From Training to Yakitori

Good morning!

Things have become very busy here at the training center, and now that my hours have mostly adjusted I'm not enjoying quite as many free morning hours as I previously was.

Let's see, what have you missed? After my last post, in the evening after training I did a little grocery shopping which was a fun and interesting experience.

Sunday was our day off (I can't believe its Tuesday!) and a few other teachers and I went back down toward Omiya station and looked in some shops and had yakitori for lunch. Mmm. Tasty! Haha. One person had some Japanese experience and he helped a little in ordering food and that kind of stuff. Then he went to visit some friends in another part of the city, and the rest of us wandered to a pub where we had much trouble understanding the waitress, but managed to have a good time anyway. After training yesterday four of us went and had a delicious curry dinner near the station.

Training is coming along well, we begin at 10:55 in the morning with a five minute meeting, then generally have training until about 8:00 pm. We take in a lot of information and learned the teaching method of the main part of our lessons yesterday, which we will be practicing with actual students today. I feel that we are receiving thorough training.

Yesterday evening I also received my apartment and schedule information. Of course I'll be at Shin-Yokohama school which has no kids classes (boooo!). I'm one of three foreign teachers and I'm on the Tuesday-Saturday schedule. Naturally, it seems Saturday will be my busiest day. On the other days, most of my classes don't begin until around 5:00ish. On weekdays I go in at 1:00 and have meetings and office hours before classes, then I teach until 9:00. Saturday I begin my first class at 10:00 am and teach until 7:00. I'll also be teaching a few private lessons on Friday, and I think I'll enjoy that.

I do have the address for my apartment (this size of which is still some what ambiguous) which I will send to those who would like it. I believe I'll still receive packages to the school's address, however, so that I don't have to find time to go to the post office with package slips all the time. All letters, however can be delivered directly to my apartment.

The apartment is within walking distance of my school, which is very nice, and is, I believe, a new apartment, and not the one the previous teacher was using. I have no idea what kind of furnishings it has. It is approximately 6 tatami mats in size, plus the kitchen (or so the schematic seems to imply) so if you visit please DO bring your own tatami mat. Hahaha.

Although the apartment is small, it isn't something I'm not accustomed to. Some teachers have a little bit larger apartments but 45 minute train rides, so I'm counting myself lucky. I'll be right in Yokohama and I'm pretty excited about it. Yay!

It was great to see all the comments people have left. Finally, I have something worth writing about!! It's a nice cool day today, since it rained yesterday and is still cloudy, so I've enjoyed sitting here in front of the window typing this and watching the old couple vacuum across the street.

Robert, I'll be disappointed in you if you haven't moved my TV and tivo yet.

Love from Japan! <3