Training and first week of teaching

Hi!!!
So I have now been in Japan for exactly 16 days and 15 nights, but it feels like longer... after I had been in training for just a few days it seemed like I had been in Japan forever. Ok so this is how it goes. I left for the Toronto airport at around 6:30am on Saturday the 19th and we got to the airport around 7am (me, david, aaron, mom and grandma). There was only one person ahead of me in line at the check-in counter place so we sat and had coffee for a while. David Z came to see me off and we called paul to say bye cause they couldn't come to the goodbye/grandma's brithday party the night before (I got to say bye to everyone except pilar cause she was working and steph and sonia and morna and devon). At around 7:30/8:00am we went to the gates and i said bye to everyone for the last time (i might have gotten a little teary eyed) and i went through the metal detector thing-a-ma-bob. the x-ray of bags turned up the nail kit that i accidentally put in my carry on (oops) and so the lady had to search through all my stuff but she was pretty nice and gave the nail kit to mom cause they were all still standing and waiting till i was out of sight which is pretty nice. and then we waved bye and i went to find my gate. i was pretty nervous but i found my gate fine and i didnt have to wait too long until we boarded the plane... only 15 minutes or so. on my flight to vancouver i just slept and listened to music and thought and it was ok... it was 5 hours but it didnt seem to long. i overheard this girl in front of me talking to someone about how she was going to work for amity in japan so i found the girl jen that is also from toronto and in my training group. we met as i got off the plane in vancouver and we found our gate together which was nice. Jen is really nice and its cool to have someone to talk about Toronto about (i miss toronto). I called mom from the waiting area on a pay phone and morna but she wasnt home so i left a message... i hope she got it. i dont know what time i arrived in Vancouver because of the time change but it was some 5 and something hours after I left. We didn't have to wait too long for our flight maybe an hour i'm not sure ... i think our plane might have been a little late because we boarded later than it said on our ticket. on the way to japan i sat next to a lady from osaka that had been visiting the states and she was really nice and she told me that osaka is very hot and humid in the summer (which is what everyone has told me). part way through she moved to an empty row in the back so i could sit with Jen but i promptly lay down and fell asleep (im very happy mom got me my green octopus pillow...the bumps remind Jen of an octopus). so the flight wasn't that bad cause i slept for a bunch of time and i listened to my new ipod (thank you uncle malcolm and aaron) and read. we arrived at the Osaka Kansia airport around 6pm Japan time and as soon as we got through the gates our recruiter found us (they had welcome cards with our pictures on the back so they could find us). we were the last to arrive so we got our luggage sent to our respective places of residence in Japan and then headed to Okyama for training. we took three trains and i regretted not having wheely luggage and the trainers took us to the annex where we would stay for the next week during training (except for the boys who got to stay in a hotel). the annex was cool, i roomed with a girl names Melissa from Boston and she is really nice. sunday night was pretty much straight to bed after i spent a good while running around between convenience stores (which are everywhere) and the train station (which is very nice and big) to try and find a phone card and international pay phone to call mom.

we all had monday off so we went to this castle... i forget its name... that had been destroyed in ww2 and had been rebuilt and we all dressed up in kimonos and these funny wigs.

Okyama was pretty cool... it seemed like a fair sized city but i think it was on the smaller side for Japan and i was surprised at how quite it was... except for the train station it didnt seem very busy.

