My Pilgrimage to Mecca - Round 2

July 30, 2017

It's official. I've made the pilgrimage back to my mecca.  After a 13 hour flight, going through immigration and customs, shipping extra luggage forward, and taking a two hour bus ride to the hotel in Tokyo, I've made it back to Japan.  Everything on the way to Tokyo from Narita Airport looks exactly as I remember.  It's so surreal being back in a country I was in just five years ago.  It seems like a very long time, but it's not as long as it seems.  It's surreal to eat onigiri again, as if it was just yesterday.  It's surreal to experience all the sights and sounds that I've not experienced in such a long time.

Onigiri for dinner my first night back in Tokyo.

At this point, I feel more excited rather than nervous.  I'm in Tokyo, somewhere I'm familiar with.  I think the nerves will hit once it comes time to start working, once I'm in Nagasaki, once I'm in Sasebo, once I'm at the front gate staring down my school building.  Then it will hit that I actually have to teach, I actually have a chance to make an impact on these children's lives for better or for worse.

I don't think I'm used to the fact that everyone speaks Japanese here.  For the next few days I'm going to be in a conference learning about my job from presentations in English.  I won't need to know Japanese.  However, once I'm outside of this little JET bubble, I will have to face reality.  My Japanese is not that good.  I will need to step up my studying in order to make it in my life here.  Yes, I am a foreigner so they won't expect much of me, but I don't want to be stuck in foreigner mode.  I want to improve my language comprehension and speaking ability so that I can make the most of my stay here.

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Since writing the above at the start of Tokyo orientation, so much has happened.  I have moved into my new home here in Sasebo, I'm making friends with my fellow JETs, I'm making friends at church, and I'm making friends at work. My home is slowly coming together in terms of livability.  I've had a phone and home internet since day two when I was able to open my bank account, register at city hall, and get to the phone store.  I'm learning how to get around using the bus system and I'm getting more comfortable shopping alone.

I want to explore my neighborhood, but when the weather says 85 degrees with 90% humidity it means a one mile walk turns into a personal sauna where you're sweating waterfalls in shorts and a tank top, looking at the old ladies walking by with their long pants, long sleeve shirts, gloves, sun hats, and umbrellas wondering how you can get on their level.  It doesn't help that Sasebo is very mountainous. I walk uphill going between home and work both ways.  At least my legs will stay nice.

So high up that the peaks are covered in clouds on a cloudy day.

As much as I feared teaching right away, school doesn't start until August 21st and even then, I won't be teaching until September because the students are preparing for their Sports Day and Culture Festival.  However I have been introduced to the students.  On August 9, all the students and teachers came to school for an assembly to commemorate the drop of the atomic bomb.  At the beginning of the assembly I was introduced and I had to give a short speech.  I didn't go into too much detail about myself, but I did tell the students that I would look forward to teaching them and that I hoped they looked forward to having me as a teacher.  Before the assembly no one knew who I was, but afterwards the students were more comfortable greeting me and talking to me.  One girl even came to my desk afterwards and gave me a cookie while one of the boys came just to talk to me.  I can't wait to get to know the students better.

Hopefully by my next posting my apartment will be presentable enough for a house tour.  Right now I'm missing some curtains and I haven't done laundry yet because spiders have taken up residence on my laundry line.  But, eventually I will feel like I'm at home here on my adventure in the land of the rising sun.

Farewell, but Not Goodbye

The night is winding down on the eve of my departure and so much has happened in the past month.  I left my job two weeks ago, my bags are packed, my apartment is (mostly) empty, my storage unit is full, I've said my last goodbyes.  Today was pre-departure orientation at the Consul General of Japan's residence where I was able to start new friendships with my fellow ALTs (and one CIR) leaving out of Detroit.  There are so many interesting people in my group.  I look forward to sharing this experience with them.

