displayed, with it’s over-used clichés and formulaic narrative. It’s a testament to my boredom that I was able to watch it at all. Last was the Starbucks movie Akeelah and the Bee, which was surprisingly good.
By the time the last movie had ended, I was essentially used up in terms of my patience. My seat, which was broken, was always in a reclined position, which meant that for the times when the seats had to be in the upright position, I had to sit ramrod straight lest it being to slide back again. With a jet full of JETs headed off to new lives for the next year, everyone had generous amounts of carry-on luggage, so the space between my feet was occupied by my over-stuffed back-pack, preventing me from really being able to stretch out.
By the time I arrived in Tokyo, I was beaten and exhausted. My cold had managed to get worse by an order of magnitude, and I was still looking at an almost 2 hour ride into Shinjuku and the Keio Plaza Hotel. I had a seat bench to myself on the bus, which allowed me to simply shut down as we rode to the hotel. But as the buildings grew taller, and the streets more crowded, even I felt more and more excited.
Next stop: Keio Plaza Hotel and the Tokyo Post-Arrival Orientation...
(Also, I don't seem to be able to upload pics yet, so I'll do that when I get internet access at home.)
Then there was my JET flight to Japan. Now, I seem to recall hearing somewhere that Northwest Airlines was once primarily a carrier for soldiers moving to and from duty stations, or on leave visiting their families. I guess they never really made the transition into serving paying customers.
Ok, so I didn’t pay for my ticket. The Fukuoka Prefectural Board of Education did though, and considering the cost associated with it ($2500 USD, compared to the almost $1000 less for the American Airlines flight), you figure that they’d treat you right. Apparently, that part of the training and operations manual got tossed out.
In Toronto, we managed to get to the taxi runway before being called back for being overloaded with baggage. How and why this was discovered at that point I will not know. I do know that this delayed our departure by an hour, and when we finally were in the air, it was for less time than we were waiting.
While Detroit airport was nice, we didn’t really have time to explore it. A few hours later we were being boarded for our long flight to Tokyo. The 747 was old and showing its age. I, being ever so lucky, was stuck in the middle seat of the left bank of seats, far to the rear of the plane. While this was uncomfortable, I had already mentally prepared myself for a long and tiring flight, so I wasn’t expecting too much out of it. In retrospect, knowing I had a cold, I should have just bought some cold medicine to knock myself out for the duration. At least then I could have been rested for Tokyo. However, at least I could look forward to knocking back a whiskey or two, right?
Guess again. While beer was being served, it was $5USD per can, and cans of Budweiser and Miller at that. While the juices and pops were free, half-way through the drink service they ran out of Ginger Ale, and the following morning they ran out of orange juice. For my first meal, I was offered chicken or beef. When I asked for chicken, the stewardess promptly informed me that they were out of chicken. Fan-fricken-tastic. I knew there was a reason why my BoE was paying so much for my flight.
At least the movie line up was not too bad. The first movie was the Antonio Banderas give hope to disadvantaged inner-city youth flick (filmed in Toronto). That was followed by Ice Age 2. Next up was the painfully hard to watch RV, with JoJo and Robin Williams. I cannot adequately describe the crappitude that this movie displayed, with it’s over-used clichés and formulaic narrative. It’s a testament to my boredom that I was able to watch it at all. Last was the Starbucks movie Akeelah and the Bee, which was surprisingly good.
By the time the last movie had ended, I was essentially used up in terms of my patience. My seat, which was broken, was always in a reclined position, which meant that for the times when the seats had to be in the upright position, I had to sit ramrod straight lest it being to slide back again. With a jet full of JETs headed off to new lives for the next year, everyone had generous amounts of carry-on luggage, so the space between my feet was occupied by my over-stuffed back-pack, preventing me from really being able to stretch out.
By the time I arrived in Tokyo, I was beaten and exhausted. My cold had managed to get worse by an order of magnitude, and I was still looking at an almost 2 hour ride into Shinjuku and the Keio Plaza Hotel. I had a seat bench to myself on the bus, which allowed me to simply shut down as we rode to the hotel. But as the buildings grew taller, and the streets more crowded, even I felt more and more excited.
