I am feeling the jet lag but trying to force myself to stay awake and go out instead of retreating to the hotel room...
Today was full of speeches, workshops, ceremonies, etc. It was a lot of good info but it was also A LOT of info and papers...more paperwork.
-I went to a workshop about JETs of Asian descent...it made me think about how in the US I identify myself as Japanese but here I am introducing myself as American, or from the US. I have met a few other people who are half Japanese and I am sure that throughout this year we will be constantly reevaluating our identity. I am going to be very aware of race issues (Japan is a very homogenous country) and think about nationality vs. ethnicity.
-I am excited to get a cell phone here. They have mentioned all kinds of features like watching TV on them or downloading coupons and taking your cell phone to the store and showing the clerk to redeem them, and so much more.
-I consider myself a shy person...I am trying to be more outgoing and start conversations meeting other JETs and preparing to meet all the school staff and students. It does get exhausting meeting so many people and asking and answering the same questions but it has been nice getting to know a few people more closely (mostly from the same prefecture).
-Here there are a lot of signs in English...so it is easy to get around. The program is then that I am not motivated to read the Japanese so I need to put my blinders on and pretend the English is not there.
-Everything here in the hotel is so efficient. They really have smooth systems in place. Everything with this JET orientationa is organized and well thought out.
-I keep observing the bowing. We learned that different degrees of bows signify different degrees of respect and are used for different occasions and with different hierarchy of people.
-It is easy to spend money when I am not used to the currency. I need to be more careful to convert and actually know how much I am spending.
-I would like to have more language confidence. I think I am nervous to offend someone by not being polite enough (I think that I wrote about this earlier) but hopefully I can be more confident and willing to make mistakes.
-I think this journey is all about finding balance in all things.
Our prefectural group is going out to explore Tokyo now. I will probably regret it if I dont (I can not find the apostrophe on this Japanese keyboard) go...so even though I am tired I will go check it out.
I hope all is well ;-)
Today was full of speeches, workshops, ceremonies, etc. It was a lot of good info but it was also A LOT of info and papers...more paperwork.
-I went to a workshop about JETs of Asian descent...it made me think about how in the US I identify myself as Japanese but here I am introducing myself as American, or from the US. I have met a few other people who are half Japanese and I am sure that throughout this year we will be constantly reevaluating our identity. I am going to be very aware of race issues (Japan is a very homogenous country) and think about nationality vs. ethnicity.
-I am excited to get a cell phone here. They have mentioned all kinds of features like watching TV on them or downloading coupons and taking your cell phone to the store and showing the clerk to redeem them, and so much more.
-I consider myself a shy person...I am trying to be more outgoing and start conversations meeting other JETs and preparing to meet all the school staff and students. It does get exhausting meeting so many people and asking and answering the same questions but it has been nice getting to know a few people more closely (mostly from the same prefecture).
-Here there are a lot of signs in English...so it is easy to get around. The program is then that I am not motivated to read the Japanese so I need to put my blinders on and pretend the English is not there.
-Everything here in the hotel is so efficient. They really have smooth systems in place. Everything with this JET orientationa is organized and well thought out.
-I keep observing the bowing. We learned that different degrees of bows signify different degrees of respect and are used for different occasions and with different hierarchy of people.
-It is easy to spend money when I am not used to the currency. I need to be more careful to convert and actually know how much I am spending.
-I would like to have more language confidence. I think I am nervous to offend someone by not being polite enough (I think that I wrote about this earlier) but hopefully I can be more confident and willing to make mistakes.
-I think this journey is all about finding balance in all things.
Our prefectural group is going out to explore Tokyo now. I will probably regret it if I dont (I can not find the apostrophe on this Japanese keyboard) go...so even though I am tired I will go check it out.
I hope all is well ;-)
1 comment:
Girlfriend! A) blogs are great because my work's surf control has not banned them yet (knock on wood); B) way to keep up! I see you have been plugging away, and I will have to take some time to have a seat and look at what you have written so far. C) Keep at it, and we will be in touch!
miss you soooooooo much :) many smoochesss ;)
ciao bella!
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