The JET Whirlwind Begins

Ok, so hopefully this entry will mark the renewal of my blogging energy and there will be much more frequent entries from now on. Mostly because of the fact that I am now living in JAPAN!! It still sounds strange to say....I'm living in Japan. Wow. I've wanted to do this since college, and now I'm here. How neat is that?

And I'll throw in there that right now, I am on the 39th floor of a hotel in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, passing up on several social opportunities that would include lots and lots of food and beer and perhaps some karaoke, because JET LAG IS KICKING MY ASS!! I've never had it this bad before. Of course, I've never had to attend long indoor meeting all day after any international arrival, not to mention meeting dozens of new people within the first day...I'm sure that contributes to it! I feel awful right now though, so please excuse any bad grammar or whatever rambling I am about to embark upon :-)

So my arrival in Japan .... wow. You're not in Korea anymore Dorthy! What a huge huge difference - a sure signal that my entire time here will be almost night and day from my time in Seoul. Mostly it has to do with the program I am on - let me say a little about that.

The JET Program - it stands for Japanese Exchange and Teaching. It was started in 1987 with the goal of fostering cross-cultural understanding and language for Japanese students and teachers - it grew, grew, grew...long story short, they now have about 6,000 participants from 44 countries placed all over Japan. Most are Assistant Language Teachers like myself, the rest are placed in businesses and government offices. It's a huge program, and to give you a little idea of the status it holds in Japan: the Japanese Prime Minister recently visited the US on diplomatic business, and he was invited to attend a local event for JET Alum, and he went and stayed out drinking with them until the wee wee hours.

So I doubt I will ever get to drink with the Prime Minister, but what will I actually be doing in my year here? I am one of two assistant language teachers in a Japanese public high school. So I will be team teaching with the Japanese English teachers. As I understand it, one of the main problems with Japanese English education is that it was much to textbook and test centered, so students were trained to test well, but were not actually able to use functional English. The JET Program brings in native English speakers to help the students practice "Living English." It's also intended to give Japanese people more exposure to foreigners, which many of the would not have otherwise. For me, it will be a big change since I will not have my own class and will not be planning my own curriculum. In some ways that will be a relief, and others will probably be very annoying. But I hope that the experience of living in Japan will make up for any shortcomings in the teaching situation.

Judging from the orientation so far, this is going to be a fantastic year. It is the kind of program that is designed to help us have the BEST experience possible - meaning there is a super duper support network, we have easy access to all the info we could possibly need to make living in Japan enjoyable, and they do everything they possibly can to help us out. Like I said, night and day from my experience in Korea!

The arrival in Tokyo was totally wild - we got off the plane, went through customs, collected our baggage, and were immediately swept into the world of JET. They must have had a hundred people posted throughout the airport, all wearing matching blue t-shirts, shepherding us along in the right direction, smiling, bowing, calling out welcomes. We reached a spot where we dropped off one of our bags to be shipped out to our towns, then got on the bus to the hotel. Upon arrival to the hotel, it was the exact same thing - smiling blue shirts waved us into the arrival room, where we were given name tags, bags and bags of information, and a room key. I have never had such a pleasant and effortless arrival in a new country - it was great and I loved it!

The hotel is NICE too - way above anything I could ever afford to stay at. There are approximately 1,000 JETs here, so we have pretty much taken the place over. Today, the first day of orientation, was mostly speeches and workshops - some of it helpful, some of it not. And we were very well fed and watered all day, something I always appreciate :-)

Tomorrow is another day of orientation, and on Wednesday we head out to our respective cities and towns throughout Japan. Personally, I am really looking forward to seeing my new school and apartment and starting to settle in. I've been on the move/half settled for almost a year now, and I'm damn ready to have a place that feels more permanent. Enough of this suitcase living!

I do actually have a lot more to say, but that's about all my brain can handle. My computer clock tells me that it is 5:13 am California time, and my body really wants to be asleep now...I'll hold out for a little bit longer before crashing for the night.