I was hoping to start this blog once my internet was set up, no the modem has not arrived yet, I'm typing this at school as I have 3 hours to kill and this will hopefully keep me relatively sane.
For all my friends and family, you already know who I am, but for all those randoms that happen to come across this blog and for some reason are lingering long enough to read this far, I'm Juliette Cooke, hailing from Auckland, New Zealand.
This is my first year as a JET participant in Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan, quite literally the ass of Honshu. Probably also why previous JETs have nicknamed this special place with a special name, the Guch. So welcome to the Guch, known for countryside, countryside and more countryside as well as the dangerous puffer fish (if eaten) 'fugu'.
I have been here for about 2 and a half weeks now. I was lucky enough to have my residence card, bank account and cell phone and internet plan sorted within the first couple of days, I know others aren't so lucky. My apartment is huge (for Japan) but lacking in furniture and basics. My mission is to make several trips to the Daiso (100 yen shop) and Juntendo (furniture store) to make my apartment more homey, and because I can only carry so much home. I am based at Hikari Senior High School, and will be visiting 2 other schools, Kumageminami and Kumagekita Senior High. All 3 are based as far as possible away from my apartment.
Coming into 35 degree heat summer I caught a cold and cough which is still lingering, but at least I have regained my voice. So far since arriving I have gone to all 3 schools, gone to a Goldfish Lantern Festival in Yanai, swum at Nijigahama beach and checked out Kudamatsu (next "city" over) malls but was too poor to buy anything. Tomorrow I must travel to Yamaguchi city for a full day meeting, hopefully followed by dinner and karaoke.
In the same apartment block lives an American second year JET Roxy. We have hung out a lot so far, and I'm very grateful as those first few days and nights here were especially lonely. We are already planning a trip to Okinawa next month over Silver week, about 5 days off. We are both hanging out for payday, which is tomorrow, and honestly couldn't come sooner.
The time is now 1.11pm, let's see if I can't keep this going until I have to leave at 4.15...
So I live in Hikari city which would like to think it's a city but is more a town with a lot of rice fields. Public transport is still on time but times are few and far between and looking up buses is nigh impossible! There are 2 beaches, Nijigahama and the other one (I forget). Unfortunately Nijigahama is littered with rubbish, apparently the current sweeps it all in from China, it's pretty nasty. Some local JETs and I are thinking of planning a clean up day, maybe this weekend as next weekend JETs from all over Yamaguchi are coming to Nijigahama for a beach party.
Next month, one weekend, I plan to visit my host family in Hiroshima. I'll probably stay the night with them and maybe catch up with a few friends from Misuzugaoka School. My friend Midori came down last weekend to visit. My Japanese has seriously deteriorated however, I seriously need to up my game! I plan to take N2 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. I failed it last year and it was crazy hard, hopefully actually living here now will give me more motivation.
I will be teaching first years at Hikari High, but all 3 years at my other schools. I will mainly work at Hikari, on Mondays, Wednesdays and every second Tuesday. There are roughly 450 students this year. I have my own desk and laptop (which of course is better than my own) and heaps of resources. Yesterday I taught my first lesson to Junior High School Students thinking of coming to Hikari next year. And the day before I met the members of my English Club, I can tell it's gonna be great fun working with them already!
I went to Kumagekita this morning which has roughly 280 students and is the smallest of my schools. They are mainly female students as the school focuses on home economics, but there are boys too. I will go there every Thursday almost and have pretty much been given free reign on what to teach! No textbooks, but I'll prepare activities and games for the students. I think because it is not a very academic school they don't mind so much.
At Kumageminami all the teachers seem lovely. There are over 300 students, I will be there on Fridays and every second Tuesday.
I have started fitting out my apartment by buying photo frames, kitchen wear and tablecloths etc. I will slowly start buying souvenirs so I can decorate the place. It's so big and empty, I sleep in the living room and close off all the doors cause it can get a bit freaky being alone. I can honestly say I'm not a fan of it and can't wait for Sophia to come visit. No one should have to live alone in a 3 bedroom apartment. At least the rent is cheap, about $230 a month! But then there's gas, water, electricity and internet bills, and tax. I should get around $3000 a month after tax, and will budget from there.
I'm going to check out Amazon (they deliver to your door!) for chairs, tables and cupboards etc. I also have to buy a hot water zip for the kitchen which will cost about $300 :s.
Time to put my budgeting skills to the test!!
So that's me in a nutshell for the time being. I shall post photos up in my next post!