Next stop: Keio Plaza Hotel and the Tokyo Post-Arrival Orientation...
(Also, I don't seem to be able to upload pics yet, so I'll do that when I get internet access at home.)
“Woah...” (Neo, The Matrix)
Well, what did I get myself into? As I write this, I have just finished dinner at home (some chicken kara-age, rice, and a big bowl of salad), the second night of eating a real home cooked (well, sort of, but more on that later) meal.
It has been a whirlwind of events, and sitting here, exhausted, I am in real danger of forgetting what happened to me over this last week. Memorable is not word enough to describe this last week, but then again, tired is not word enough to describe my energy levels.
So what happens next? I will not be wired until closer to the end of the month, but I will have time next week at school, when most of the teachers are away on business or vacation, to update my blog. Resisting the temptation to do a crazy mass update, I will instead give you a new update every day.
Stay tuned...
It has been a whirlwind of events, and sitting here, exhausted, I am in real danger of forgetting what happened to me over this last week. Memorable is not word enough to describe this last week, but then again, tired is not word enough to describe my energy levels.
So what happens next? I will not be wired until closer to the end of the month, but I will have time next week at school, when most of the teachers are away on business or vacation, to update my blog. Resisting the temptation to do a crazy mass update, I will instead give you a new update every day.
Stay tuned...
8/07/2006
Mucus and asthma and pills, oh my!
Well, I'm finally getting a chance to update my blog after a very tiring flight and first night in Japan, but, humble reader, you will not get a chance to hear about that today. I'll be sure to do a more thorough job in a few days though, once I get settled in my new apartment.
So I have hopefully piqued some interest in you with my entry title. As some of you may know, last Tuesday I caught a cold. Well, considering my track record at Canadian Tire, it's probably not too surprising that I started my JET life with a cold.
This cold decided to migrate with me across the Pacific via Northwest Airlines, the king of all ghetto airlines, and landed in Tokyo at approximately 3:40 pm local time. Like the body, mind, and spirit of the person the cold inhabited, the 13 hour flight, with it's pressurized cabin and recycled air, the cold became a lot worse for wear. So that night, I managed to get a few hours of sleep (after a fun night of exploring the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, where my hotel is), but over night my asthma started to kick in. By morning, I was wheezing, and my head was at that time composed of some 78.3% mucus, some of which was expelled during a hot shower.
By the time 8 am rolled around, I realized that letting nature run its course was not going to work out. The woman at the hotel store where they sell some drugs told me to try the medical walk-in clinic on the 30th floor. I followed this advice, and so started my very first, official life-in-Japan function.
Its funny. The walk-in clinic was for the most part no different than the ones I went to in Toronto. I got in, talked to the lady at the counter, filled out a medical history and why I wanted to see a doctor, waited, saw the doctor who gave me a presciption for some meds, and was on my merry way to my first official JET function.
There were some key differences though. First was the speed at which all this happened. I was in and out of there in about 40 minutes, though being there first thing in the morning probably had much to do which that. More importantly though, the staff there was nice and polite! A far cry from the almost surly staff you normally find at Toronto medical facilities.
I'm still pretty ill. Because I didn't have time to wait for the injections (I would have needed 2, set 40 minutes apart, and at the time I was in danger of being late to my first JET conference), the doctor gave me a prescription for a multitude of pills. After my conference, I headed out to a pharmacy. Because I don't yet have my national health insurance card, I was forced to pay in both cases 100% of the fee. I was expecting my wallet to be at least a hundred dollars lighter, but in the end everything only cost me about 30 bucks. Not bad at all, and when I do get my card and fax the clinic and pharmacy my info, they'll reimburse me for the insured costs.
Well, I'll end this entry with 2 pictures. The first is the clinic I went to, and the second the drug cocktail I have to take for the next 3 days. Fun times at Keio Plaza Hotel!
So I have hopefully piqued some interest in you with my entry title. As some of you may know, last Tuesday I caught a cold. Well, considering my track record at Canadian Tire, it's probably not too surprising that I started my JET life with a cold.
