I made it to Japan!
Saturday- I arrived at Kansai Airport and was met by Ryan, one of the trainers. We also met 2 other new teachers. Ryan had to put us on a train by ourselves because he was waiting for someone who had missed their connection in Korea. It was a little crazy because we didn't know where we were going and were immediately thrown into the wild of Japan (ok, we were still in the middle of Osaka). Someone finally met us and took us to the training center in Okayama. We tried to go to sleep, but because of jetlag we ended up staying awake for hours talking.
Sunday- One of the other trainers took us to a town called Kurashiki. It had a beautiful historical district with old houses and a canal. It's amazing sometimes to think that Japan ever looked like that, because now it is all neon signs and lights and people. We ate Okonomiyaki in Kurashiki (I love that stuff) and went to the Ohara Art Museum. The museum had pieces from Picasso, Monet, Manet, de Kooning, Chagall... I was really amazed at the diversity of the permanent exhibit for such a small museum. They also had an exhibit on Chinese buddhist sculptures which was amazing, because I studied them at school, but that was the closest I have ever been to pieces that old (they had more pieces than the Freer Sackler, but I suppose they are a little bit closer). We stopped by the 100 yen store on the way back (kindof like the dollar store). I also tried to manuver around the grocery store, but I think I just ended up confusing the people who worked there.
Monday- Another day off! We went to Okayama Jou (the castle in the town). The actual castle burned down during WWII but was rebuilt in 1966. We didn't go inside because it was expensive and the museum was all in Japanese. Instead we went to Korakuen Garden which is one of the top 3 most beautiful gardens in Japan (I'm not making that up on my own, it's written on the brochure). One of the other ones is Kenrokuen in Kanazawa and I went last time I was in Japan. The garden today was amazing. They had a crane sanctuary and beautiful little streams and bridges. When I am in places like that I wish that I could make all of the other tourists disappear and I could sit there on my own with no noise or human interference and just appreciate the place. But unfortunately they wouldn't kick everyone out just for me.
I:m still jetlagged from the trip, and it seems like everything is just flying past me and I'm not really absorbing any of it. I'm glad that I have been here before, because I think I would be incredibly overwhelmed if this was all totally new and foreign. I don't know how I ever managed before. My Japanese is coming back to me fairly quickly, and I am having a lot of opporunities to use it. I know more Japanese than most of the other teachers I am training with, which really surprised me. When I studied here last year, I knew less Japanese than the other people on the program. It is unusual for me to be the one trying to communciate.
Tomorrow the training begins and I have to admit that I am a little nervous. I only have 5 days of training before I have to start teaching and I worry that I will not learn all of the lesson plans in that amount of time. I suppose the one strong point is that I am actually an expert in what I am teaching just because I speak English fluently.
Saturday- I arrived at Kansai Airport and was met by Ryan, one of the trainers. We also met 2 other new teachers. Ryan had to put us on a train by ourselves because he was waiting for someone who had missed their connection in Korea. It was a little crazy because we didn't know where we were going and were immediately thrown into the wild of Japan (ok, we were still in the middle of Osaka). Someone finally met us and took us to the training center in Okayama. We tried to go to sleep, but because of jetlag we ended up staying awake for hours talking.
Sunday- One of the other trainers took us to a town called Kurashiki. It had a beautiful historical district with old houses and a canal. It's amazing sometimes to think that Japan ever looked like that, because now it is all neon signs and lights and people. We ate Okonomiyaki in Kurashiki (I love that stuff) and went to the Ohara Art Museum. The museum had pieces from Picasso, Monet, Manet, de Kooning, Chagall... I was really amazed at the diversity of the permanent exhibit for such a small museum. They also had an exhibit on Chinese buddhist sculptures which was amazing, because I studied them at school, but that was the closest I have ever been to pieces that old (they had more pieces than the Freer Sackler, but I suppose they are a little bit closer). We stopped by the 100 yen store on the way back (kindof like the dollar store). I also tried to manuver around the grocery store, but I think I just ended up confusing the people who worked there.
Monday- Another day off! We went to Okayama Jou (the castle in the town). The actual castle burned down during WWII but was rebuilt in 1966. We didn't go inside because it was expensive and the museum was all in Japanese. Instead we went to Korakuen Garden which is one of the top 3 most beautiful gardens in Japan (I'm not making that up on my own, it's written on the brochure). One of the other ones is Kenrokuen in Kanazawa and I went last time I was in Japan. The garden today was amazing. They had a crane sanctuary and beautiful little streams and bridges. When I am in places like that I wish that I could make all of the other tourists disappear and I could sit there on my own with no noise or human interference and just appreciate the place. But unfortunately they wouldn't kick everyone out just for me.
I:m still jetlagged from the trip, and it seems like everything is just flying past me and I'm not really absorbing any of it. I'm glad that I have been here before, because I think I would be incredibly overwhelmed if this was all totally new and foreign. I don't know how I ever managed before. My Japanese is coming back to me fairly quickly, and I am having a lot of opporunities to use it. I know more Japanese than most of the other teachers I am training with, which really surprised me. When I studied here last year, I knew less Japanese than the other people on the program. It is unusual for me to be the one trying to communciate.
Tomorrow the training begins and I have to admit that I am a little nervous. I only have 5 days of training before I have to start teaching and I worry that I will not learn all of the lesson plans in that amount of time. I suppose the one strong point is that I am actually an expert in what I am teaching just because I speak English fluently.
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