Well it's been over a month since I last posted, which is not very disciplined of me. I believe it is possible to post too often on blogs and I try to avoid this where I can, but obviously there needs to be a balance! So apologies to all, hopefully I will be writing a bit more regularly now the craziness of exams and the end of term has subsided.
It's been a hell of an end to term.. most of it has gone by in a blur. I'll write a couple of posts after this one to go more into detail on certain events so I'll try my best to give a run down in this one. Where to start? Well, in terms of JET-related stuff, I finally received an email from Hyogo prefecture to tell me where I would be placed - Nishinomiya City! I know nothing about the place, obviously, so I have been trying to pick up snippets of information from the likes of Wikipedia and Google, as well as facebook groups and so forth. At first glance the email seems to imply that I will only be based at one big school, but I know from experience never to make assumptions founded on impressions. In any case I'm quite pleased with this placement! The city is in the South of the prefecture, placed smack bang between two very large cities, is not far from the coast and is a perfect location from which to travel! So now I really need to get my backside into gear. Today my flight information came through and it gave the whole thing an air of finality that I expected to get from the two day orientation in London.
Ah yes, the two day orientation in London. Viv and I travelled down in her car the night before, and despite a slight accidental detour into Central London we reached our destination, the Ibis Hotel, in good time. As a little girl I hated travelling anywhere by car and have bad memories involving ten-hour trips to Cornwall with my family which inevitably ended up with me vomiting service station snacks into a plastic bag as my Dad declared that the scenic route (aka mountainous roads overlooking the sea) were a lot more fun. Now I'm a grown-up, however, I do enjoy the occasional road trip in good company. And this one was a lot of fun.
Given that orientation began at Brunel University at 9am on the 1st July, Viv and I had decided to stay at the Ibis the night before so as to arrive bright eyed and bushy tailed at registration the following morning. The best laid plans of mice and men and all that.. after an incident involving a broken cistern, a caretaker covered in toilet water (I maintain that I had warned him of the perils but far be it from me to say I told you so in a blog where he cannot protest otherwise) we ended up switching rooms, whereby we excitedly and nervously filled out and compared paperwork until late. Then, when we eventually switched off the lights, neither of us could sleep for hours because of the stifling heat. Typical!
Having risen but admittedly not shining, we piled back into the car in our suits with our visa applications and handbooks tucked neatly into our bags and set off in anxious trepidation towards Brunel University, praying we wouldn't end up back outside Harrod's again. Thanks to Viv's foresight and the grace of google maps though we were early for registration and soon found ourselves checking into the University accommodation to leave our things, ready for a long, long day ahead of us. Presentations and Japanese lessons took us up to 7pm, by which point our heads were ready to burst with all the information and the new fears instilled by the FCO and, to some extent, the previous JETs. Most of the attendees flocked to the pub on campus for dinner but we headed into Uxbridge to find a Wetherspoons, just to give us a little respite from the overwhelming atmosphere that I found was starting to make me question what I was even doing contemplating a teaching position in Japan.
The following day was much more reassuring. There was something about the intensive Japanese lessons that made the impending change a little less intimidating, and the additional presentation we saw on Life in Japan was light hearted but frank, making it all seem more like an adventure again. Feeling enthusiastic one minute and reluctant the next is all part and parcel of the process of going abroad for a long period of time, and I know this well. Sometimes it is hard to keep perspective but I know this is the opportunity of a lifetime and once I'm actually in Japan the nerves will start to subside. I just need reminding every once in a while!
Perhaps what makes it harder is that Japan doesn't just signify the start of a new chapter, it also closes an old one, which I haven't really come to terms with yet. Attending conferences whilst wearing a suit, receiving free breakfast and coffee upon presenting my name badge and having people refer to me as 'Ms' only made my heart ache all the more for university and the fun times had after exams. I only really left university about a week ago and I already miss my friends, coursemates and flatmates desperately. Life goes on and new adventures start but I think I left a little piece of me on campus. So with that little element of melancholy declared I promise to make my next posts sound a bit more chipper, even the retrospective ones to follow which will detail the Graduation Ball and the Summer Party and so on!
And to close this post, a sentence I learned in Japanese which should adequately represent my intentions for the year ahead:
Nihon ni mada heta desu, ga gambarimasu! (Which, if I learned it correctly, should read "My Japanese is poor, but I will try my best!" If I got it wrong.. well then I guess it probably sums things up perfectly!)
