Sonobe-cho!

The last day of Tokyo Orientation was not so great. A bit of stress, a lot of sleeping. I woke up to a thunderstorm at one point, which meant a sweet view of the lightning from our room on the 36th floor. I slept through dinner, woke up to Briana returning at midnight, and watched two episodes of Dexter on my computer before crashing again.

Wednesday morning was check-out and get out. All the Kyoto JETs met downstairs at 9:15, hopped the train to Tokyo Station, bought lunch and then boarded the shinkansen just after 11. On the two-hour ride I sat between Fig and a nice girl from D.C. named Christine, who reminded me just a bit of the indominatable Jen Roust. Then we hustled through Kyoto Station, up two thousand escalators with all of our orientation luggage, and into some sort of international center. As we waited in line to be let inside, I met Cornelis Van Staden, the South African guy who is living in my same apartment complex. When we realized how close by we lived, we agreed to travel to next week's Kyoto Orientation together. (These orientations never end!)

Finally we went into a small meeting room. Inside were a bunch of Japanese people wearing business suits: the supervisors from our contracting organizations. Waiting for me was a friendly middle-aged man named Wakabayashi. After a short ceremony and some introductions, we were sent off to our various towns. Wakabayashi-sensei and I boarded yet another train out of Kyoto, northwest until we hit Sonobe, my new hometown! Along the way I learned that Wakabayashi-sensei is a kind and funny human being, who has done a lot of traveling and loves fast cars and guns. (Both of which surprised and tickled me, considering that this is Japan. Apparently he goes to a shooting range, and is a pretty fair shot. Also, he owns an Alpha Romeo, an Italian car of which only 1000 were made. He drives it on a closed course.)

Our first stop in Sonobe was at Sonobe Senior High, my new workplace. (Being ogled by students all along the way. Boy, we surprised some girls in the train station.) I met the principal, Mr. Mori, and a thousand other staff members whose names I'm working on. Also, I finally met Stephanie, my cheerful kiwi predecessor, with whom I've been exchanging emails for some time now. She strikes me as a lot of fun, and has been very patient and helpful so far. Too bad she has to leave just as I arrive!

The apartment isn't huge by American standards, but is very reasonable for Japanese. Three rooms plus the bath; kitchen, sitting room, and bedroom. All in Japanese style, with tatami and a futon for me to sleep on. There's sort of stuff everywhere, as Stephanie is just in the middle of moving out, but I think it'll be nice when I finally unpack properly sometime next week.

I and Stephanie were also kindly taken out to dinner by the principal, along with Wakabayashi-sensei and another English teacher named Takemura-sensei. She seems very sweet! The meal was delicious, and we had a pretty decent conversation -- half in English, half in Japanese. Back at the apartment, Stephanie and I watched Knocked Up and hit the sack. (We're sharing the apartment until she leaves.)

This morning Stephanie and I walked to school, and she showed me around me a bit and gave me a packet of information. Then Wakabayashi-sensei and I went and got me some passport-sized photos taken, and applied at City Hall for an Alien Registration Card. (For which I needed the aforementioned photos.) Coincidentally, we ran into Cornelis and his supervisor, who were there doing the same. It was nice to see him again; I hope we can become friends!

Next we stopped by the apartment to pick up a tax form I'd brought along from the IRS, which we gave to the office lady, whose name may or may not be Takaya-san. Stephanie and I braved the abysmal heat to go get lunch, a fried-chicken bento from a little stand run by two middle-aged ladies. It was quite good, but I couldn't eat it all, because my stomach was a bit queasy. (I think from being overheated. I drank a lot of water in response, and now feel much better.)

After lunch Wakabayashi-sensei took us to the local bank, where I opened an account, and Stephanie closed hers. And that's up to the minute! At four o'clock or so I get to go pick up my very first paycheck, for the five days I'll have spent here in Japan, and then we're going to go poke around town. (In Wakabayashi-sensei's car, thank goodness. It really is unbearably humid. Makes me feel faint!)

To make a long story short, I'm optimistic. Sonobe is small, but it seems like a nice enough place! :D







shinkansen: the bullet train! It goes 300 km an hour...so about 170 miles, maybe? Anyways, it's super fast, and costs almost as much as a plane ticket. Thank goodness I didn't have to pay!

sensei: the Japanese word for teacher, used in place of san

tatami: woven mats used in place of rugs or carpets

futon: a padded pallet placed on the floor and slept on instead of a western-style bed

san the Japanese equivalent of Mr. or Ms.

bento: quite literally, a lunch box. A plastic carry-out box of assorted foods, that usually come in pre-determined sets.