First First Day and Third First Day

Many of you have been asking about my first day experience, and it's sort of funny--because I'm teaching at four schools, I sort of get four first day experiences. My contract officially started Tuesday, but most schools have been having opening ceremony stuff this past week so Tuesday and Wednesday were both half-days. Today (Thursday) was my first "full" day (meaning I ate lunch at school and stayed on after that) but we'll get to that in a bit.

I'll start by breaking things down a little. While my address technically says "Niigata City," I'm not really in the city at all. I'd like to think of myself as in the suburbs but after speaking with a Japanese person about this, apparently I'm kind of out of the city a bit more than that. It doesn't feel like the country, though. I'll have to put up some more pictures when I get some more batteries for my camera. Anyway, I live in a part of Niigata called Niitsu, and the schools I teach at are Niitsu #1 Elementary, Niitsu #2 Elementary, Niitsu #3 Elementary, and Musubu Elementary. Yeah, I get confused too.

Niitsu #3 is where I'll start though; it's literally right down the street from me and I hadn't even visited it for preliminary greetings before I had to just show up for work there. I'd visited all three of the other schools I'd beforehand to meet the principal (kind of a big deal) and ask any questions I might have and take a tour of the school. I was also asked to introduce myself to the teachers, which was nerve-racking the first time and not so bad subsequently. Well, I knew WHERE Niitsu #3 was, but having never been there, I ended up having to follow some kids into the school to find out where the entrance was. I'm fairly sure the vice-principal greeted me at the door but I'm still really not sure (having met quite a few people by now). I switched shoes and headed down the hall to the teachers' room, as directed.

Regarding the shoes: you might know that Japanese culture mandates that you take off your shoes inside homes, some traditional restaurants, schools, etc. At schools, however, you can wear shoes inside, but they have to be shoes that haven't been worn outside. So I was asked to bring a new, clean pair of sneakers with me from the States to wear, which is kind of funny when you think about walking to work in nice, business dress shoes and then swapping them for tennis shoes at the door. Everyone does this, however, and it's perfectly normal to see all of the teachers in nice suits and such with athletic shoes to complete the ensemble. A lot of teachers also come to work in track suits, though, so sometimes it doesn't look so odd for them as it does for me.

Anyway, upon arriving in the teachers' room, I was met by the teacher who is going to be coordinating my classes and such. She's really kind and helpful and she showed me to my desk, made me some coffee, and explained what was going on for the day. I'm not sure about Junior High or High Schools, but at the start of term for Elementary Schools in Japan, there are two ceremonies, typically held on consecutive days. One is shigyoushiki　(始業式), which is a ceremony moving all existing students up to the next grade level and welcoming all (if any) new students and teachers. The other is nyuugakushiki　　(入学式), where all of the incoming first graders are paraded (I use causative for a reason) in and given encouraging speeches, and the school year officially begins the day after. My first day at Niitsu #3 ES fell on their shigyoushiki, so my helpful teacher friend led me into the gym ahead of time and explained to me what would be happening. Basically, I would be lining up as a part of the new teachers' parade and the other eight incoming teachers and myself would march in and sit up on stage, be introduced by the principal, and give a short welcome speech to the entire school. Yes. The Entire School. And I have a sneaking suspicion that those ladies in the front off to the side were members of the PTA. Fortunately, after copious school presentations in both Japanese and English, as well as working at Jaws, I don't really have many issues with stage fright. They also placed me last in the lineup, which let me watch the other teachers to see how they were doing things. Because they were all elementary level kids, I gave my speech in simple English, following each line with a translation in Japanese. It was short; I said good morning, gave my name, hometown, and hobbies, told them I was very glad to meet all of them, and sat back down. In this case, an uneventful speech is a good one, I think.

