Ok, first of all, that title only works if you pronounced it right. It’s Mee-ay, it doesn’t rhyme with pie. Come on, I did a whole pronunciation guide for a reason. Work with me here. Anyway, yes. After a long two days (that makes it sound sarcastic, but it wasn’t) of Tokyo orientation, I finally made it to my new apartment in Tsu, Mie (Tsu like tsunami, which doesn’t actually have a silent ‘t’. Like the ‘z’ in “Nazi” or ‘tts’ in “butts”).
At about 8am, we gathered with all the other Mie JETs and prepared to brave the wilderness of Shinjuku station, the busiest station in the world (over 3.5 million people a day). We took that to Tokyo station, known for being such a maze that video game designers actually use it for dungeon inspiration. We were crammed pretty tight, but I’ve been in way worse. From there we took a FREE (usually $100+) bullet train to Nagoya, home of a castle and most Japanese people I know. Because I’ve taken this shinkansen before, I knew to sit on the right side for a good view of Mt. Fuji as long as the weather’s good enough. It was. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time at Nagoya station, so I was deprived of my usual Krispy Kremes (which is basically a Japanese food to me now since I eat it far more often here).
Asante Sana, Squash Banana, Wewe Nugu Mimi Hapana
After the 3+hr. train ride, we finally arrived at Tsu station. Waiting for me and the two other Tsu JETs were our new supervisor and some current JETs. We piled in a van and went to the bank where we got our new bank accounts set up. For all official documents, instead of just a signature, we also have a magical stamp with our name on it that’s completely unique to us and necessary for most important things. I wonder how long it’ll be until I lose it… Then we went to some government building to meet the superintendent or mayor or whoever (we’ll never meet them again, it’s all formalities). Finally we went to the TV/Internet company to get our service started, stopped at a supermarket to get some food for later, then arrived at our new apartments (girls in one, guys in the other (that’s more coincidence than a rule, my predecessor was a girl)). I’d been expecting to have a pretty small apartment here (definitely smaller than the domiciles I’ve become accustomed to), but that’s fine. I spend most of my time in one room regardless. So when I walked in and saw the kitchen with en-suite bathroom (by bathroom I mean a closet with a toilet next to a separate room with just a bath, as they do here), and one other room with a desk and tv, it was about what I expected. However once I opened what I thought was a closet and saw my tatami room with a piano and exercise bike (nobody knows where the piano came from), I was quite pleased. What I was slightly less pleased at was the intense heat I felt inside. Japanese houses rarely use central heating and cooling, so I have two separate air-conditioners (one for each the tatami and living rooms). When it’s been on a while, it’s fine, but when you’ve just gotten home, it’s basically as hot as it was outside. Also, to save money, usually only one room is cooled at a time, so just exiting to go to the kitchen is equivalent to just walking outside and immediately starting to sweat. There’s also one tiny problem with the lack of a bed. Now, as some of you might already know, many Japanese people sleep on futons. “Yeah, so did my kid for a few years after college,” you might be thinking. However I don’t mean the couch-bed transformer that you’re thinking of. I mean a giant cushion not unlike one you might put on a lounge chair by the pool. Here’s the thing: when one’s dad starts a job at Tempur-pedic, one becomes accustomed to not sleeping on the floor. I’m fine with a futon every once in a while, and I’ve been so tired that it doesn’t matter, but eventually I’m going to prefer an actual bed (or at least mattress. Heck, I don’t even need the boxspring). I’m not complaining, these are just things I have to learn to deal with now that I live here. Anyway, I’ll give a more detailed tour in a later post/video. After unpacking a bit, we went out to dinner with our supervisors and a few other JETs (five of us new (one had arrived the week before)). The current JETs told us about Tsu and what to expect teaching and living here. Part of it was basically un-orientation, where they told us everything that was BS about what we learned in Tokyo orientation (such as how the teachers will basically rely on us to do most of the lesson planning, rather than doing it in tandem or following their lead). It was during this time that I was told the greatest news I’ve ever been told: there are monkeys all around one of my schools, and on some days I won’t be able to get to the school because they’re blocking the road. It is someone’s job to then go out with a stick (presumably one that looks like this) and chase them off. After dinner, some of us then went to a little afterparty at another bar down the street. It was fun to finally meet everyone and get to relax after all the orientations. We finally got done at around midnight (long after some of us hit the jetlag wall), then I got back and found out my computer had decided to basically reset itself (at least keeping the files). I tried for the next hour to fix it, but nothing worked so I gave up and went to bed, knowing I had to be up in six hours.