I am excited to go to Japan, but it's bitter sweet.  I'm leaving behind my family, my friends, my church, and life as I know it.  I know I'm not leaving forever, contrary to popular belief.  I'm not going to Japan to die, nor do I plan on staying in Japan for the rest of my life.  But I will be gone for quite a while in order to live one of my childhood dreams.  Living my dream does come with some social casualties.  I'll miss my youngest niece learning to walk.  I'll miss my oldest niece's first day of kindergarten. I'll miss helping to run the A/V department at church.  I'll miss so many places, events and people that I love.  I'm going to miss being around for so many things here in America, but it can't have my cake and eat it too.

However, I will be growing as a person.  I'll be learning a new language.  I'll be learning a new skill set.  I'll be learning how to adapt and change with my new environment.  I'll be experiencing new things that will challenge me physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and I will have to overcome all of that, and I will.  While I may be gone for a while I will come back home a different person from when I left.  I aim to be stronger, wiser, and better.  I hope to travel to countries close to Japan to expand my world view and see places I would never have the chance to visit otherwise.  I hope to make an impact on my community in Japan and on those around me when I return.  I hope to have a lot of adventures so that I will have a lot to share here.

And so, in the worlds of a famous cartoon 80's rock band, this is farewell but not goodbye.  Farewell to my home country, farewell to life the way I knew it, farewell until I return.

I don't know how soon I'll have internet, but my next post will be from Japan as I finally start my adventure in the land of the rising sun.

Jesus City Japan a.k.a. My JET Placement

I have reached a JET pre-departure milestone; I've finally heard from my predecessor and my school!  It's exciting because now I know exactly where I'm going, almost down to the address.  My placement is both exciting and a bit disappointing, but I'll get to that later.  I know why you really came to my blog today.  You want to know where I'm going.  You already know I'm going to Nagasaki, but Nagasaki is a big prefecture.  I could be literally ANYWHERE.

Well, have no fear, I am finally writing about where I'm going!  My placement is...

My Pilgrimage to Mecca

Thoughts in the Columbus Airport
Sleep?  Who needs sleep when you're about to take the trip you've only dreamed about for as long as you can remember.  Sure, travel sites suggest a good nights rest before a long haul flight, but that's what the flight is for, right?  So what did this traveler do before embarking on her hour journey?  I stayed up all night, still packing, still making sure everything was in order, still calming my nerves and not eating so that I wouldn't barf when the inevitable nausea would set in from the excitement of traveling to Japan.

We started out on the road to the airport around three to the sounds of Weird Al's album "Straight Outta Lynwood".  My mom said it would calm my nerves, and I sang along to all the songs I knew by heart to little effect.  I was still feeling anxious.  I knew that these feelings wouldn't go away so easily.  I am making the longest and farthest trip away from home (university excluded) in my 21 years of life.  It's one thing to travel to Grand Cayman where everyone speaks English, all the food is familiar, and I'm traveling with a large group of my friends.  It's another to travel half way around the world to another time zone, another country, and another culture.  Sure, it's the place I've been dreaming about visiting but it is still a massive change.

After the Journey
After many hours of sitting/napping in planes and wandering around airports, I finally made it to my mecca: Japan.  I stepped off the plane relieved that I had made it all in one piece, passed through immigration like a pro and headed down stairs to baggage claim to wait for my luggage. 

And wait. 

And wait. 

 And wait. 

My luggage never made its way down the black belt of shame and I just stood there dumbfounded like the others who were missing bags.  One of my fears had come true.  I was without bags all the way in Japan.  Fortunately I was smart enough to pack a change of clothes, my toothbrush, toothpaste, and deodorant in my carry on along with a small washcloth and a small bottle of body wash.  This way I can at least be clean tomorrow.  I can only hope that my bags get here by tomorrow or at least Friday.

Other than that setback, everything seems to be going well.  I've got an apartment to myself because there aren't any other girls this summer (I'll post about it later) and the guys seem nice, so it should be fun.  My adventures in the land of the rising sun have only just begun!