The past few days have been a blast. I feel much less overwhelmed than I did a few days ago. My prefectural orientation took place in Aomori City from Wednesday-Friday and gave us new JETs some resources to help us with everything from surviving the long Aomori winters, to improving our lesson-planning, to studying Japanese. The Aomori JETs are so friendly, outgoing, and constantly inviting each other to their towns. Naturally, reuniting and taking fun classes with them on how to have the best possible experiences as a JET was bound to be fun. I also found the two hour car ride to and from Aomori City from my town, Yokohama, to be quite enjoyable. Akita-san, my coworker who is the best at English in my office, took me to orientation. Mizuho, my supervisor and who is the same age as me, took me home. Both car trips were SOOO great! We spoke for a little bit in English and then they conversed with me in Japanese, being sure to correct me so that I can improve, of course! It's really great to have coworkers that both want to learn my language, but are also good about speaking Japanese with me. Speaking is arguably the most difficult part about the language. It's also hard to force myself to speak Japanese in proper sentences when people tend to understand what I mean when I speak broken Japanese or use a couple of vocabulary words.
This post is already longer than I want it to be, so I'm going to post some (a lot) of pictures and call it a day. Enjoy!
This post is already longer than I want it to be, so I'm going to post some (a lot) of pictures and call it a day. Enjoy!
The first welcome party. A get together for all the new (and senpai!) JETs in our area of the prefecture. Lots of food (shown below), experimentation with different Japanese drinks, and fun!
More pictures from around my town. The second to last one is another picture of the river right behind my house. I just love it and can't stop taking pictures of it! The last picture is the sports dome in Mutsu, about 40min from my house. I have been really lucky to find an ex-JET (the town she worked for permanently hired her) who plays a lot of soccer and has been letting me play on her teams! The dome is so nice and playing soccer with locals is a great way to meet new people.
Mutsu welcome party. I'm technically not in Mutsu or the Shimokita area, but I'm pretty close and the only new JET nearby. Everyone was so nice and it was potluck style, so it was fun eating some homemade treats.
Aomori Orientation. By the looks of these pictures, orientation consisted of attending nomihodai's, making new friends at Japanese bars, and singing karaoke. We actually did work, I swear! Although we were taking classes all day, it was considered a full work day so naturally pictures would have been inappropriate. The one picture I did get is of the Russian Lesson. A JET who can speak fluent Russian taught us Russian for 50min only speaking in that language. I thought it was useful a) to understand how our students will feel and b) to get an idea for how slow to talk, what kind of visuals to provide, and to be reminded that the teacher is a lot less intimidating when she smiles! The social events took place in the evenings and were fun. The picture at the beginning and end are both the same view of Aomori city from our conference room on the first and last days.
Of course I had to take a picture of nearly every meal I have eaten...But seriously, the food here is so good. I don't even know what I'm making half the time but the thinly sliced meats and sauces make anything taste good if you have a side bowl of rice and veggies.
The first picture of the corn is from my neighbors- so kind of them! The most perfect-looking corn on the cobs I have ever seen (and most delicious).
Second picture is homemade curry that the Japanese Red Cross made for local school children at the Board of Education, where I work, so I got a bowl too. Also delicious.
The next two pictures are from the Hachinohe dinner all you can eat/drink buffet. A variety of dishes and meats. You cook your own meats and there are a bunch of sauces you can dip them in.
Next 5 pictures are from Aomori Orientation: shrimp ramen, tonkatsu (Fried pork. This place was so good that I went there twice in three days. It was packed both times), A picture of everyone taking pictures of how good their meals are, my precious friend Karyn outside a delightful sushi shop, a ridiculously delicious lunch from the sushi shop that cost a mere 700 yen (~$7).
Some pictures I forgot to post from when my new JET friends and I went to my town festival a few weeks ago.
Last two pictures- A dirt soccer field in Shichinohe and a short newspaper clip from when I first arrived. Apparently this clip is in more than just my town newspaper. I went to Mutsu 40min away and some of the people I met up there said they had seen me in the newspaper. Weird, right?! Apparently all JETs are shown in the paper when they first arrive.
The first picture of the corn is from my neighbors- so kind of them! The most perfect-looking corn on the cobs I have ever seen (and most delicious).
Second picture is homemade curry that the Japanese Red Cross made for local school children at the Board of Education, where I work, so I got a bowl too. Also delicious.
The next two pictures are from the Hachinohe dinner all you can eat/drink buffet. A variety of dishes and meats. You cook your own meats and there are a bunch of sauces you can dip them in.
Next 5 pictures are from Aomori Orientation: shrimp ramen, tonkatsu (Fried pork. This place was so good that I went there twice in three days. It was packed both times), A picture of everyone taking pictures of how good their meals are, my precious friend Karyn outside a delightful sushi shop, a ridiculously delicious lunch from the sushi shop that cost a mere 700 yen (~$7).
Some pictures I forgot to post from when my new JET friends and I went to my town festival a few weeks ago.
