Arrival In Nagasaki

8/3/08

Things have finally slowed down enough since I arrived to catch up on my blog. Today is Sunday, the 3rd of August, but I’ll catch you up on all events since my arrival in Nagasaki prefecture, and ultimately Sasebo (the large town/small city I live and work in) last Wednesday. The airplane ride was the last opportunity for me to chat with and talk to my fellow ALTs that I had bonded with since orientation. We all said our goodbyes, practiced our introductions, and departed the plane as a group. Outside, there were lots of people holding up signs with our individual names. I didn’t see mine, but I did run into someone else who had a sign from Sasebo, and he called over the teacher who was sent to pick me up. Nagaishi-sensei (name translates to “forever stone”) introduced herself and I did the same. Nagaishi sensei is an English teacher at my high school.

I’d tell you the name of my school, but I recently found out I cannot mention the name of the school or any of my students on my blog or else I could get in trouble. Japanese schools and homeroom teachers play a critical and involved role in the life and development of their children, sometimes even more so than the parents! It’s my understanding that there are school employees who regularly check the web and blogs for anything related to their school, checking for inappropriate name dropping like I mentioned, if any of the girls have boyfriends (which they aren’t allowed to have), or other activities prohibited by the school. It’s ok, I’m going to rename all my students with English names once classes begin as a class activity so I’ll be using their fake American names anyway. At first this was all very shocking to me, but I guess it makes sense. Why would you take a healthy chunk of your limited funds and spend them on a foreign teacher who blogs all day about all the things at your school that irritate him/her? Not that I would do that, but I’m sure it’s happened.

Nagaishi-sensei’s English was well above proficient. I was very afraid that my English teachers would have terrible speaking skills as I was warned might happen, but I was relieved to find her very easy to talk to, both in Japanese and English. I was very happy to meet her, but it should be noted however, that she is not my supervisor. My supervisor, Urata-sensei (haven’t translated it yet) is in Seattle right now, escorting the second year students on the English track through their homestay. It’s like a 3 week exchange student program. Nagaishi sensei took me to my first restaurant in Nagasaki, a chain restaurant called “Joyfull” (too many L’s, I know :).

It’s very hot here. I would say it is about the same kind of weather as Atlanta, humidity and all, plus a couple degrees. I was reasonably comfortable, but the natives are complaining because it is a record summer and they are not used to the heat this high. Inside Joyfull, I was very saddened to find the restaurant was not air conditioned. Fortunately, though I didn’t know this at the time, it turns out the ea-kon (air conditioner) was out temporarily, and the Japanese love their AC. That’s all well and good, but you have to imagine that I was in a 3 piece wool suit, neck-tie and all. We finally took off for the school and Sasebo and Nagaishi-sensei called the school and found out the principal, who I was to meet that afternoon, was not in, and was going to be out on Thursday as well. The great part is that I was able to go straight to my apartment, get settled and rested, and put off the very formal introduction and greeting that must take place with new ALTs and their kouchou-sensei (principal). The not so great part is that I had to ship the bulk of my luggage separate from my overnight bag due to the 15kg (33lbs) weight restrictions for checked bags on Japanese Airlines and it was not due to arrive until Friday! Yikes!

So, now I get to totally brag for a minute… My apartment is SO beautiful. Apparently my predecessor lived in a dump, and they decided to get me a new apartment, and it really is almost entirely brand new. It’s very small, but with beautiful hardwood floors, separate bed/living room and kitchen, bathroom, and shower/bath area. If I understood what’s going on correctly, the office pooled their money and very sweetly purchased me a new gas range and broiler which did not come furnished with the apartment. The landlord met us at the door and he helped install my new oven, showed me how to work the hot water, my washer, etc. Hot water is very different, but kinda cool how they do it. Apparently they see heating a tank of water and just holding it as very wasteful (makes sense I guess) so water is heated as you use it. There is an electronic control panel in my kitchen and bathroom that controls the hot water temperature and you have to turn it on before you want to generate hot water. While you have to remember to turn it on, the water actually gets hot much faster than in the states with a traditional hot water heater. All the controls are in Japanese, just like everything here, and it’s all the more reason to study. OH, whenever someone comes to see me, there is an electronic control panel with a monitor that shows me who is at the door, and allows me to buzz them in or talk to them. Any my toilet?! Wow! I may never be able to get used to standard American toilets again. Ok, I know how unpleasant the concept of a warm stream of water pointed straight at your, um… how to say this politely, “behind” may sound at first, but it’s the only way to go. You feel so… clean; every time I go to the bathroom I feel like I’ve just tip-toed through a field of daisies. It’s fantastic.

Sadly (or maybe luckily) for you, no pics this post.

Videos of my new diggs instead!