This cold decided to migrate with me across the Pacific via Northwest Airlines, the king of all ghetto airlines, and landed in Tokyo at approximately 3:40 pm local time. Like the body, mind, and spirit of the person the cold inhabited, the 13 hour flight, with it's pressurized cabin and recycled air, the cold became a lot worse for wear. So that night, I managed to get a few hours of sleep (after a fun night of exploring the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, where my hotel is), but over night my asthma started to kick in. By morning, I was wheezing, and my head was at that time composed of some 78.3% mucus, some of which was expelled during a hot shower.
By the time 8 am rolled around, I realized that letting nature run its course was not going to work out. The woman at the hotel store where they sell some drugs told me to try the medical walk-in clinic on the 30th floor. I followed this advice, and so started my very first, official life-in-Japan function.
Its funny. The walk-in clinic was for the most part no different than the ones I went to in Toronto. I got in, talked to the lady at the counter, filled out a medical history and why I wanted to see a doctor, waited, saw the doctor who gave me a presciption for some meds, and was on my merry way to my first official JET function.
There were some key differences though. First was the speed at which all this happened. I was in and out of there in about 40 minutes, though being there first thing in the morning probably had much to do which that. More importantly though, the staff there was nice and polite! A far cry from the almost surly staff you normally find at Toronto medical facilities.
I'm still pretty ill. Because I didn't have time to wait for the injections (I would have needed 2, set 40 minutes apart, and at the time I was in danger of being late to my first JET conference), the doctor gave me a prescription for a multitude of pills. After my conference, I headed out to a pharmacy. Because I don't yet have my national health insurance card, I was forced to pay in both cases 100% of the fee. I was expecting my wallet to be at least a hundred dollars lighter, but in the end everything only cost me about 30 bucks. Not bad at all, and when I do get my card and fax the clinic and pharmacy my info, they'll reimburse me for the insured costs.
Well, I'll end this entry with 2 pictures. The first is the clinic I went to, and the second the drug cocktail I have to take for the next 3 days. Fun times at Keio Plaza Hotel!
8/02/2006
F@cking Northwest Airlines
Two posts in one day! Good god the sky must be falling.
Ok, I'm going to rant now, and its really for no good reason because JETs from parts of the world that are not North America have only 20 kilograms in one suitcase alloted to them to pack their lives into to travel to Japan. Let it be known that Americans and Canadians get more than twice that, at 46 kilos and 2 suitcases. I have no right to bitch about not having enough luggage allowance, but that is exactly what I am going to do.
I have finally managed to do a trial packing run with my luggage, and despite my earlier confidence, I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH LUGGAGE ALLOWANCE. Sonnova...
There isn't really much more than I can say about it. I have one large suitcase, and one medium suitcase. The larger one is pretty loosely packed, and weighs some 23.8 kg. My medium suitcase is rammed to the gills, and as of now weighs 20.7 kg. I can in theory put more stuff into my medium, if I can somehow manage to find the space. It's looking pretty grim truth-be-told.
There is a sort of silver lining in these storm clouds of aggravation. My dad has volunteered to take some of my winter stuff to Japan with him when he travels there at the end of October, and then ship it to me from there, thanks to the far more generous allowance of Air Canada's Elite travellers program. Now, I just have to make sure I don't go overboard with winter stuff...
And to those travelling from places that are not Canada or the U.S., my condolences...
Ok, I'm going to rant now, and its really for no good reason because JETs from parts of the world that are not North America have only 20 kilograms in one suitcase alloted to them to pack their lives into to travel to Japan. Let it be known that Americans and Canadians get more than twice that, at 46 kilos and 2 suitcases. I have no right to bitch about not having enough luggage allowance, but that is exactly what I am going to do.
I have finally managed to do a trial packing run with my luggage, and despite my earlier confidence, I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH LUGGAGE ALLOWANCE. Sonnova...
There isn't really much more than I can say about it. I have one large suitcase, and one medium suitcase. The larger one is pretty loosely packed, and weighs some 23.8 kg. My medium suitcase is rammed to the gills, and as of now weighs 20.7 kg. I can in theory put more stuff into my medium, if I can somehow manage to find the space. It's looking pretty grim truth-be-told.
