Only 10 days left before I join the ranks of the gaijin (foreigners) to teach English in Japan for a year! It's been a busy month of preparation and goodbyes. My farewell tour (like Cher's, with fewer costume changes) has taken me to San Francisco, Portland, New York, Texas, Virginia, and Indiana. It's been wonderful to spend time with so many people, and I hope this blog will help friends and family feel sufficiently updated on my upcoming adventures.
WHERE I'LL BE
I've been placed in Nara prefecture, which is southeast on the island of Honshu. For those of you concerned, that puts me far away from the area hit by the earthquake and tsunami earlier this year.
I'm incredibly excited to have been placed in Nara. Though I would have willingly gone anywhere, even the inaka (roughly translated: boondocks- think fishing villages and mountain hamlets), the history nerd in me can't wait to dive into all Nara has to offer. The medieval capital of Japan, Nara City includes Japan's largest Buddha statue, a host of temples and shrines, the old imperial palace, and sacred deer. The prefecture further boasts some of the loveliest cherry blossoms in Japan, the Japanese Stonehenge, and other important Buddhist and Shinto sites.
My school is an international high school. I will be assisting a Japanese teacher, along with another JET from DC named Daniel. We will be replacing two outgoing JETs, one of whom is a friend of mine from university. She has worked at the school for four years, and has great things to say about the experience. School officially starts in early September; until then, I will be working on my lesson plans for the year.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
If I had to make one promise about my time in Japan, it would be this: there will be food. 5AM sushi breakfast at the Tsukiji Fish Market, steak in Kobe, takoyaki, ramen, mochi, and all the street food I can afford. One of my primary goals while abroad is to learn how to cook authentic Japanese food. Otherwise, here's a brief list of things, real and imagined, that I hope to accomplish before returning to the States:
-Learn enough Japanese to pass proficiency test
-Feel as though I have contributed in a meaningful way to my students' understanding of English
-Climb Mt. Fuji
-Visit Kyoto
-Frequently patronize the onsen (Japanese hot springs)
-Eat at the Tsukiji Fish Market
-Befriend a yakuza (the Japanese mob)
-Realize my secret lifelong ambition to become a ninja ("Because ninjas seriously make everything 100 times better.")
Overall, I'm trying not to burden my time in Japan with lots of expectations. Part of the fun will be to see how everything unfolds, and I'm sure there will be a myriad of surprises and unimaginable opportunities. For example, one former JET told me that she was unexpectedly invited by a teacher at her school to eat dinner with a bunch of geisha (gaggle of geisha?). Do I want to do something like this? Absolutely. We'll see what adventures unfold.
"WE CAN'T BE HAVIN' NO FRAUX PAS"
Several people have asked what my biggest fear is going in to this. Honestly, nothing. By all accounts, Japan is safe, clean and friendly (or at least polite). I am sure, however, that I will commit many faux pas. My hope is that none of these will be irrevocably offensive or lead to legal action. My ignorance of etiquette and social customs makes me nervous.
Take, for example, shoes. Shoes are to be removed when entering someone's home- that's pretty commonly understood among the gaijin. However, when I enter school, I must put on a different pair of shoes than the ones I walked to work in. These are my "indoor shoes." If I need to use the bathroom, I take off my indoor shoes, put on a pair of "toilet slippers" left by the door of the bathroom, enter, etc. and then remove them again when I leave the bathroom and put back on my indoor shoes. From my predecessor: "Leave [the toilet slippers] neat after you change out of them (teachers complained after some French exchange students left them all over the place)." Saved! (And more importantly, saved from association with the French!) Had Kat not pointed this out, I would have been doomed to wander around in an all-purpose pair of shoes, befouling everything. Instead, I will be a conscientious Imelda Marcos, with shoes for every occasion.
IN CONCLUSION
In some senses, a year seems so brief, and then I stop and think of how many changes have occurred just 7 months into 2011. Already, friends are reshuffling and moving off to grad schools and new jobs, domestically and abroad. There's rumors of possible new additions to the family, whether marriages, children, or pets. Come 2012 we could have a new president! (Though if it's Bachmann, I'll be renewing my contract for the full five years.)
In short: I hope you have a great 2011-2012. I know I will. Keep in touch, and I'll report more from the other side.
[Cue hijinks.]