hmmm we also went out to this little place for ramen thats like this fish broth based soup with noodles and these things that i thought were radishes but are actually jelly like compressed fish cakes and pork. it was really good. the restaurant we went to only served one thing and brought it right to you so no japanese was needed. things i can say (but can't spell) in japanese: arygoto gozyamus (thank you very much), ohio gozymus (good morning), konichiwa (good afternoon), sumimasen (sorry or excuse me), dygobu (ok or its ok or it will be ok). we went to this little sushi place where alll the sushi comes on little plates of one or two of a kind on a convyer belt and i tried eel for the first time and it was really good... it was covered in a sweet sauce. training was hard... it was from 10am-7pm everyday and boring sometimes but it was also fun. our trainers were really nice and we played lots of games and sang songs so it was cool. almost every lunch i went to this place in the train station that made these pastries that were soooo yummy. the okyama train station is my favorite smelling place because they had this belgian waffle place that made them fresh all day and they smelt like warm sticky syrup and everyone knows waffles only mean good things to me. i also had these kroquets with shrimp and mushy stuff in them that were really good and these tempura vegtable patti cake things that were soo yummy. the convenience stores have crazy things like these little packaged puffy sandwiches... i had one with strawberry chocolate and cream in it that was absolutly delightful， but they always make me think of the book im reading called Out by a Japanese author named natsuo kirino about a a Japanese author named natsuo kirino about a woman who works in a boxed lunch factory that makes a woman who works in a boxed lunch factory that makes the lunches they sell in the convenience stores that kills her husband and then has her friends at the factory help cut him up and dispose of the parts. what can i say okyama is pretty awsome and it was fun cause all the people in my training group are awsome. the last day of training which was last saturday we had a trail lesson with two little girls for a tiny tot lesson (they were like 4 and 5 i think) and tot lesson (they were like 4 and 5 i think) and it was really (they were like 4 and 5 i think) and it was really fun and pretty amazing so i was happy. our trainers were really super and nice and they went out of their way to encourage us.... after a particularly bad practice lesson one of them came up to tell me i was doing ok and not to beat myself up if i didnt get it right away... they were akways telling me i was doing a good job and i would be ok and not to worry becasue it would take time. im really really greatful to them so thank you. after our last day of training we went back to the annex to pack up and then the trainers picked us up to go out to dinner. we went to this really nice japanese restaurant to have a family style dinner. Me and jackie shared and since she's vegetarian and I'm allergic to peanuts we got all these weird things like fish head (which I didn't eat) and octopus (which I did eat) while everyone else got yummy things. afterwards one of our trainers who is a very afterwards one of our trainers who is a very funny girl named Shawna took us out to karaoke. we went to this really tall building where you pay by the hour and get all you can drink. it was weird the staff and front desk reminded me of an airport but the halls with all the rooms reminded me of a very large cheap motel... it seemes a little sketchy. so we got a neon pink private room to sing in and we picked songs and danced and drank as much as we could via the phone and some one brings it up to the room. it was very cool.... i thought i was going to be really shy and i was at first but then well then i sang and danced and made a fool of myself as is standard but i was happy.

one of the boys named beau got really drunk and was falling all over the place so i helped him walk home as his special samantha crutch and we went to got him something to eat at the convenience store and all he kept telling me was that he didn't like eggs and asparagus and he kept saying no to everything because he thought everything had eggs and asparagus in it, it was pretty funny but he didnt remember any of it in the morning...he's a nice guy and on the quiet side like me so it was extra funny.

the next morning (sunday) we got up and at 9:30am the trainers met us and we went to the train station to all go to our seperate places where we would be teaching.

two of the girls are teaching at the okyama school where we trained but they came to the train station and their manager met them there. it was sad leaving everyone because they are the first people i met in japan and they are really nice and wonderful and they are my safety net here and im lost and alone all over again in japan without them. they helped me a lot while i was homesick and feeling strange about being alone in japan while at training so thanks to them all. some people had really long train rides.... i think Jen's was like 8 hours.... but my train ride was only 45 minutes. I like the train... i got to see a bit of the japanese countryside and mountians and all the towns in between okyama and okubo out the window... this area of japan is very industial and since its winter and very grey right now and i saw a lot of smoke stacks it kind of reminded me of hamilton.

Part 2
(i decided to break it up a bit becasue i know im writing a novel as per the usual)
i got off at Nishi-Akashi station (i was very nervous about getting off at the right stop but Sarah helped me and made sure i got off at the right one... shes really nice and level headed so thank you). as soon as i got onto the platform my manager (mamiko) and maggie (the foregin teacher who's leaving) met me.

they are super nice and helpful. they took me to my apartment and showed me the area like where the school is and answered all my incessant questioning. i arrived in okubo around 12:00 (we had to take a local train from Nishi-Akashi which is the next stop over from okubo because the super fast train doesn't stop in okubo... there are different trains depending of their speed here. umm by the time i was left by myself in the apartment it was around 2 or 3pm and i spent the rest of the day around 2 or 3pm and i spent the rest of the day setting up the apartment. I got two new futons (a thin cotton matress, a duvet, and pillow) for me (a thin cotton matress and a duvet) for me and a guest, new sheets and blankets, new cutlery and a dich rack, a and blankets, new cutlery and a dich rack and a new knife thats really sharp... it was like christmas all over again! maggie gave me her number and asked if i wanted to come out in sannomiya, kobe with her and her friends that night. i fell asleep around 5pm (i have had a crazy sleeping schedule since i got here thats just starting to work itself out... one night i went to sleep at 8pm and got up at 7am it was crazy... and slept for an hour or two and when i got up i called maggie. she told me how to get to sannomiya (she drew me a map of okubo and to sannomiya (she drew me a map of okubo and the train system before she left) and i took the train to kobe all by myself the first night i was kobe all by myself the first night i was there and i didn't get lost! i was pretty proud of myself, but acutally it was really easy and it was only about 8 stops for 30 minutes. maggie and two of the japanese teachers i work with (ayako and nami... chika wasn't there) met me and nami... chika wasn't there) met me at the sannomiya station. we met maggies freinds (mostly other foregin teachers from the area) at an italian restaurant. Kobe is really cool. I can't wait restaurant. Kobe is really cool.