There is a sort of silver lining in these storm clouds of aggravation. My dad has volunteered to take some of my winter stuff to Japan with him when he travels there at the end of October, and then ship it to me from there, thanks to the far more generous allowance of Air Canada's Elite travellers program. Now, I just have to make sure I don't go overboard with winter stuff...
And to those travelling from places that are not Canada or the U.S., my condolences...
6/21/2006
Halcyon days
In the midst of all the hustle and bustle of getting ready to live in Japan, I find myself actually pretty calm and relaxed. The realisation that I'm heading to Japan is really starting to settle in, and I've been in pretty much constant contact with my predecessor, who sounds really cool. It's a real shame that I probably won't get to meet her.
Some more specifics have come my way. Unlike what I had previously thought, Genkai is not an international highschool, but rather a mid-academic school that offers an international course. I'll be teaching about 10 hours per week (10 classes, I think), handling with my co-ALT all the English classes for first years, and doing the international courses for second and third year students. Apparently, most of my students will be girls, and most of the faculty is guys. Go figure.
I'll also be teaching about once a month handicapped elementary school kids, and fortunately for me, it looks like one of the teachers there will be in my apartment block. It will definitely be an interesting experience, as teaching is for the most part a wholy new experience to me, nevermind elementary school kids, handicapped or not.
My day at school will also be long, from 8:35 to 4:45 every day, and if I'm part of a club (I will be), another hour after that. Thank the gods for Crappy Tire and their ridiculous shifts for inuring me to 7:30am- 6:30pm days.
My total rent + utilities is looking to be about 40000 yen (about $400) per month, with some pretty hefty electricity use. My apartment block, 8 units, is occupied mostly by JETs, and is 2 minutes away from the beach, 2 minutes away from the local train station (which of course doesn't actually take me anywhere near my school >_>), and may or may not have an AC, depending on who's unit I take over. Rest assured if I don't, that will be one of the first things I buy.
That's it for now. Stay tuned for more info, and for the love of the gods leave some damned comments.
Oh, last thing. Apparently, this picture (or one like it) is circulating the staff room. These will be end of me one day...
Some more specifics have come my way. Unlike what I had previously thought, Genkai is not an international highschool, but rather a mid-academic school that offers an international course. I'll be teaching about 10 hours per week (10 classes, I think), handling with my co-ALT all the English classes for first years, and doing the international courses for second and third year students. Apparently, most of my students will be girls, and most of the faculty is guys. Go figure.
I'll also be teaching about once a month handicapped elementary school kids, and fortunately for me, it looks like one of the teachers there will be in my apartment block. It will definitely be an interesting experience, as teaching is for the most part a wholy new experience to me, nevermind elementary school kids, handicapped or not.
My day at school will also be long, from 8:35 to 4:45 every day, and if I'm part of a club (I will be), another hour after that. Thank the gods for Crappy Tire and their ridiculous shifts for inuring me to 7:30am- 6:30pm days.
My total rent + utilities is looking to be about 40000 yen (about $400) per month, with some pretty hefty electricity use. My apartment block, 8 units, is occupied mostly by JETs, and is 2 minutes away from the beach, 2 minutes away from the local train station (which of course doesn't actually take me anywhere near my school >_>), and may or may not have an AC, depending on who's unit I take over. Rest assured if I don't, that will be one of the first things I buy.
That's it for now. Stay tuned for more info, and for the love of the gods leave some damned comments.
Oh, last thing. Apparently, this picture (or one like it) is circulating the staff room. These will be end of me one day...
6/19/2006
Serendipity, and other acts of Fate
Big update, so grab some snacks and settle in for the long haul.
Lets start with the big news--I have found out where I am going! I recieved an email from my predecessor, and as soon as I read it I was brimming with questions.
So where am I going? Looks like Genkai International High School in Fukutsu-shi (Fukutsu City, but IIRC Fukutsu is an amalgamation of Fukuma and Tsuyazaki townships). A quick glance at their website reveals that it's got foreign students as well as Japanese, from places like the Philippines and Hungary (those were the two that stood out the most to me), and that it's a fairly new school, being built in Showa 61, or 1986. Actually, this little bit of information comes from my mother, who also provided me with the following information. Now this is where things start to get weird.
