It's the beginning of my third full day in my new life and things are already out-of-the-ordinarily exciting. I've had dinner with a bunch of local ALTs in Kanazawa (KZ), gone to a drinking party with adult students of the English conversation classes and today one of my friends from college arrived one my doorstep fresh from a music festival in another prefecture. In a few hours we're headed out to a "Summer Festa" in Kahoku.
But I suppose I should start from the beginning.
On Wednesday, my first introduction to Kahoku, I was picked up from the Komatsu airport, shuttled with my supervisor, who speaks no English at all, and another ALT to a sushi lunch in Kanazawa. We stopped on the way to Kahoku to get some ID pictures so I could apply for my alien registration card. We then rushed to the mayor's office where we arrived just 2 minutes late for our appointment. I was thrown, sweaty and winded from running around in heels and a full suit in 90-degree weather, into the mayor's office and a television and newspaper interview. My Japanese faculties weren't exactly up and running, but my predecessor was there for the interview, too, and he helped me through a bit.
From the mayor's, we headed to apply for my alien registration and then on to the Board of Education where I did my self-introduction for people in various offices and sat down with the Superintendent for a chat. I was presented with my official terms of employment and then headed on my merry way to see my apartment.
I spent the rest of the day at the apartment settling in.
On Thursday I went to the BoE in the morning and then headed out to meet the staff at one of my schools, an elementary. I'm left with a really good impression of the people working there and I know that, if nothing else, I'll at least enjoy my Mondays.
I spent the rest of Thursday cooling down under the fan in my apartment.
On Friday I popped in to the BoE to let them know I was going to try to walk to my schools. Although I
did try, I definitely didn't succeed. I collapsed in a sweaty mess under the A/C in my apartment until my neighbor and fellow JET dropped in. We did some shopping at the local mall, I used some of my mad Japanese skills and then we came back to the apartment.
I droped into the BoE at the end of the work day to let them know I was alive and that my adventure was only a partial success and then headed home to wait around until the party, which involved a lot of food, a lot of drinking and general merriment.
The Summer Festa/Cats Festa/random festival in Kahoku was generally amusing and made all the more exciting by Adam's arrival in Kahoku that afternoon. We ate festival food, made a quick appearance on TV, I met a bunch of my future students and one of the other JETs and I were forced into doing a traditional dance with a bunch of the ladies of the town. Plus, one of the JETs, who had shown up in a traditional yukata, was un- and re-dressed by a kimono teacher in one of the tents in the middle of the festival. Good times were had all around.
Sunday, an amateur sumo competition, a soccer game and then crashing at home.
It's a new week.
