A Change in Scenery...

Hey-o folks.

Thank you for your faithful following of my blog. However, as the title suggests, I am moving my blog to a different URL. Don't worry, all of my previous posts and all of your comments have been exported to that blog, so we haven't lost anything.

A friend has been "highly-recommending" that I switch to wordpress, and then my dear sister has been blogging there, and I'm interested in traffic to my blog (which Google doesn't offer), and I've fiddled around with their settings and such, sooooooo.....

Here is the URL to the new blog, and henceforth, all updates and posts shall be posted there.

http://roadmapsrevelationsandraindrops.wordpress.com/

Thanks for your accomodating spirit everyone!

This is still a dream, right? No town could possibly sound so perfect... JET Update 9

A welcome letter from my supervisor:

Dear --,

Welcome to Kuroshio Town. Everyone is looking forward to you coming from the bottom of their hearts. My name is --, and I will be your supervisor. I am looking forward to meeting you and working together. I think you will find the children in Kuroshio very energetic and enthusiastic, although, of course, there will be a few unenthusiastic children too. The children are really cute and can’t wait for you to come. In kuroshio Town there is lots of beautiful nature: pine forests, mountains, oceans and beaches. I think you will find the people in Kuroshio very warm, but sometimes a little shy. In Kuroshio we have lots of events and activities, which we would love for you to join (if you want to). I hope you will make many friends and come to experience Kuroshio life. We will be doing our best to make your transition from Canada to Kuroshio go as smoothly as possible...

HOW MANY MORE DAYS???? FORTY????!!!! AHHHH!!!!

How do you fix a day that starts at 3am?

If anyone knows the answer to that question, I'd dearly love to know it.

Truthfully though, the started out well, and it wasn't until approximately 9:30am that things started to descend into disaster.

Let me begin:

I woke up at 3am today. Waited for my alarm to go off for 30 minutes. That's ok. I need that time to get the brain working too. I got up, got ready, went to work for 4:15am.

The people who closed the cafe last night clearly had other things on their mind. In their defense, two of the three don't close the cafe all too often, but they do often enough to know the basic things that ought to have been done. Not really a big deal, as there were three of us in the morning (which doesn't happen often) so we adjusted, tweaked some things and moved on. No hard feelings.

Working out the breaks schedule was less than enjoyable as well. I've never liked that particular aspect of being a supervisor (which is odd, as I do love puzzles, and that's basically what it is, a puzzle that involves people, coffee, predictions and blackout periods). Odd shifts, and odd tasks. That got done. So I moved on. And people I enjoy working with were working with me today. That was good.

Our district manager shows up. All is well. There are enough staff that I can deploy and plant one person to be cleaning. Always cleaning, and maintaining a tidy cafe. Things are good.

I started the deposit at an excellent time, got it all done in 23 minutes (woo! only 5 minutes more than the store record I set earlier this year!) and set the safe to put it away. Except that the safe suddenly lost power, and I couldn't access it. And so the descent steepened. Begin calling help desks, playing with power cords etc. Hear a sizzling sound when touching the power cord. Shriek. Note that there is now no power to the stereo, security moniter, and still to the safe. Help desk says that they will send a tech over within 24 hours.

Fine. Move along.

And I don't really know what happened after that. I was slow AND clumsy on bar. I couldn't pull it together and bust out the drinks, and serve customers in an efficient amount of time. Then I spilled the splash sticks all over the bar, into steamed milk, into prepared drinks, into the milk rag container, into a milk jug and onto the floor. I forgot about a 80-cup coffee service until 5 minutes before it was due, and it takes 15-20 to get it ready. Flames appeared as the descent reached maximum velocity.

I ask to go home early. I can't countdown the safe, so I just punch out. Then the safe gets fixed. Now I have to countdown. And it takes a long time. And I don't get paid for those 15 minutes.

I check my cell phone. Drama on the friend front. I make a call, say something I had no intention of saying in front of a co-worker, and spill the beans on a subject I didn't want to discuss.

I finally get to my car, I drive home, and there is TONS of traffic. And while waiting to turn right onto a street beside a truck that is waiting to turn left (and thus obstructing my view and the view of the car behind me) I inch up in order to be able to see. I get a clear view, see about 15 cars headed my way with a few of them clearly speeding, and the car behind me honks. Not once, not twice, and not three times. Four times, and each one louder and longer than the last. Poop to you. Poop and vomit and diarrhea. All to you sir. I finally turn right, the driver behind me turns as though attached to my trunk, and earns himself a honk from the car that would have hit him. He ZOOMS past me, in and out and between lanes, and finally out of my sight. Thank goodness. I was losing it.

