June 19, 2009 0124 JST

How’s it rollin? I cannot believe I actually waited 8 days to write this. So much has gone on in the last 8 days. Well. . . not really but there is so much detail wound up in every experience due to it being new and novel that I feel like I could go on for pages about just one days experience at this point. Nonetheless neither you nor I have that kind of time so I will have to sell things somewhat short. So here it goes . . .

The rest of my time in training at Omiya went well. We all completed our training and I got feedback on various points that were encouraging and helpful. I was very optimistic about moving on to Nakayama (my branch/town). I was glad to get out of there. I was growing tired of living and sharing a space with a lot of people real fast, but fortunately its over. On our first day off before I moved to my pad. I went with 3 other teachers around our town. Our first stop was the local Shrine. I was so glad to have gone. It is hard to articulate the experience. I wasn’t merely seeing some ancient architecture or cultural artifact to take pictures, but something about being at that place made me feel at ease or at peace. I honestly felt that the location was stripping me of my worldly concerns and luring my soul to place of stillness. I didn’t say anything to my companions, but that place really affected me. If all shrines are like this, I cannot wait to get to the next one. From there we checked out a crude city zoo they had and explored their public park. It was a really nice trek and overall afternoon. On the next day, I just chilled got to the internet to hollar at those I haven’t gotten in touch with since I left. It was nice to reconnect with home.

Monday brought about my move to Nakayama. It was a full and good day. I said farewell to my comrades as they got off the train at stops before mine and finally met up with my head teacher. He is a pretty nice guy thus far. He showed me to the office where I met some of the staff that were there. Everyone made a good first impression. My manager and the two part time teachers there at the time were very welcoming and pleasant. I actually graduated from the same high school as one of them (she was a year ahead of me). How small is the world again LOL! From there I was taken to register with city card for my alien registration card, get a bank account and finally be moved into my apartment. I love it!! The best part about my place is . . . I share it with no one =p I do have to keep my noise down, but that is of no bother at this point. I have not yet been able to meet any of my illusive neighbors but my backyard does happen to be the local police station. Pretty funny huh? They aren’t Irvine cops, so I don’t mind. It would actually be cool to have some sort of morning greeting ritual with them. I think that would be funny. If that goes down, I will let you know.

Now I am settling in . . . to both my pad and job. I have been slowly arranging my apartment to suite my taste day by day. Its coming along slowly, but I am getting there. In terms of work, I have been trailing the teacher I am to replace and learning the ropes from him and taking tips from the other staff. So far I pretty much like everyone at the school. They have all been super nice and gracious and I couldn’t have been more lucky with my new crew I think. The students are all really nice as well. As most of you know, I will be having trouble with names, but it is almost my top priority to tackle that first so hopefully I have a good grasp on who is who when I take over officially on Tuesday. All and all the week has gone well thus far.

Today, it feels like things are starting to come together. I am remembering how things work and the higher staff has indicated that I am making a positive contribution in my efforts around the school already. I was pleased to get such remarks so soon. Also, a professional photographer from the head office came in and took pictures of all the staff that were present for both our branch website as well as possibly for ad campaigns if any of them a deemed good enough. It was an interesting day like all the rest. One thing that stuck out about the day took place just before I went home. My head teacher asked if I had taught or worked a similar job before this. He was impressed with how I interact with the students and was wondering where it came from. I told him it was cause of our students. Our students are better than I had hoped for during training in Omiya. They really want to be at class and excel and learning how to speak Eglish. Their drive and motivation drives me to be the way I am. They aren’t some spoiled priss-ass giving you shit cause they are hungry and don't want the food you made them. Rather, they want to be able to connect with me through language so they can engage a larger portion of the world in which they live. They are excited to accomplish this goal and project this excitement on me in the classroom and school lobby and I get off on that. As long as my students want to learn from me, I want to teach them. I see good things coming about based on this exchange. We’ll see.

I know I have skimped on many details, but this is long enough as is. Now that I am at my place, hopefully I can be better bout posting bout things in detail. Do hit me with follow up questions should you have any though.