作家のお話。

For once I've been really busy instead of really lazy at updating.

It's gotten cold enough for consistently turning on the heater, but that doesn't save you if you go to Disney.

All day long.

In the cold.

In my defense, I only planned to stay at Disney for the daylight hours since my coat wasn't designed for more than looking classy in somewhat fall temperatures. The friend I went with wanted to enjoy Disney until it closed, however. So we stayed past nightfall and slowly I began to freeze to death while surrounded with small children.

Long story short, I caught a cold. Again. I had to take a day off work for the worst of it and now I'm just muddling through life while hearing everything at half volume and feeling like I'm breathing through a straw. :C

My cold aside, I wanted to make an interesting observation!

I had always been taught that "omiyage" (お土産) were presents that you brought for your superiors. Everyone I spoke to was always vague on what sort of presents might be expected, but finally I have learned the truth: omiyage are just snacks that particular places are famous for. You go to a place, you buy snacks and bring them back to give away. End of story, mystery solved.

You're welcome.

Now to go and nap through the last two hours of work today with my eyes open.

Not too TMI, promise.

In the past month I have discovered more than I ever hopes to about dentistry around the Narashino area.

Overall, my experience has been good, though!

Before coming to Japan, I knew I needed to get some cavities taken care of and my wisdom teeth yanked. Unfortunately, I had little time and less cash to get either of those things taken care of. When my insurance completely object to covering any of the cost for getting my (impacted) wisdom teeth out surgically, the choice was made to have it done in Japan as soon as I was settled in.

I started out my foray into getting my teeth repaired by searching for dentists who spoke English because, let's face it, I am light-years away from ever memorizing enough teeth-specific vocabulary words to navigate the pitfalls of dental visits. And who wants to be 89% clueless about what's going on when the person you're talking to is armed with a drill?

The dentist I eventually chose had her office in nearby Mimomi and turned out to be possibly the best choice out there. Not only could she speak English, but she wants to be a translator for dentistry in the future and wanted to improve her English! In addition to that, she had a friend who recently moved his dental surgeon office into the hospital in my part of the city. She agreed to not only be my dentist, but to also translate for me when I went to get my wisdom teeth surgically removed.

I heard horror stories on the net about dentists in Japan not wearing gloves and practicing questionable sanitation practices, but I encountered none of that at my dentist's office! Her equipment was more modern than some of the stuff at my American dentist and she was much more concerned with getting me through my visits pain-free than my American dentist ever was. Before cleaning my teeth, then even numbed my gums slightly! I have really sensitive gums, so I was shaking from anticipating the pain, but that saved me from feeling anything! It was amazing. I will never go back to my American dentist.

The only thing I had a problem with was arguing for a resin filling on a large cavity I've been fighting with for more than a year. My American dentist tried to fill it at least four times and screwed up every time. The last filling held until two months into my stay in Japan, then promptly fell out again. My dentist preferred ending that problem with a metal cap, but I was pretty stalwart about avoiding that. I've got a few metal allergies and I wasn't about to deal with getting any metal permanently installed in my mouth. Eventually she gave in and did the filling amazingly.

And then she took pictures with her crazy mouth!camera to show me the results.

Sorry, American dentists, this lady has you outclassed at every turn.

Yesterday I at least went in for the big day! Getting my first wisdom tooth out! In Japan, it's common to use local anesthetic instead of knocking you out completely. I was... leery about this. My surgery took about 1 hr 15 minutes because the surgeon was petrified of touching the nerve my wisdom tooth was sitting on, and in all that time I experience any measurable pain maybe once. For an instant. And then they gave me another shot and all was well.

They put in stitches after all was said and done, gave me two different rounds of antibiotics, and a whopping four pain pills. When my American dentist removed a wisdom tooth, he packed me with gauze and an entire bottle of pain killers. My face was badly swollen and I was in a fair bit of agony from that first one immediately after having it removed and I spent an entire week in pain and popping pills.

No such happening in Japan! Despite it being surgery and more intense than my last wisdom tooth, I had no ill effects until it hit 2AM (my pain pill wore off). After popping another one I slept fine and when that one wore off... no significant pain to speak of. My face didn't even swell up until this morning and already it's less severe than it was. I can eat fine and the only bleeding I experience was last night when I talked to much with my mom!

So far I rate dental work in Japan as amazing. It's odd scheduling multiple appointments for different things, but my dentist and dental surgeon put those multiple visits to good use by being extra careful and paying special attention to what they're doing.

Good morning, world!

I am desperately wishing for some coffee, but I'm too lazy to make it and too in danger from caffeine to justify it on a weekend.

Fall has come to Narashino at last! Today is a lovely 22 degrees and it won't reach 30 all week. Lows are promising to be around 19 almost every day, so I'm excited! Walking to school in 30 degree and above weather has been kind of awful.