I'm home now, starting a cleaning process, waiting for crepe batter to sit, and hoping, hoping, hoping that the rest of the afternoon is a breeze with nothing but smiles, laughter and colourful pictures. Please God, let it be so. I can't take any more like this on my strength, only Yours.

JET Update 8

Here is an excerpt from the e-mail from my predecessor (spelling errors are his):

"Congratulations

Greetings --,

Welcome from Kuroshio Town! Everyone is excited to have you come. You will find Kuroshio a warm and friendly town full of down to earth people. It is a fishing and farming community, surrounded by beautiful vistas and gorgeous mountains and beaches. As for work, you will be based at the town board of education (5 mins bike ride from your modern apartment). It’s a typical Japanese office, so everyone is very busy, but they are always willing to help you. You will be teaching at 5 schools: 4 elementary schools and 1 Junior high school and average about 16 lessons a week. Your role will be a mixture of teaching English, culture and getting involved in town events. Everyone is super friendly, so you will be greeted everywhere you go by the students, parents and locals who might have heard of you. I’m sure you will come to love Kuroshio Cho as much as I have.

...

You will be located in Kuroshio Cho (Town), Kochi Ken (Prefecture), which is in the island of Shikoku. Kuroshio, until 3 years ago, was two distinct towns called Saga and Ogata, but they were amalgamated to cut costs. While the official name is Kuroshio, everyone still uses Ogata and Saga. You will be living in an area called Irino, which is the ‘central hub’ of Ogata. There is another ALT who lives in Saga, --, who is really friendly and will be able to help you out all year long.

Kuroshio is a small beach town, famous for surfing, whale watching and its katsuo no tataki (a fish dish). It’s also really close to the Shimanto River, reputedly ‘the most beautiful river in Japan’. As it is right next to Shimanto City, the conveniences of a big city are close at hand, but you still get to experience small town community. Everyone in town is super friendly and laidback, the scenery is beautiful and the food is best (no where in Japan has fresher fish).

Kuroshio has a population of about 14,000, most of which falls into Ogata. Kuroshio actually covers a fairly large territory but it’s primarily on the coast, so it’s full of beaches. It has also has beautiful mountains, great for cycling. In the town there lots of Izakayas and other small restaurants, as well as one nice hotel called NEST that serves western food. There’s a supermarket, a convenience store and lots of little fruit and vegetable shops. There’s also a dollar store and a huge hardware store (near your apartment). There are lots of other stores, pharmacies and hair salons as well. In short, the bulk of your needs can be met in the town itself. The town is also home to Tosa-Irino, a major train stop on the Kuroshio-Line.

Nakamura (Shimanto City) is a 15 minute drive away. It’s the biggest city in western Kochi with a population of about 50,000. There are tons of bars, restaurants, stores and pretty much everything you will need. Any needs that can’t be met in Ogata, can easily be done there.　Its also the home the beautiful Shimanto river, which is great for walks, canoeing and other activities. Between Nakamura and Ogata, you can do just about any Japanese activity you want. You can do kendo, karate, pottery, calligraphy, tea ceremony, Japanese archery as well as outdoor pursuits: biking, kayaking, fishing, surfing, body boarding, running, tennis, soccer, swimming, walking. There is also a gym in Nakamura; it’s pretty run down, but very cheap at 50$ for 6 months.

Ogata is about 2-2.5 hours drive (or about 2 hours by train) from Kochi city. The closest airport is in Kochi, as well movie theatres (but you can rent tons of DVDs from Tsutaya, a 15 min drive from your apartment). The downside to Ogata is that it can be a bit quiet and you might find it a bit lonely at times. Additionally Kochi is one of the most remote prefectures in Japan so travel is a bit difficult. That being said, I never got lonely, in large part because the KOCHI JETS have a really close knit community, especially in and around Nakamura. Additionally because Ogata is the home of 7km stretch of white beach called Irino Beach, lots of jets come to visit..."

47 days left!

How Many Days? JET Update 7

I leave for Japan in 57 days!  That's less than two months folks!

The person who I will be taking over for has kindly contacted me so that I can ask questions, and so I now have some new information.

I've found out that I'll be teaching at 4 elementary schools, and one junior high school- so basically a different school for every day of the week.  It sounds like I might be the only JET participant in town- especially since the town is so small.

My apartment is considered big and new by Japanese standards.  It has a separated bedroom, living room, kitchen/dining area, and a bathroom with a clothes washer.  Apparently it's so hot in Kuroshio-cho that everyone just air dries their clothes.

I have the option of being called by my English first name, or my Japanese middle name.  I decided to stick with my first name, just so that there isn't any confusion on my level of fluency in Japanese.

The town atmosphere is "pretty casual" and is "predominatly a surfer town" which sounds awesome.

I'm off to work right now (no 4:15am for me today!  WOOOO!) so this is as much as I can post!