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The first weekend and the NHK
Aug. 11th, 2012 10:33 pmOne of the biggest shocks once I reached Japan was to find out that I would be starting work on Monday. I was a little flummoxed since before I got off the plane, I was still under the impression that I'd just be kind of hanging out in Japan and acclimating to life here until the 27th. The BoE had no such plans, though, and intended to have me and Adrian well trained before we set foot in our schools.
That first weekend, however, we were helped along a lot in adjusting. The older ALT (now known as our fearless leader) was out of town for a small vacation, but our direct supervisor took it upon herself to show us around Narashino and make sure we bought everything we needed.
We had already vaguely realized it the previous night, but going out shopping we found out just how many shops were a quick ten minute walk away.
Once we had groceries and our essentials (plus new alarm clocks that she kindly bought for us), we were returned to our apartments and told that Sunday would be a completely free day.
As it turns out, Sunday was a costly day.
They had visited Adrian previously, so I knew what to expect when a little, old woman rang my doorbell. She was there to collect my credit card information to pay for NHK television. Apparently this year they made it a law that you have to pay to support NHK. So. Be prepared for this minor inconvenience and, if you don't have you Japanese bank account yet, avoid going to the door. Once I answered the door, she was determined not to leave until she'd at least gotten my American card information, which is going to cause a bit of a headache for me later to get it transferred over.
That first weekend, however, we were helped along a lot in adjusting. The older ALT (now known as our fearless leader) was out of town for a small vacation, but our direct supervisor took it upon herself to show us around Narashino and make sure we bought everything we needed.
We had already vaguely realized it the previous night, but going out shopping we found out just how many shops were a quick ten minute walk away.
Once we had groceries and our essentials (plus new alarm clocks that she kindly bought for us), we were returned to our apartments and told that Sunday would be a completely free day.
As it turns out, Sunday was a costly day.
They had visited Adrian previously, so I knew what to expect when a little, old woman rang my doorbell. She was there to collect my credit card information to pay for NHK television. Apparently this year they made it a law that you have to pay to support NHK. So. Be prepared for this minor inconvenience and, if you don't have you Japanese bank account yet, avoid going to the door. Once I answered the door, she was determined not to leave until she'd at least gotten my American card information, which is going to cause a bit of a headache for me later to get it transferred over.