The rest of the ceremony was honestly fantastic. As various people got up to speak, most of them opened with "ohayou gozaimasu! (おはようございます！)" which means "good morning!" to which the students dutifully chorused back the same. Well, the first time that happened, everyone chorused back alright, except for a small second grader sitting by the side. Apparently he was a bit slow to respond and compensated with his loudest voice after everyone else had finished. This was immediately followed by his clapping his hands over his mouth. Classic. Also, a second-grader, fourth-grader, and sixth-grader were chosen to come up and give speeches. The second-grader was going first, so they gave him a microphone. He proceeded to march up to the stage with the other two students and begin his speech with the mic held at his side, completely forgetting about it. Except, he remembered halfway through the speech--in fact, it was halfway through a sentence--so it came out "...ganbaru koTO DESU." Adorable. Half the teachers were chuckling. And the best part was, he wasn't embarrassed at all! He looked like the happiest kid in the world to be up on stage doing Important Things.

After the ceremony, we headed back to the teachers' room, where I was given some textbooks to peruse called English Note (英語ノート) while Helpful, Friendly Teacher had to attend to one of her classes. My IC was scheduled to arrive about an hour before the school closed to help translate if I needed and work out some details for Interac. Since the school had a half day due to the ceremony, I only ended up waiting about an hour or so. While I was waiting, I also started making a chart of the teachers' room to learn everyone's names, and a nice teacher informed me that there was already a chart in existence, and made me a copy!

By the time my IC showed up, I'd already pretty much had all of my questions answered already without a need for translation, since my helpful class coordinating teacher spoke slowly and clearly enough that I could understand. We took a tour of the school, and apparently they were the first Elementary School in Niitsu to offer English, so they're used to having ALTs come in and help teach. That explains why everyone's so friendly and nice--after I first walked into the teachers' room, I had so many teachers come up to me and introduce themselves, doing their best to speak English with me and becoming even friendlier when they found out I speak Japanese. Tuesdays are going to be good days.




Well, I know it's been a long post so far, but so much has happened in the past few days! This seems to be a good breaking point though, so feel free to take a brief intermission before continuing. :)




I'm not going to go into my second first day, mostly due to the fact that it was almost a complete reverse of my experience at Niitsu #3 the day before. The one thing I'll mention is that there was a nyuugakushiki and it's such a formal occasion that the principal wore a tux. With tails.

Thursday was my third first day, and I really had no idea what to expect. I was at Niitsu #2, which had been the first school I visited. But because I had had no idea what to expect for school visitations, I was super nervous during the tour and preliminary meeting and ended up not really getting a good read on the school. Well, I showed up Thursday morning early and headed into the teachers' room. Only a few teachers were there at that point, and they made sure to greet me and make me feel welcome. I had no idea what I'd be doing all day, since it was my first full day of work. This meant I'd be staying for school lunch, as well.

The English teacher at this school is incredibly nice and came right over as soon as she got in. In Elementary School, each class period is 45 minutes long, and for first period, she asked me to take a walk around the school on my own to try and learn my way around a little bit. When the bell rang, I headed out to explore. Ten steps outside of the teachers' room, I met the school nurse. I explained what I had been asked to do and she offered to show me the infirmary. Thrilled to have someone friendly to talk to, I accepted. This was also a good move because it was a bit chilly that day and the infirmary, as it turns out, is also heated, so I got to stand and chat for a bit in the warmth rather than wandering around on my own in the cold hallways. After making my way around the school and trying to remember what classrooms were on which floors, I headed back to the teachers' room to wait for the English teacher. When she got back, she came over and asked how much I remembered from my self-guided tour because she was going to ask me some questions.
"Is this a quiz?" I asked.
"Yes! It's a quiz!" she replied, with entirely too much enthusiasm for my liking. Fortunately, she only asked a few simple questions. I'm in the midst of learning four schools and after seeing a certain number of classrooms, they all tend to blur together. She then proceeded to brief me on what I'd be teaching the following Thursday and what the teachers had asked me to prepare for those classes. As it turns out, I'll be teaching the alphabet, so I spent the rest of the morning coloring ABC flashcards.

When lunchtime came, my school nurse friend beckoned me over to a table in the corner where many of the teachers were gathering to eat. Most teachers eat school lunch in Japan because it's good food and reasonably priced, especially considering how much food they give you. I ended up sitting next to the librarian, who proceeded to ask me so many questions that the other teachers told her to be quiet and let me eat! I'm just happy to have people to talk to at work though, so I didn't mind at all. It was also kind of fun because we ended up having one of my favorite Japanese foods for lunch: 肉じゃが(nikujaga), a meat and potato stew. After lunch, the teachers generally have a short break while the students clean the school. There aren't any janitors at schools in Japan--the students do the cleaning, which is a fantastic idea since it teaches responsibility and respect for surroundings, as well as saving money. The students come in to clean the teachers' room, too, which of course meant I got lots of curious looks.