My mother's cousin, who is much closer to me in age (I believe she's just a couple of years older than me), is a Genkai graduate. My mother has friends some 15 minutes away, and my grandmother, whose pics you can see in posts from while I was in Japan in 2005, lives some 20 minutes away by car. The coincidences keep coming.
If the Fukuoka Prefectural website is to be believed, I'll be living in Fukuma, 1 train stop north of Koga-machi, where the school is actually located. Fukuma is basically a rural town right on the JR (Japan Rail) line. So I'm not more than a half-hour from Hakata Station, which is a 10 minute walk from my cousin's apartment block in Fukuoka City. Not only that, but my mother's cousin's home when she was growing up was in Fukuma.
I don't really want to waltz into any kind of schmaltzy exhortation on Fate and kismet and random acts of god or what have you, but if you've been reading my blog at all, you'll know what a life-changing epiphany my 2005 trip to basically this area was. I am well and truly blessed in my life, and I can say with 100 per cent surity that I am the most content, anxious, giddy, excited, et cetera et cetera I have even been in my life. So far this experience has been hit after hit. I can't wait to see what comes next.
OK, so lets go on to other news. Today was the last day of Toronto PDOT, or Pre-Departure Orientation and Training (or was that last "T" for Toronto). The fabulous folks at the JETAA (JET Alumni Association) and JAVA (JApan Visitors Association), working with the Japanese Consulate provided us with a wealth of information and tips about our up-coming life in Japan.
Saturday was an early start, and I only recognized a few faces from the General Information session 3 weeks earlier. Turns out there are about 80 or so JETs going from Toronto, I believe all ALTs, and so much of our conversations were based around where we were going, if we knew what level of schooling we would be teaching, and if we had been contacted by our predecessor yet. Unsurprisingly, we're a diverse group and we're heading to diverse locations around Japan.
The day was filled with interesting seminars which helped alleviate some of the anxiety we were feeling, and given the work that went into the 3-day orientation, it only confirms that Toronto JETs are among the most prepared JETs in the world. Day 2 was similar in nature to day 1, but seemed faster because we knew what to expect.
There were some physical good and bad points. Days 1 and 2 were held at the Japan Foundation, in the heart of downtown Toronto, so getting there, even at 9 in the morning on a weekend, was easily accomplished. There was lots of lunch options near by (both days were Asian cuisine), and for me at least, it was all too familiar a location. The bad parts were the weather, while beautiful, was pretty hot, and the fact that the main room didn't have any air conditioning, which made the fairly long day seem even longer.
Day 3 was a different animal altogether. Held at the JCCC (Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre), it was a day of mostly cultural exposure. Morning seminars on things like the tea ceremony, Japanese housing and education were informative, but the funnest part was the bon-odori or traditional dancing. I expected to be treated to a show of festival dances, but as it turns out, we were all participants. It was a little bit corny, but I think it really served to give some people their first real taste of Japan. The afternoon was a little more boring, but mainly because it was more centred on things like food, manners, and language, all topics which were more or less ingrained into me as a kid. Still, it was a great wrap up to a fantastic 3 days.
It's hard to believe that D-Day is a mere 6 weeks away.
Lets start with the big news--I have found out where I am going! I recieved an email from my predecessor, and as soon as I read it I was brimming with questions.
So where am I going? Looks like Genkai International High School in Fukutsu-shi (Fukutsu City, but IIRC Fukutsu is an amalgamation of Fukuma and Tsuyazaki townships). A quick glance at their website reveals that it's got foreign students as well as Japanese, from places like the Philippines and Hungary (those were the two that stood out the most to me), and that it's a fairly new school, being built in Showa 61, or 1986. Actually, this little bit of information comes from my mother, who also provided me with the following information. Now this is where things start to get weird.
My mother's cousin, who is much closer to me in age (I believe she's just a couple of years older than me), is a Genkai graduate. My mother has friends some 15 minutes away, and my grandmother, whose pics you can see in posts from while I was in Japan in 2005, lives some 20 minutes away by car. The coincidences keep coming.
If the Fukuoka Prefectural website is to be believed, I'll be living in Fukuma, 1 train stop north of Koga-machi, where the school is actually located. Fukuma is basically a rural town right on the JR (Japan Rail) line. So I'm not more than a half-hour from Hakata Station, which is a 10 minute walk from my cousin's apartment block in Fukuoka City. Not only that, but my mother's cousin's home when she was growing up was in Fukuma.