I can't wait to go back. when i first came to japan i was surprised because it wasn't all that different... it was just like any other western big city except everything was in japanese... i'm not sure what i was expecting but i guess something that was a lot more busy and maybe flying cars... pretty much the tokyo you see on tv. kobe is more of what i expected it is bright (actually okyama was bright to, even okubo is bright- there are a lot of neon lights and okubo is bright- there are a lot of neon lights and it reminds me of las vegas) and there is so much and even on a sunday night the streets where reasonably busy and crowded... although maggie said it was quiet. at dinner i had gnocci, japanese pizza which is like any other but it has this creamy tomato sauce with small ros or fish eggs that was really good and seafood pasta and we all shared. Nami is really nice but she's leaving in march because she is marrying Jon who is a foreign teacher working for amity as an emergency teacher so he works at lots of different schools filling in (it's the next level up). I think they are moving to Kobe where Jon will go to japanese language school (i think???) and Nami will work . I will be sad when Nami leaves because she is so nice and friendly... she already invited me to go with her to a Japanese spa where they have the hot baths and bathe communally with other women and there are steam rooms and stuff. apparently there is a really nice one in kobe. Ayako is really cool i think she is my age and Nami is maybe a year or two older. me and ayako have a lot in common... she likes the same kind of books (i told her about the japanese authors i've read- murakami is her favorite) and she likes the same kind of music and she also loves snowboarding so maybe when david comes we can all go up north and go skiing together. (chika wasn't there but shes also really nice and helpful... she leant english in australia so she has an australian accent which is really cute). i also met all these which is really cute). i also met all these friends of maggie who live in the area who were really really nice and inviting and it was all just a very happy time. one of them whos name i forgot but who is a neighbouring foreign teacher from the states told me about all the concerts she's been to in japan so i'm really excited. i also met these two boys who are foreign teachers in Nishi-Akashi so they are my neighbours (one of them reminds me of the bfg which obviously makes me smile... we took the train home but missed the last one to okubo so we got off in nishi-akashi and took a cab and he made sure we were good and said he was always there if i needed help which was very nice). i went straight to bed and the next day (monday) i met Mamiko (the which was very nice). i went straight to bed and the next day (monday) i met Mamiko (the manager) at the school (which i managed to find again no problem yay me!) and we set out on our day of errands. we went to Akashi City to city hall to get my alien registration card, to the bank to set up my account (i have to remember to look in my mail box for my bank card), and to the mail box for my bank card), and to the mall to get me a cell phone.... which took forever jeez laweez.

Mamiko was super helpful and pateint and she told me a little about herself... she use to be a teacher at okubo school but now she's the manager even though she didn't want to be becasue the other manager got sick and head office forced her to step in as manager and she's sad because she misses teaching anf her students and being manager is a lot of responbibility and is really stressful and there is a lot of pressure on her... i feel really bad for her because she's such a sweet person... when i got to my apartment there was a card and a gift that is traditional for the daughter festival waiting for me... i think i will be sad to leave her and everyone else when the time comes. maggie is really sad to leave, she has been at okubo for two years and loves japan and her kids and the school so much. after we were done getting the cell phone i wandered around the mall which is like a big department store with different open stores and has a movie theatre on the top (6th) floor with english and japanese movies. on the bottem floor there is a big grocery store so i went grocery shopping. i got super yummy oranges that are nice and tart, fresh bread from the bakery and a bunch of other stuff...i spent a lot of time staring at things but for the most part a found everything fine. the first thing EVERYONE has said about japan is that its sooooo expensive and im sure tokyo and the other big cities are expensive but thats like anywhere... major cities are always more expensive then smaller cities. japan has not been expensive at all if anything i have had more cheap meals than in toronto and everything else is comparitively priced. i lugged everything home (home is not too far from the mall) and made eggs with tomato and toast and spent the rest of the night eating oranges and reading and listening to music. (I have also been eating a lot of nuetella and bananas and the bag of dried berries that mom sent with me is all but gone.... its scrumptous with cashews, almonds and walnuts. at school everyone enjoyed the maple cookies and chocolates i brought them and i made french toast with strawberry jam and found myself wishing i had brought some maple syrup.

OK i've had some trouble figuring out how to use me phone although it was the cheapest one and its still spiffier than all the phones in canada... i can videa call, it has the internet, it takes pictures and videos and its super cool for only $200.