After that, I finished the last of the flashcards and met with a few of the teachers about classes for next week. Somewhere during that time I was introduced to another teacher (I think because he's known for being friendly) and he came right over and introduced himself in English. Then he paused, thought for a moment, and said,"I am Japanese nice guy!" Good to know. He was really nice though, so the shameless self-promotion was not at all unwelcome. About then they ran out of work to keep me busy, so they sent me home a bit early, which was nice. All in all, a fantastic day--everyone was so nice and helpful and made me feel so welcome. I know I probably sound like a broken record with the "nice" and "friendly" and so on, but I've just been so thrilled that so many people have gone out of their way to bring me into their community, especially since I'm so far away from home and very obviously not a part of their culture.

Well, I know this was massive but hopefully I'll have something else up soon anyway. I know I have a folding table picture to post, so I'll get to that as soon as I can.
Next post: more pictures, an attempt at cherry blossom viewing, and my first day teaching! See you soon!

Finally, Photos!

Well, for the past two weeks I've thought that I wouldn't be able to upload photos, as I left my camera cable back in the States. A few days ago I realized that my laptop has an SD card slot so I don't need a cable at all! I really didn't take any pictures of Narita (Tokyo), but I've been snapping quite a few since my arrival in Niigata, so I'll go ahead and post a few here of the area as well as my apartment.


The first glimpse of mountains was from the train heading north, about 45 minutes in. After emerging from one of the tunnels, it was soon apparent that we were in the midst of the Japan Alps.








This is the outside of my apartment building. My door is just to the right, almost in the shot.




On my third day in Niigata, it snowed quite a bit. It alternated between rain and snow for most of the day until the sun went down, and then there were just flakes.




Tuesday morning, I woke up, stuck my head out my window, and took this shot.





Despite the frigidity of the first few days, spring has been quite eager to break through and it's warmed considerably since.




Of course, being the Floridian that I am, I felt obligated to build a little friend for my doorstep. Plus, it's nice not to come home to an empty apartment even if only for a day or two. :)



So, for those of you who've been wondering about the inside of my apartment, this is what it looks like if you're standing at my front door. Just past the fridge on the left is a small hallway as well, if you could call it that.



This is the area just to the left of the fridge. The toilet is straight ahead, the washing machine is to the left, and the shower and sink are to the right.



The toilet, in its own little room, true to Japanese custom. Note the lack of heated toilet seat. I can't even express how dismayed I am about this, especially considering how cold it was when I arrived.



The shower room. This is also typically Japanese--the shower/tub has its own room, and you shut the door while showering to keep the water from getting all over the apartment/house. It's also not uncommon to sit while showering, and to only keep the water on when you need it (i.e. not while shampooing, soaping up, etc.) as it saves water. The nice thing about the shower being in a small room with the door closed is that the heat stays in as well and the room warms up very quickly, which is a good thing on cold days.



This is my kitchen. Note the expansive counter space. I can't really complain though; at least I've got shelving!



This was taken squeezed into the corner of my room facing the door to the front hallway to give you an idea of how big my room is. My closet is to the right, the window is behind me, and other than that, that's pretty much my whole apartment. To be honest though, it's a lot bigger than I thought it would be, and I really don't need it any bigger than this since I don't have very much stuff. There's lots of storage space (under the bed, inside the steps, above the bed and above the TV) and I'm not even using most of it yet. And if friends come visit and stay the night, the table folds down to create more floor space for futon.




So there you have it! This is what I wake up to every morning and go to sleep to every night and it's starting to feel like home already.

I also wanted to let you all know that if there's anything in particular you're curious about or want more pictures of or want me to explain further, please feel free to leave me comments here or email me! I love being here in Japan and I'm more than happy to talk about it but I'm sure it's more interesting for all of you if you're hearing about things that interest you as well!

As always, thanks for reading! See you soon!