I don't really want to waltz into any kind of schmaltzy exhortation on Fate and kismet and random acts of god or what have you, but if you've been reading my blog at all, you'll know what a life-changing epiphany my 2005 trip to basically this area was. I am well and truly blessed in my life, and I can say with 100 per cent surity that I am the most content, anxious, giddy, excited, et cetera et cetera I have even been in my life. So far this experience has been hit after hit. I can't wait to see what comes next.
OK, so lets go on to other news. Today was the last day of Toronto PDOT, or Pre-Departure Orientation and Training (or was that last "T" for Toronto). The fabulous folks at the JETAA (JET Alumni Association) and JAVA (JApan Visitors Association), working with the Japanese Consulate provided us with a wealth of information and tips about our up-coming life in Japan.
Saturday was an early start, and I only recognized a few faces from the General Information session 3 weeks earlier. Turns out there are about 80 or so JETs going from Toronto, I believe all ALTs, and so much of our conversations were based around where we were going, if we knew what level of schooling we would be teaching, and if we had been contacted by our predecessor yet. Unsurprisingly, we're a diverse group and we're heading to diverse locations around Japan.
The day was filled with interesting seminars which helped alleviate some of the anxiety we were feeling, and given the work that went into the 3-day orientation, it only confirms that Toronto JETs are among the most prepared JETs in the world. Day 2 was similar in nature to day 1, but seemed faster because we knew what to expect.
There were some physical good and bad points. Days 1 and 2 were held at the Japan Foundation, in the heart of downtown Toronto, so getting there, even at 9 in the morning on a weekend, was easily accomplished. There was lots of lunch options near by (both days were Asian cuisine), and for me at least, it was all too familiar a location. The bad parts were the weather, while beautiful, was pretty hot, and the fact that the main room didn't have any air conditioning, which made the fairly long day seem even longer.
Day 3 was a different animal altogether. Held at the JCCC (Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre), it was a day of mostly cultural exposure. Morning seminars on things like the tea ceremony, Japanese housing and education were informative, but the funnest part was the bon-odori or traditional dancing. I expected to be treated to a show of festival dances, but as it turns out, we were all participants. It was a little bit corny, but I think it really served to give some people their first real taste of Japan. The afternoon was a little more boring, but mainly because it was more centred on things like food, manners, and language, all topics which were more or less ingrained into me as a kid. Still, it was a great wrap up to a fantastic 3 days.
It's hard to believe that D-Day is a mere 6 weeks away.
6/08/2006
Hindsight = 20/20
Unlike my real vision, hindsight is 20/20. So now that I've calmed down a bit, I'd like to reveal some more information that has come across my desk.
Well, virtual desk, as it came in the form of an email. Having jumped the gun and emailed the Fukuoka-ken PA, I soon realised that many of the questions I had were essentially answered on www.fukuokajet.com, a JET initiated forum and website for Fukuoka JETs. However the PA, whom I suspect is a fellow canuck, was gracious enough despite my newbishness to provide some clues to my placement.
First off, I am not in Fukuoka City. While my ardent hopes were dashed, I am far from upset. In fact, I'm pretty damned happy with the prospect of living in a completely new place. Hearing from the PA nudged me one-step closer into that "OMG I'm going to Japan" mindset. The only thing I know right now about where I might be placed is that it's in the middle of Fukuoka. I think that puts me about 30 minutes away from Fukuoka City by rail.
Some other things I've found out. I'm going to be placed in a highschool that actually has an English course (versus, I think just an English lesson as part of the regular school day), so I think I can rely on the fact that the students I'll be teaching will actually want to learn, the Holy Grail of all teachers. I'll also be team-teaching with a new ALT from the US. Oh the fun we'll have correcting our respective spellings :)
I should be contacted next week by my predecessor, and so I'll be able to provide some more details then.
Well, virtual desk, as it came in the form of an email. Having jumped the gun and emailed the Fukuoka-ken PA, I soon realised that many of the questions I had were essentially answered on www.fukuokajet.com, a JET initiated forum and website for Fukuoka JETs. However the PA, whom I suspect is a fellow canuck, was gracious enough despite my newbishness to provide some clues to my placement.
