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Backdated to the correct day!
Aug. 10th, 2012 10:04 pmI'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.
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.