Last two pictures- A dirt soccer field in Shichinohe and a short newspaper clip from when I first arrived. Apparently this clip is in more than just my town newspaper. I went to Mutsu 40min away and some of the people I met up there said they had seen me in the newspaper. Weird, right?! Apparently all JETs are shown in the paper when they first arrive.
Learning Japanese
Orientation gave me a bunch of ideas for how to organize my study time effectively. I think there will be a period of trial and error, but I did find one activity that's pretty useful. I watch Japanese TV for 30min-1 hour each day and have Google translate on hand.
Today I watched a show called "Mega Disaster," which was great because there were a bunch of visuals that helped me understand what was going on. News is sometimes hard for me because they do a lot of talking, and show clips of random things, but it's harder for me to pick up cues about what they're actually saying. Anyway, if I heard a word I didn't know, I would look it up. There are a couple that I just wrote down what I heard and presume I misheard some of them, but I'm putting them up anyway (maybe my mom can tell me what she thinks I might have heard after she reads this!). It was also a great way to remember some of the vocabulary I had forgotten.
Here's a sample of the things I looked up:
こうした情 (Kōshita jō) such information
当時の偏西風 (tōji no henseifū) Westerlies at the time
寒気 (samuke) chilled
近く似合って (chikaku niatte)
偏西風 (henseifū) Westerlies
偏西風は固定川を続ける (henseifū wa kotei kawa o tsudzukeru) Westerlies continued [in a?] fixed river
階層の養殖です (kaisō no yōshokudesu) It is a culture of hierarchy
変色し (henshokushi) Discolored. Also, へんしょく=discolored
当時 (tōji) At that time
暖めるは (atatameru wa) The warm
熱のエネルギ (netsu no enerugi) Energy of the heat
水分 (suibun) Moisture
然し (shikashi) However
実は (jitsuwa) Actually; To tell you the truth
連関 (renkan) Association
デイブと関連付ける (Deibu to kanrendzukeru) Associate with Dave.
当たり (atari) hit, success, prediction
Here are my mom's corrections, some of which I used to change the above. (Thanks, Mom!)
偏西風は固定川を続ける
川 => It probably was 側(かわ)
寒気=さむけ or かんき
If it was read 'kanki', then it means cold front.
If it was read 'samuke,' then it means chill
近く似合って(ちかくにあって)
Sounds a bit strange but it could mean, "closely resembles"
Another possibility is, 近くに あって (found or located nearby)
階層の養殖です。 => 海草(かいそう、seaweed)の養殖 (ようしょく、cultivated)です。
(This note makes much more sense! The people on TV were, in fact, looking at seaweed. Way to go, Mom!)
変色し(へんしょく)-discolored, change of color
当たり=あたり - hit, success, prediction
実は - when used at the beginning of a conversation, it could mean, "to tell you the truth"
Today I watched a show called "Mega Disaster," which was great because there were a bunch of visuals that helped me understand what was going on. News is sometimes hard for me because they do a lot of talking, and show clips of random things, but it's harder for me to pick up cues about what they're actually saying. Anyway, if I heard a word I didn't know, I would look it up. There are a couple that I just wrote down what I heard and presume I misheard some of them, but I'm putting them up anyway (maybe my mom can tell me what she thinks I might have heard after she reads this!). It was also a great way to remember some of the vocabulary I had forgotten.
Here's a sample of the things I looked up:
こうした情 (Kōshita jō) such information
当時の偏西風 (tōji no henseifū) Westerlies at the time
寒気 (samuke) chilled
近く似合って (chikaku niatte)
偏西風 (henseifū) Westerlies
偏西風は固定川を続ける (henseifū wa kotei kawa o tsudzukeru) Westerlies continued [in a?] fixed river
階層の養殖です (kaisō no yōshokudesu) It is a culture of hierarchy
変色し (henshokushi) Discolored. Also, へんしょく=discolored
当時 (tōji) At that time
暖めるは (atatameru wa) The warm
熱のエネルギ (netsu no enerugi) Energy of the heat
水分 (suibun) Moisture
然し (shikashi) However
実は (jitsuwa) Actually; To tell you the truth
連関 (renkan) Association
デイブと関連付ける (Deibu to kanrendzukeru) Associate with Dave.
当たり (atari) hit, success, prediction
Here are my mom's corrections, some of which I used to change the above. (Thanks, Mom!)
偏西風は固定川を続ける
川 => It probably was 側(かわ)
寒気=さむけ or かんき
If it was read 'kanki', then it means cold front.
If it was read 'samuke,' then it means chill
近く似合って(ちかくにあって)
Sounds a bit strange but it could mean, "closely resembles"
Another possibility is, 近くに あって (found or located nearby)
階層の養殖です。 => 海草(かいそう、seaweed)の養殖 (ようしょく、cultivated)です。
(This note makes much more sense! The people on TV were, in fact, looking at seaweed. Way to go, Mom!)
変色し(へんしょく)-discolored, change of color
当たり=あたり - hit, success, prediction
実は - when used at the beginning of a conversation, it could mean, "to tell you the truth"