In other news, I'm going to try crossposting to LJ. I'm ridiculously bad at keeping up with multiple blogs, so we'll see if this works. Consider this a test post!

I'm clearing out my notebook so that I don't lose relevant information amidst a ton of already passed events.

One thing I scribbled a note about that I thought was interesting:

American children sometimes have problems with "b" and "d" and tend to flip one or the other backwards when they write. Japanese JHS kids have much the same problem.

Additionally, Japanese children are notorious for writing the hiragana character "く" (ku) backwards.

A small tidbit of interesting food for thought!

So I've finally entered week two of actually being in my assigned junior high school!

Is it really only the start of my second week? It feels so much longer, but in a good way! I've never had a job that I was so excited to go to. Currently I'm still only doing my self-introduction to the students. I haven't quite hit all of the classes (my JHS is the biggest in the city!), but either late this week or early next week I'll get into team teaching.

I'm sad that my time to sort of take over the entire lesson is drawing to a close, but I'm really interested in the actual content of the lessons. I also really want to see how each of the teachers conducts their lessons. I've started getting a feel for their teaching styles during my introductions and I expect there to be huge differences in the teaching atmosphere. Since I've been paying attention to their quirks during this first week, I won't be too caught off guard.

Before I ramble too far on how interested I am in the education system (and bore anyone reading this to tears), I'll share some of the questions the students ask!

- What sports do you like?
- What color do you like?
- Do you like/can you eat Japanese food?
- Where do you want to go in Japan?
- Which do you like better: America or Japan?
- Do you like [insert animal here]?
- What sports do you play?
- What is your favorite subject?
- Do you have a boyfriend? (These kids think they're a riot... right up until I shoot back, "Do you have a girlfriend?" Parry and riposte, good sir!)
- What famous Japanese person do you like?
- Do you like music/what kind of music do you like?
- Sensei, why are you so pretty? Like a doll... (What?! I'm totally not. But you, kid, are now on my good side for life. Maybe that was her intention!)

...and many more!

My introduction is generally pretty simple. I talk about my family, what my city is famous for, what I am surprised about in Japan (no AC in the classrooms, cars on the opposite side of the road, bicycles everywhere, etc.), my hobbies, my dreams, and so on. I try to be as genki as possible and speak loudly in a clear, slow voice.

Overall I'm fairly pleased with how my self-introductions go. They usually last between 15-20 minutes and with the Japanese English teacher's help, I have the more difficult ideas walked through so that the students understand as much as possible. To give them a hand while I'm talking, I scribble out illustrations on the chalkboard as I go and repeat key information in different contexts.

Outside of the classroom I haven't done a lot of work. I've corrected some homework papers on grammar and spelling, and I've also been consulted by the English teachers on correct word usage and things like that. Simple stuff so far. I'll update with more when I get into the actual team-teaching and the "let's be nice to the new American" feel at work wears off.

Today was the opening ceremony at my first junior high school!

I started off the day in the most professional way possible by forgetting when I needed to leave from my apartment. Luckily I woke up early (compared to when I thought I was supposed to leave), and had just enough time to grab all my things and race out the door. I managed to avoid being late and spent the rest of the day being shuffled around from one office to the next as they tried to decide what to do with me in my free time.

By the time it was nearly eleven, they finally shuffled me off to the gymnasium with all of the students for the opening ceremonies.

When I understood that despite being offered a chair, there was no way to politely accept, I realized in horror that I had made a terrible mistake in my choice of footwear. I wore a suit and the heels that went with it. And stood. And stood. And stood some more.

The only time I was able to escape my vertical prison was to go up on stage and say a few quick words to the students in English and Japanese. I was a little nervous, but it went over well enough! (I almost tripped going up the stairs that seemed to be made one for mountain men and similar giants, though.)

I spent the rest of the day fending off comments of, "Kawaiiiii!" every time I opened my mouth.

My kids are amazing. <3

I said earlier that I would update about my apartment, and because I really want to procrastinate on prep work for school and writing various speeches, here's the apartment pictures! Under a helpful cut.

( Here they are! )

Maybe next time I'll try to muddle my way through explanations of some of the crazy electronics found in my apartment!

I'm glad to say that I made it to Japan at last. ^^ I'll update with what I ended up packing a little bit later. For now I want to catch up on the bulk of entry writing.

The flight over to Japan was an overall pleasant experience. There were very few passengers on the plane, so I got to stretch out as much as I wanted. I had the brilliant Idea to nap during Japan's night time and wake up at the appropriate morning hour to avoid jet lag and assumed I pulled it off flawlessly.

When Adrian (fellow ALT) and I hit Narita airport, we spent the first half of our journey to immigrations helping a mom carry her car seat and half-leading another woman in the right direction. When we finally got to immigration, there was a crazy long line. It took us a while to get through it, but in the end the paperwork wasn't very difficult. We had our passports and visas at the ready, so once we got to the end of the line it took no time at all.