First off, I am not in Fukuoka City. While my ardent hopes were dashed, I am far from upset. In fact, I'm pretty damned happy with the prospect of living in a completely new place. Hearing from the PA nudged me one-step closer into that "OMG I'm going to Japan" mindset. The only thing I know right now about where I might be placed is that it's in the middle of Fukuoka. I think that puts me about 30 minutes away from Fukuoka City by rail.
Some other things I've found out. I'm going to be placed in a highschool that actually has an English course (versus, I think just an English lesson as part of the regular school day), so I think I can rely on the fact that the students I'll be teaching will actually want to learn, the Holy Grail of all teachers. I'll also be team-teaching with a new ALT from the US. Oh the fun we'll have correcting our respective spellings :)
I should be contacted next week by my predecessor, and so I'll be able to provide some more details then.
OMG OMG OMFG!!!
Holy crap! OK, this is a blitz blog update. I arrived home to find my official confirmation from my Contracting Organisation (CO) awaiting me. In a ritual shared my virtually all new JETs, I promptly ripped open the envelope and began leafing through the papers, in a desperate bid to find out where I was posted.
But first!
ITEM 1: The Address on the Envelope.
Fukuoka Prefectural Board of Education
7-7 Higashi-Koen (East Park)
Hakata-ku (Hakata Ward)
Fukuoka-shi (Fukuoka City)
Ok, so that was heart-stopping moment one. But the rational side of my brain kicked in. Of course the Fukuoka Prefecture BoE is in Fukuoka City. Where else would it be? In the middle of no-where Fukuoka?
ITEM 2: Welcome Letter from my Prefectural Advisor (PA).
A senior JET, who is sort of a JET supervisor for all Fukuoka Pref. JETs. In this letter are a few choice statements. Among other things, reference to my placement as a Senior High-school (SHS) ALT. This means I'm going to be placed at a single high-school for the duration of my contract. Next is a description of Fukuoka City as the one of the best rated cities in Asia to live in, it's thriving international community, and most heart-stopping, that "[I will] quickly grow accustomed to [my] new life [there]."
Holy crap! Does this mean what I think it means? Am I going to be placed in my heart of hearts desire, Fukuoka City? The place where I spent hot dreamy summers, and one epiphany-granting winter? Words, inelegant things that they are, cannot hope to describe the feeling that are rushing through me at the moment.
ITEM 3: Sample Floor Plan of a Kyoshokuin Jutaku (Teacher's Apartment).
Scattered through-out the Prefecture, Teacher's Apartments are "cheap, spacious and available". At the risk of angering my readers, the listed rent is about 10,000 yen (c. $100.00) a month, with some variations from place to place. Square footage seems to be about 500-600 sqft.
Of course, Item 2 is the mainstay of my hopes, while Item 1 and 3 bring my back to reality. I find it very difficult not to get my hopes up, so for now, I will email my PA and see if I can wrangle some more information from her.
OMG OMG OMG...
But first!
ITEM 1: The Address on the Envelope.
Fukuoka Prefectural Board of Education
7-7 Higashi-Koen (East Park)
Hakata-ku (Hakata Ward)
Fukuoka-shi (Fukuoka City)
Ok, so that was heart-stopping moment one. But the rational side of my brain kicked in. Of course the Fukuoka Prefecture BoE is in Fukuoka City. Where else would it be? In the middle of no-where Fukuoka?
ITEM 2: Welcome Letter from my Prefectural Advisor (PA).
A senior JET, who is sort of a JET supervisor for all Fukuoka Pref. JETs. In this letter are a few choice statements. Among other things, reference to my placement as a Senior High-school (SHS) ALT. This means I'm going to be placed at a single high-school for the duration of my contract. Next is a description of Fukuoka City as the one of the best rated cities in Asia to live in, it's thriving international community, and most heart-stopping, that "[I will] quickly grow accustomed to [my] new life [there]."
