9 days to go!
In 9 days I will be on a plane to Japan!
This will be my fourth flight to Japan. The first time I went to Japan was for two weeks for a winter study abroad in college, the second time I went for my entire junior year of college and lastly I went two Januarys ago for two weeks to visit my friend in Kamogawa, Chiba~! Yay CHIBA!
So~ all together this will be my seventh flight to/from Japan.. can't say that Im looking forward to THAT part of the journey, since I can never sleep on airplanes. I am going on American airlines 10:30am flight. Since JET purchases the tickets I can't request an aisle seat, so I am dreading being crushed between sleeping passengers. Who knows? *crosses fingers* SOMEONE has to get those aisle seats!
My bags are packed! I keep going through them nearly everyday to make difficult choices about what things to leave behind. I have managed to free up tons of space and so far I am well beneath the weight limit for all bags.
I will be taking:
1 big checked bag - 41 lbs
1 small (carry on size) checked bag 42lbs
1 duffle bag of medium size- 30ish lbs
1 small purse
I think this will work out well. I would have preferred having one suitcase completely empty since I know i'll more than double my things within the first year, but all the clothes I am taking I bought specifically for this trip! So I can't leave them behind!
I sent one box ahead to Laura in Kamogawa, this has all of my bulky omiyage, so I really hope it doesn't get lost on the way!! I think that I have more than enough omiyage for everyone:
*A box of See's candies- toffee lolipops (for my JHS- this is REALLY expensive and nice so I think it will make a good impression?) ($20 a box of 30!)
* Three bags of old style ginger snaps! ($1 a bag!) these are super yummy and good with tea!
* A HUGE bag of mixed old time american candies (tootsie rolls, smarties etc) good for prizes for little kids?)
* Maryland mug (for supervisor?)
* Old bay packets! (Esp if I have to have a class where I teach people to cook food from MD! Mom had the great idea of doing crabcakes! it would be so easy!)
* Misc candies- necco wafers and airheads and things that I don't think i've ever seen in Japan~
* Misc MD goods- pencils, crab erasers, MD info tourist book etc.
Hopefully this will all be plenty! I remember last time when I left Japan I still had most of the omiyage I had brought in the beginning...so I think I probably overdid it, but oh well ^_^ better safe than sorry!
So far this is what I know about my placement:
I will be living in a ground floor apartment.
Rent is 200 a month!!
My apartment has a kitchen, japanese style bedroom (but with a bed *fail*) and a"livingroom"
I will have a bike!
I will have the blue car I purchased!
My main school, JHS will only be 3 min from my house
I will teach (3?) elementary schools in the afternoons on a rotating basis
My first responsibilities are helping out speech contest students and participating in the sports festa!
My supervisor's english is bad (said my pred.. but the email, tho engrishy, was pretty good!)
Tomiura is the land of blue ocean and green mountain (per that email)
There is a mini odoya, a cat playland and a 7-11 in my town
Tomiura is known for biwa (loquat)
Tateyama is the next "big" city... it has everything I could possibly need. (tsutaya, electronics places, english speaking doctors, driving school, mechanic who everyone loves, mother garden, uniqlo, etc etc)
My apartment will have "Everything you could need" (says my pred... but refuses to tell me what that means...)
I WILL have a kotatsu!!!! but supposedly it doesn't work very well? so maybe i'll upgrade.
So that is all good to know!
I hope to update this journal often as I find out more about my town and placement. 9 days~ so much left to do!
This will be my fourth flight to Japan. The first time I went to Japan was for two weeks for a winter study abroad in college, the second time I went for my entire junior year of college and lastly I went two Januarys ago for two weeks to visit my friend in Kamogawa, Chiba~! Yay CHIBA!
So~ all together this will be my seventh flight to/from Japan.. can't say that Im looking forward to THAT part of the journey, since I can never sleep on airplanes. I am going on American airlines 10:30am flight. Since JET purchases the tickets I can't request an aisle seat, so I am dreading being crushed between sleeping passengers. Who knows? *crosses fingers* SOMEONE has to get those aisle seats!
My bags are packed! I keep going through them nearly everyday to make difficult choices about what things to leave behind. I have managed to free up tons of space and so far I am well beneath the weight limit for all bags.
I will be taking:
1 big checked bag - 41 lbs
1 small (carry on size) checked bag 42lbs
1 duffle bag of medium size- 30ish lbs
1 small purse
I think this will work out well. I would have preferred having one suitcase completely empty since I know i'll more than double my things within the first year, but all the clothes I am taking I bought specifically for this trip! So I can't leave them behind!
I sent one box ahead to Laura in Kamogawa, this has all of my bulky omiyage, so I really hope it doesn't get lost on the way!! I think that I have more than enough omiyage for everyone:
*A box of See's candies- toffee lolipops (for my JHS- this is REALLY expensive and nice so I think it will make a good impression?) ($20 a box of 30!)
* Three bags of old style ginger snaps! ($1 a bag!) these are super yummy and good with tea!
* A HUGE bag of mixed old time american candies (tootsie rolls, smarties etc) good for prizes for little kids?)
* Maryland mug (for supervisor?)
* Old bay packets! (Esp if I have to have a class where I teach people to cook food from MD! Mom had the great idea of doing crabcakes! it would be so easy!)
* Misc candies- necco wafers and airheads and things that I don't think i've ever seen in Japan~
* Misc MD goods- pencils, crab erasers, MD info tourist book etc.
Hopefully this will all be plenty! I remember last time when I left Japan I still had most of the omiyage I had brought in the beginning...so I think I probably overdid it, but oh well ^_^ better safe than sorry!
So far this is what I know about my placement:
I will be living in a ground floor apartment.
Rent is 200 a month!!
My apartment has a kitchen, japanese style bedroom (but with a bed *fail*) and a"livingroom"
I will have a bike!
I will have the blue car I purchased!
My main school, JHS will only be 3 min from my house
I will teach (3?) elementary schools in the afternoons on a rotating basis
My first responsibilities are helping out speech contest students and participating in the sports festa!
My supervisor's english is bad (said my pred.. but the email, tho engrishy, was pretty good!)
Tomiura is the land of blue ocean and green mountain (per that email)
There is a mini odoya, a cat playland and a 7-11 in my town
Tomiura is known for biwa (loquat)
Tateyama is the next "big" city... it has everything I could possibly need. (tsutaya, electronics places, english speaking doctors, driving school, mechanic who everyone loves, mother garden, uniqlo, etc etc)
My apartment will have "Everything you could need" (says my pred... but refuses to tell me what that means...)
I WILL have a kotatsu!!!! but supposedly it doesn't work very well? so maybe i'll upgrade.
So that is all good to know!
I hope to update this journal often as I find out more about my town and placement. 9 days~ so much left to do!