OK, so I thought I'd post a real update about what I'm really doing in Japan. So it's just the facts for today!

My job
I teach English at Numasho (short for Numazu Shogyo Koko) High School. In Japan, highschools fall into a couple denominations: there are normal highschools and then there are trade schools for business (my school), agriculture, fishing, etc. Students who attend the latter generally do not go on to higher level education, instead finding a job right after graduation and living in that town for the rest of their lives. It's probably not as depressing as it looks, that's just my take on it. As such, the English level of these students isn't particularly high. My school was put under "intermediate" level, but in reality, it's closer to the "beginner" end of it. This makes teaching English and putting together lessons a lot more challenging. I often struggle with the idea of forcing English into these students, when they realistically will not use it and thus have no motivation to learn it.

So on to my classes: I teach 14 classes a week... Yes, that's a lot in JET standards. 8 Oral Communication 1 classes for first years, 3 OC2 classes for second years, and 3 Business English classes for a handful of motivated second years. Altogether around 400 students. No, I haven't learned all their names, so I feel kind of bad when over half the school knows me and will wave or shout "HARRO!" to me on my way to/from school and I can't call them by their names. I don't go a day without teaching classes, and it's a juggling act sometimes to keep on top of things and plan in advance. And when an activity bombs... well, I have to keep doing it anyway, so each class gets the same education. Lessons get boring for me fairly quickly too, b/c it's the same thing over and over again, but every class needs to be new and exciting. It reminds me of a documentary I watched about a certain band going on tour... Night after night it's the same crowd and the same songs, but you can't be bored b/c people are paying to see you, and it may be their first/only time ever seeing you perform. Not that I feel that kind of pressure when I'm staring out the window at the old dude pruning trees outside, but it does put a new spin on why I'm here. I can't bend over backwards for everybody, but if I can motivate some kids and make English interesting for them, then I've done my job.

Also, nothing would be possible without my JTEs, or Japanese Teachers of English. I teach with one (sometimes two) every class. I feel very fortunate to have such capable and helpful people to work along with, and so far no problems have risen with them. I actually quite like all of them. In fact, one of them is one of the vice principals. My school is unusual in this respect, also for the fact that she's a woman.


My town
I live in Shimizu-cho, which is a suburb of Numazu City. The train station is a 20 minute bike ride from my house, which is a tad inconvenient. I live in constant fear of being run over by cars, or losing my balance on the sidewalk and falling into a rice field. The town itself actually sprawls out across the river, where there is more civilization than my immediate neighborhood. If I ride 10-20 minutes southwest, I'll hit the ocean. It's not that impressive a beach, but the view of Izu rising in the distance is fantastic.

Numazu City is a modest town, with most things that you'd need if you lived here: a couple good department stores, a shopping arcade, new movie theater complex, cooking school, train station. It is also fortunate in that it has a train that runs from the city straight to Tokyo! And it's one stop away from Mishima, where you can catch the bullet train to wherever your heart desires, so long as your wallet is fat enough.

My house
I live in a 2 storey jutaku, or teacher's housing, a 5 minute bike ride from school. It's pretty spacious for one person, and I have a whole tatami room upstairs that's empty and unused. The building is pretty old, as is the case with most ALTs' housing, but not bad, especially for $130 a month. I have a toilet downstairs, in a separate room from my shower, which leads into the kitchen (yes, it's different). The rooms have tatami floors and sliding doors. My washing machine is outside. And dryer.. What dryer?

Anyways, I've managed to rearrange enough furniture to make it pretty comfortable. Although I feel like I'm a teeny bit obsessed with re-vamping the place. I acquired a free couch last week, keep an eye out for cheap shelving (A Japanese house with shelves? Dream on.), and fool myself into thinking I can replace the lighting in my kitchen. Who knows whether my dream paint job will ever get done, but a girl can dream...

Recreation
What fun things have I done since I've been in Japan? I've gone to an onsen and sat in hot water with a bunch of other naked strangers. I've been to Hamamatsu and Shizuoka City (the capitol of Shizuoka), the two largest cities in the prefecture. I rode the bullet train once, and it was divine. I ate natto twice, which was not so great. I went to a matsuri (summer festival) in Mishima. And this weekend, in Tokyo, I witnessed 5 weddings and 3 funerals. 3 of the weddings were traditional Shinto ceremonies at the biggest shrine in Tokyo, the Meiji Jingu shrine, all within 20 minutes of each other! Bizarre and wonderful.


So there you have my life so far in a nutshell. It's difficult to explain it all, and I'm leaving out a lot, especially the difficult times when I missed home like crazy and realized what incredible people I left behind in America. I still haven't gotten past the language barrier here, and it would help if I studied Japanese more... I still haven't found my niche either. But it's only been less than two months since I came here. Sometimes I still wake up from a nap or early in the morning, and wonder what the hell I'm doing in Japan...