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Japanese culture is famed for long ceremonies, but at the orientation the JET staff worked very hard to make things fun. In fact, the presenters were downright fabulous. I was also impressed by how organized everything was. We had a welcome ceremony, some introduction sessions from government officials, and some workshops. I went to lectures on pop culture, teaching adult language classes (most of which I already knew, but I got some good teaching ideas!), and Japanese cooking. The JET program is super prepared and now I’m really excited to go to my school. Just when I was getting nervous, they made me feel better.
By 5 o'clock I wanted to die though, I was so jet lagged (“jisaboke,” I looked it up) but we had a big old fancy dinner (like, really). And then the Hokkaido ALTs went out for nomihodai, which is Japanese all-you-can-drink. (tabehodai is all-you-can-eat). What can I say? Binge drinking as professional networking is a bit new to me. But though drinking is A-OK in Japan, responsibility is very important. There is a zero-tolerance zero-alcohol policy in Japan. Not even a drop for anyone driving a car or riding a bike. On the flip side, there's a great service where two people come pick you up in a cab, one drives your car home with you in it while the other follows to pick him up. It is almost as cheap as a regular cab, too!
At first the nomihodai was boring, I was sequestered on the end next to the wall, across from a stand-off-ish married couple and a know-it-all, but when they left it got much better and we all stumbled home around midnight.
Fun Fact: I’ll be working in Hokkaido with a guy from Wellington, New Zealand whose daughter takes dance lessons from Brett McKenzie’s mom. I guess he and the Flight of the Conchords have mutual friends as well. AWESOME.
My speak-Japanese mission is getting really critical, but I feel better about it. More of it is coming back and apparently it's okay, seeing as I just I talked to a woman who that even though she has a degree in Japanese language, her friend who came in with no Japanese is now better than her because he talks all the time.
That’s all it takes. DO IT.
By 5 o'clock I wanted to die though, I was so jet lagged (“jisaboke,” I looked it up) but we had a big old fancy dinner (like, really). And then the Hokkaido ALTs went out for nomihodai, which is Japanese all-you-can-drink. (tabehodai is all-you-can-eat). What can I say? Binge drinking as professional networking is a bit new to me. But though drinking is A-OK in Japan, responsibility is very important. There is a zero-tolerance zero-alcohol policy in Japan. Not even a drop for anyone driving a car or riding a bike. On the flip side, there's a great service where two people come pick you up in a cab, one drives your car home with you in it while the other follows to pick him up. It is almost as cheap as a regular cab, too!
At first the nomihodai was boring, I was sequestered on the end next to the wall, across from a stand-off-ish married couple and a know-it-all, but when they left it got much better and we all stumbled home around midnight.
Fun Fact: I’ll be working in Hokkaido with a guy from Wellington, New Zealand whose daughter takes dance lessons from Brett McKenzie’s mom. I guess he and the Flight of the Conchords have mutual friends as well. AWESOME.
My speak-Japanese mission is getting really critical, but I feel better about it. More of it is coming back and apparently it's okay, seeing as I just I talked to a woman who that even though she has a degree in Japanese language, her friend who came in with no Japanese is now better than her because he talks all the time.
That’s all it takes. DO IT.
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