Holy crap! Does this mean what I think it means? Am I going to be placed in my heart of hearts desire, Fukuoka City? The place where I spent hot dreamy summers, and one epiphany-granting winter? Words, inelegant things that they are, cannot hope to describe the feeling that are rushing through me at the moment.
ITEM 3: Sample Floor Plan of a Kyoshokuin Jutaku (Teacher's Apartment).
Scattered through-out the Prefecture, Teacher's Apartments are "cheap, spacious and available". At the risk of angering my readers, the listed rent is about 10,000 yen (c. $100.00) a month, with some variations from place to place. Square footage seems to be about 500-600 sqft.
Of course, Item 2 is the mainstay of my hopes, while Item 1 and 3 bring my back to reality. I find it very difficult not to get my hopes up, so for now, I will email my PA and see if I can wrangle some more information from her.
OMG OMG OMG...
5/31/2006
It's official!
Last night I got word at the JET General Information Meeting, the news I have been waiting these past weeks for: placement. It's news I greet with great joy, a sense of relief, and a little bit of trepidation.
I'm headed to Fukuoka Prefecture.
So where is that? Fukuoka Prefecture lies on the the northern end of Kyushu, the southern most of the four main islands. It is, also the prefecture where my parents were born, and where many of my relatives live. The two major cities in Fukuoka Prefecture are Fukuoka City and Kitakyushu, and the Prefecture has a total population of just over 5 million (at least according to wiki). It's one of the larger prefectures, but with a relatively small population.
As I'm not yet assigned to any specific town or city, its most likely that I'm going to be a Prefectural ALT (PA). Things can go in a number of directions from there. It's possible that I might be assigned to a single senior highschool, joining them mid-way through the year (Japan's school year goes from April to March, and the kids will be away for summer vacation until September). Another option may be that I will be a sort of floating ALT, assigned to several junior highschools, and even elementary schools! In the coming weeks, I should be contacted with the specifics of my placement, my job, and where I will be living for the next year or so.
While I'm close to my relatives, it's doubtful I'll be assigned to Fukuoka City or Kitakyushu. This is both good and bad, I suppose. Good because my relatives aren't too close at hand, but close enough that if I really find myself in the shitter I can call on them. Bad because I'll more than likely lose the convenience that living in a major urban centre brings, like 24 hour taxis and a hospital with an emergency ward open at all times. I won't know of course what my exact situation will be, but I can't wait to find out.
In hindsight, I'm actually fairly lucky in getting word of my placement now. Some people may not get word until mid July, and with the few weeks it may take to get the formal letter of employment from their Contracting Organisation, they may not know where they're going until just before we're set to leave.
And here I was complaining about a few weeks!
I'm headed to Fukuoka Prefecture.
So where is that? Fukuoka Prefecture lies on the the northern end of Kyushu, the southern most of the four main islands. It is, also the prefecture where my parents were born, and where many of my relatives live. The two major cities in Fukuoka Prefecture are Fukuoka City and Kitakyushu, and the Prefecture has a total population of just over 5 million (at least according to wiki). It's one of the larger prefectures, but with a relatively small population.
As I'm not yet assigned to any specific town or city, its most likely that I'm going to be a Prefectural ALT (PA). Things can go in a number of directions from there. It's possible that I might be assigned to a single senior highschool, joining them mid-way through the year (Japan's school year goes from April to March, and the kids will be away for summer vacation until September). Another option may be that I will be a sort of floating ALT, assigned to several junior highschools, and even elementary schools! In the coming weeks, I should be contacted with the specifics of my placement, my job, and where I will be living for the next year or so.
While I'm close to my relatives, it's doubtful I'll be assigned to Fukuoka City or Kitakyushu. This is both good and bad, I suppose. Good because my relatives aren't too close at hand, but close enough that if I really find myself in the shitter I can call on them. Bad because I'll more than likely lose the convenience that living in a major urban centre brings, like 24 hour taxis and a hospital with an emergency ward open at all times. I won't know of course what my exact situation will be, but I can't wait to find out.
In hindsight, I'm actually fairly lucky in getting word of my placement now. Some people may not get word until mid July, and with the few weeks it may take to get the formal letter of employment from their Contracting Organisation, they may not know where they're going until just before we're set to leave.
And here I was complaining about a few weeks!
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