The New Tsu Crew
The next day we were picked up from our apartments and taken to our new schools. However, since there were four of us, and we each had four schools, AND some of the schools were out in the inaka (boonies), we only had time to go in for like 5 minutes, introduce ourselves, then leave. Since we were in the car with each other for almost 5 hours, and most of us were from different countries (America, Canada, England), we spent a lot of time talking about our accents and how they do different things in our countries. At my Jr. high school, there are two English teachers who came to see and talk to me. Their English seemed pretty good, but one was this cute old Japanese lady who had the softest voice I’ve ever heard. At en elementary school(some class sizes are only about 7), I was constantly told how small it was. Then I got there and it was a big, two story building (though it was only two rooms deep, so maybe it looks bigger than it is). We finally finished a little before 1, so we headed to the phone store/mall. We ate some ramen (and ice cream) at the food court, then went to get our phones. One of the current JETs helped me translate to figure out the best plan and whether or not my American phone would work (but then I wouldn’t be paying them enough money, so of course it “wouldn’t”). Finally we figured everything out, but then he told me that I needed my passport, along with my gaijin card (that’s the unofficial name for the residence card that proves I live here) and my credit card. In other words, I had to go all the way back to my apartment (along with one of the other JETs). So we headed back to the station, which wasn’t too far, but it was still ridiculously humid and I was sick of walking. We took the train to the station closer to our apartments, then checked the used bike shop for bikes. They didn’t have any, so we had to walk back to our apartment. We got our passports, some extra bikes used by other JETs, then biked back to the station. Then the two of us went back to the train store where another JET came to save us and translate our buying of phones (in spite of the brevity I wrote this with, it took like 3 to get back). Then we went and got new bikes and Wi-Fi routers, then the two of us headed home as everything closed (it was 8pm). Luckily now that I had my phone, we had GPS to get back. Unluckily, about two-thirds of the way back, the other guy’s bike chain broke, so we had to walk/Flinstones-style pedal back home. Once I got back, I continued to try and fix my things, but to no avail. I gave up on the router and decided to do next-day delivery (free on Amazon Prime thanks to Japan being small). For the first night in a while, I went to sleep knowing I could finally sleep in.
Tabemono
Saturday was mostly spent organizing and unpacking things and “fixing” my computer by just resetting everything then upgrading to Windows 10 (now I don’t seem crazy when I talk to my computer!). It makes me sad that 10am was considered “sleeping in,” but such is the life of an adult. Around lunchtime, I decided to go explore the area and find food. I was on a search for hamburg steak with demi-glace, since it’s been a long time since I’ve had it (English teacher test: explain the difference between those two ‘since’s, then explain how it’s different from ‘because’). I couldn’t find anywhere, and the one place that I knew had it was too far away, so I succumbed to my hunger and got ramen again (I think I’ve eaten more noodles this past week than I did most of last year). However, each time I’ve gotten a different flavor of ramen, so it’s fine for now (I can argue how Jet’s, Buddy’s, and Domino’s pizza are all basically different foods). I thought about getting “fried potato” (I’ve rarely ever been in a restaurant here where you couldn’t get french fries. It’s about as common as edamame), but I decided not to reveal my identity as an American yet, so I got karaage instead. I’m beginning to realize the limits of my options in Japan if I can’t stop being a pain in the ass victim of ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (totally a thing)). I went back to my apartment and waited for my router to be delivered so I could finally use Wi-Fi, and therefore my phone (or computer more than 3 feet (sorry, a meter) from my desk). At around 7, I met with some people to go to dinner at a gyoza place. I decided that I need to start trying to bend or break my brain’s rules, so I ate some (after convincing my brain it was ok because I ate everything in it), and actually really liked it (hooray! Another food I can eat here). I only mention these to demonstrate my growth whilst here (I’m a big kid now (if you didn’t sing that, do it again)). Most of you don’t give a crap about what I eat, and you shouldn’t (one of many reasons Instagram is dumb. You went to Chili’s, don’t take a picture of food anyone can get). I usually only bring it up when others are trying to determine what I should eat. You eat what you want, and I’ll worry about me (you’re not my real mom! (just adding the word ‘real’ makes that way more intense)). I’m pretty sure there was a coherent thought among the parentheses (do you see why I often seem distracted now? It’s because of all the parentheses in my head). Once I got back, there was a message saying that they missed me delivering my router (apparently they deliver as late as 9, so of course they waited till I was at dinner), and I learned that you have to be present to receive all packages. So now I have to figure out when I’ll be home and call and tell them. It’s like getting cable installed.
Sorry, this was one of the longer posts, but there’s a lot of information I had to cover for posterior’s sake (shhhh). I’ll start adding picture soon, along with an exclusive view of my new apartment. Next week I have Mie orientation, my first day of work, then two days of vacation before the weekend! Will I learn anything useful this time at orientation? Will I have to beat some monkeys with a stick? Is that a euphemism? If it wasn’t, would you really want to know? Find out next time on the Gaijin Chronicles! Dah dahh dadahhh da dahh duuhhh.
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