Call my mom for my cell phone number.
My softbank email address is samdoerk@softbank.ne.jp which means i can recieve emails on my phone which is good becasue Ⅰ don't know how often i will get to a computer

since then (from tuesday until yesterday or saturday) i have been working. tues-thurs i work 11:30-8:30, fridays i work 12-9, and saturdays i work 10:30-7:30pm. they are long days with 3-7 or 8 classes a day with an hour for lunch... i usually go home for lunch and eat with my shoes on. my kids are between around 1 or so for the mommy and me classes and 17. i have a bunch of baby and tiny tot classes which are floor classes and consist or a lot of games, songs, props and vocbulary cards. the older classes for elementary, junior high, and high school students have more textbook work but we still get to play uno and jenga lots. ive played slap more this week than ive ever played it in my life. i have one parent class with two moms where we just talk about things so thats cool. i have a couple of students that are really high level and are taking all these really hard english tests that id probably fail... one of them even wants to go to university for english.... and i have to help them study for them so i hope i dont mess up. right now is the end of the japanese school year so parents and students are deciding if they want to keep taking my class and since the school is switiching teachers they are waiting to see if they like me which means i better not mess up or people will quit and both me and the school will be in trouble. this week i have been shadowing maggie and teaching some classes on my own shadowing maggie and teaching some classes on my own while maggie watched. some have gone pretty well and others have sucked. my first day (tuesday) i watched all her classes and the second day i had two classes. my tiny tot class sucked and i finished me lesson plan 15 minutes early and didn't know what to do but my Let's Go 5 class went pretty well (the kids where like 10 and 12). yesterday (saturday) i taught 4 classes of the 7 we yesterday (saturday) i taught 4 classes of the 7 we had. some classes have gone really well and others haven't gone so well... like the one where i taught the wrong lesson and the kids talked in japanese the whole class. the older kids (like 10 and up) are usually really quite and its hard to get them to talk even if they know what they're doing cause they are shy so its hard to know if what im doing is right cause they just stare at you. i have been doing a lot of acting things out... it feels like im constantly playing charades. i look silly but the kids playing charades. i look silly but the kids laugh so thats good. my strategy for getting the kids to like me is to act silly and make them laugh and bribe them with cool things i make (there's this really cool game called the hungry pig that cool things i make (there's this really cool game called the hungry pig that the tiny tots love- he has a clear plastic bag tummy so you can see all the food you put in tiny tots love- he has a clear plastic bag tummy so you can see all the food you put in him so im going to make one). the kids are really sweet and im really looking forward to getting to know them and playing with the younger ones and talking to the older ones. i think im going to make a construction paper crown for one of the little girls who is sooooo sweet, but you have to remember to cover everything in packing tape because everything gets put in their mouths. maggie is really cool and im sad shes leaving.... the first school day we went out to lunch together at this japanese fast food place where you order from this machine with pictures of all the food and we had curry with little peices of fried chicken that was scrumnptous and we went out to dinner at a suchi convyor belt place that kind of reminded me of a japanese version of a fifties diner and she told me all about stuff. she's from chicago. yesterday all these people from honbu (head office in okyama) came to pack up old okubo amity school and today they are moving everything to new okubo amity school so im excited to go in on tuesday and see all the spiffy new stuff but i hope i can find everything and they didn't throw out my noteboook cause it accidentally got packed in with everything else. ok well i think i've written enough for now. i'm off to try and find the place we are meeting for dinner.... we are having maggie's going away/ my welcome dinner.

p.s. everything in japan are small... the cars all look like smart cars cause they are all cut off and squishy looking, even the biggest trucks are 10x smaller then in canada. my refrigerator is really short and much smaller and the portion sizes of food are sold in and the portion sizes of food are sold in much smaller sizes in the grocery store. except for the buildings, the building are all big. there are a million convenince stores here and they are mostly 7eleven and lawsons. there are a ton of bicycles here and they all have cool baskets and there is a big bicycle parking lot where they are all crammed in and there are old people that go around giving bicycle tickets. there are SO SO SO many of these gambling places called pachinko places and they are these video game machines with these little silver metal balls that whirl around in a whirly machine above the video game screen and we went into them and there are rown and rows of machines and the noise is deafening from all the little metal balls whirling around and i don't know what they are for but they might be some kind of point system like at chucky cheese where you got the tickets that come out of the machine to get a prize because all these people had big baskets of the little metal balls beside them. also they smell really bad because everyone smokes in them and there are always people playing even in the morning and jackie (shes really cute and she had her birthday while we were at training and we had a cake) said that they are supposedly owned and runned by the yakuza who are the chinese mafia in japan. ok thats really all for now.

love sam