A quick digital fingerprint, a glance at a camera, and we had our gaikokujin cards!

It had taken us so long to get through immigration that our luggage was already waiting for us beside the conveyer belt downstairs. ^^; Several members from the Board of Education including our direct supervisor and the senior ALT were also waiting for us once we made it out of the airport (rumor has it he was extremely excited to meet us, but by the time we got there he was just kinda tired).

Packing our bags into their van was a bit of a chore, but somehow we all squeezed in and were whisked away to the BoE. Once there we were introduced to the office and, against everything I was expecting, actually sat at the BoE for a while. Kind of... not doing anything. It was very awkward and I felt extremely underdressed in a white t-shirt and a black skirt that I kept wishing went a little more past my knees. I'd dressed for travel, not work.

The worst part was that the thought had crossed my mind that I should dress for work, but in the end I decided against it to avoid rumpling my work clothes on a 12 hr flight.

Once the awkwardness of sitting at the BoE ended, I finally got to go see my apartment! I was impressed and really thankful to the ALT before me for leaving the place so well furnished. I'll do a separate update telling more about the apartment in general. I was given maybe.. half an hour? to rest and get ready to go to dinner with the other ALTs (who promptly trooped up to my apartment to hang out after the BoE members left). During that time, however, the BoE members that picked us up originally also decided to join in for dinner.

Then ended up taking us to a place that served more traditional Japanese dishes. All of it was delicious and I had no idea what half of it was. My Japanese still hadn't kicked in at all, so I was sort of helplessly along for the ride.

Around 8PM, jet lag hit hard and we finally wrapped up an amazing night to head back to our apartments.

Long time no update, blog.

There are a couple reasons behind that. The most important being: I am working so very hard so that my parents won't have to fund me as much my first month in Japan.

Word to the wise, kids, always have savings put back for when job opportunities arise far away. Unforeseen circumstances drained my savings right before I applied to this job, which would have left me in a really tight spot if I didn't have such amazing parents. The only thing they're asking in return is that I use some of my earnings to help fund the last few semesters of my younger sister's undergrad degree. I'm perfectly fine with that. Getting out of college debt free has put me in an amazingly good position to begin working in Japan. The only debt I have to worry about is my brand new car.

Which... I have to leave behind. I might make a few sad faces when I leave.

And on that note, we get to the important bits. The flight to Japan. I spent quite a while looking high and low for the best flight deal to save money and I finally... didn't find it. A good friend did, however, and now I'll share her amazing find with the rest of the Internet.

http://www.statravel.com

They're a booking agency that caters specifically to young adults, teachers, and students for the cheapest flights to anywhere. There may be the occasional deal that's better, but it's hard to beat the price I found for my one-way flight through them. I'd highly recommend at least giving them a look before shopping around anywhere else.

My official departure date is August 9th, 2012 and I'll be arriving in Japan on August 10th. The lovely people with the Narashino Municipal Board of Education will be picking me and my fellow ALT up at the Narita airport.

Just today I received my certificate of eligibility from the Narashino BoE along with general information about my new job and place of employment. It all looks extremely exciting, but my work prepping is far from over.

Once you get your certificate of eligibility, make certain not to waste any time sending it, your passport, and your visa application form in to your consulate/embassy's visa department. The consulate in Atlanta usually has a very quick turn around time, but there's always the chance of delays. I sent mine through the post office with next-day guaranteed delivery, a return envelope with postage and address filled out, and tracking for less than $25. You can find more information about work visa's here (or at the appropriate consulate site for your area): http://www.atlanta.us.emb-japan.go.jp/workvisa.html

My last vital piece of documentation that I'm concerned with is now those tax forms I mentioned in an earlier entry. I sent in my forms a few days after my fellow ALT and now he's had his forms back for a week or two now and I've been told it may be an additional two weeks before I receive mine. Just for reference, I sent my form in May 30th and likely won't get my return forms until July 30th. So be sure to get those sent in as early as possible. I cannot stress that enough when dealing with a government agency. Delays, delays, delays. They're the rule, not the exception.

As a final note, I've at last seen what my apartment will look like! I'm really excited to learn more about it, but I'll save an apartment post until I'm officially moved in and can take some pictures of my own.

Until next time! <3

Applications for employment have been completed! It was a surprisingly simple process after the JET application. I actually referenced a lot of my answers there to complete this one, which saved me a lot of hair-pulling.

On top of the application, I also received helpful information regarding income tax. I'm... still deciphering it, but here are the links I was given, which may be of help to others!

http://taxes.about.com/od/taxhelp/a/ForeignIncome.htm
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=122559,00.html

The gist of it is that you need to fill in form 8802 in order to get form 6166. And then... you won't be double-taxed (I think).

In other news, I will be having lunch with the other selected ALT this Thursday. Perhaps we can brainstorm and figure out answers to some of questions. Or at least come up with a list of things we really need to know to ask the committee head next Tuesday.