The Move

Just before September began, iTTTi training concluded. It was about two weeks, and every hour was consumed with training/teaching. The time in between was spent drinking, eating, sleeping, and of course, studying. I learned the meaning of being put through the ringer. Well. mentally and emotionally anyway. The course concluded with a final exam on everything we could have possibly learned. I passed (barely), because I didn't properly arrange every course lesson in order. Could I write important information in Japanese? Yes. Could I remember the exact order of the lesson in every course? No. And if you asked me after teaching courses for 3 months, or 12, I still wouldn't know. Once the test was done, we all made plans to party it up. A little pre-drinking with the trainer before we went clubbing in Nagoya! What a night. I dressed up, went out, and danced. I love dancing! Even if I was the only one most of the time...

First Shinkansen ride!

Abandon all hope ye who enter here.

The next day, I spent hours cleaning the apartment. Where was my roommate? Nowhere to be found. Didn't matter. I cleaned it so thoroughly, you could have eaten off of every surface. When I finished, that's when she showed up. She was like, "Oh...I would have helped..." It was well into the evening. She had no intention of helping. I didn't care, I was just happy I'd be done with sharing a place. I had a few more drinks with my fellow trainees before we prepared for our very early morning. Woke up, dragged my (seriously heavy) bags out and boarded my first Shinkansen to Tokyo. From there, I rode to Utsunomiya - my new home. I was absolutely exhausted. My new supervisor met me at the station and insisted on walking to the apartment. From there, it was non-stop errands. I had to visit city hall and declare my residency. I also had to sign for a futon, let someone in to turn on my gas, open a bank account, buy a cell phone, and eat. Meanwhile my supervisor was patting herself on the back for being so "helpful".

I don't think I've ever been so stressed or tired all at once. After spending an arm for a new phone (couldn't use my Canadian one), my supervisor pointed me in the general direction of my new place and said goodbye. I wandered off, desperately hoping I remembered how to return. She had taken me to the other side of the tracks, and I wasn't familiar with the area (no duh). Luckily, I eventually spotted the train station and made a bee line for it. I was pretty sure how to get back after that. Still, quite stressful trying to navigate the city on my own, and of course at night. I was starved, but cleanliness took over. I just wanted to shower and get to bed. After all, my first class was the very next morning. Why have a day of rest? Go, go, go! I pulled out clothes for the next day, and climbed into bed. It was a raised platform with a futon. The company insisted we had to purchase futons and pillows from them. Oh iTTTi...how you love to screw.

At least the statues are welcoming. ;)

These eggs made me feel assured.

The futon was the equivalent of doubling a thin blanket. Yay! I only *mostly* felt hard, unforgiving wood beneath me. The months that followed were some of the worst nights I've ever had. Sleeping was hellish. I eventually purchased a second, much thicker, foam futon which I used a supplement, along with a thick blanket. Yeah, it was still like sleeping on wood, but a notch above one poorly made futon. Believe me, the first thing I noticed when I got back to Canada was the difference in sleeping. I will never, ever trade my plush mattress for anything else again. That being said, there were a lot of other reasons to have fitful nights in Japan...

During my first month of real teaching, I was subject to "Parent Observation". This meant parents of all the children would sit in on the classes and watch. What a mistake for a new teacher. I didn't know the children. I didn't know the parents. And I certainly didn't know the Japanese teacher who would be speaking on my behalf. So my very first day of teaching I had class after class of very young children. They were rowdy. They didn't know me, and we hadn't established a rapport yet. The parents looked on disapprovingly, and I think some of them even complained. Not to me of course, but to the office. "Not perfect on the first try? Clearly not good enough for my children." Oy vey! Lucky for me, my effort, enthusiasm, and positive attitude turned things around, and I became a great teacher (so modest). But...that first week...probably one of the worst in my entire life.

Imaichi...how I miss thee...

A little town with the friendliest people.

For example: I was sitting in the classroom, prepping for the day's lessons, trying to shake the nerves loose by showing up early, when...a fucking earthquake happened. How did I know? Well, the walls were shaking with such ferocity that I thought the building was going to collapse, and the sound of the vibrations were so loud it was like a train was on top of me. I felt as though the ground was attempting to swallow me. Alarms started going off, and the shaking continued for awhile, but it eventually stopped. What did I do? I briefly wobbled around until I sat down and just covered my head. I was so scared. I have never experienced anything so visceral. I got a call from the office asking if I was okay, since they were immediately alerted. I said I was "shaken" but alright. I found out later that the epicenter was a mere 5 km away, and it was a 5.8. Yeah, that's up there. Scary stuff.

aWhat else? So besides the harrowing brush with death, something else happened that I thought could only happen once. I was late, again. For the girl who's never been late in her life, I was going to set a record by being late TWICE in the country that SHAMES tardiness. The first time was totally the fault of the person who wrote the directions...but the second time was probably my fault. On my very second day of teaching, I was supposed to have an early meeting before my classes. I totally forgot about said meeting. I woke up, made breakfast, and began to eat when I got a call from my supervisor.

She was like, "Where are you?" and I replied something to the effect of, "just finished eating?"
"What? Did you forget?"
"Forget what?" I said, baffled.
"The meeting. The meeting we're having right now."
Instant, insane, and complete panic. I must have thrown on clothes faster than a magician. I tossed everything in my bag and practically ran. I looked at the time. By the time I was going to make it to the meeting, it would be half over. I sighed and felt immediate resignation. Maybe it would be better if I just showed up early for my classes (to be fair, I had to show up at least 2 hours before as per the Peppy Kids Club policy, but I was always earlier than that). I was at the station, when I got another call.
"Where are you now?"
"At the station."
"Why?"
"Going to my classes..."
"You need to be here. Now."
"I don't know how to get there..."

At this point, she passes the phone off to another teacher whom I haven't met because she can't deal with me. I get specific instructions on how to take the bus to the school. I first have to find said bus, because it's on the other side of the station. I get on the bus, but don't know what to do since this bus is different. The bus driver glared down at me from his perch and practically ripped the ticket out of the machine to hand to me. I muttered the destination, and he just said, "Hai". My stop came and went, I tried to get him to stop just after but he adamantly refused and told me to sit down. I sat down and waited for the bus to reach it's final stop. When I was getting off, I put the money and ticket in just like I did in Nagoya - expecting change in return. However, buses in Utsunomiya have a separate change machine for this purpose. I did not know that. The moment it happened, it triggered the bus driver into an unquenchable rage. He told me what I did wrong in Japanese and I shyly muttered, "Wakarimasen?" meaning, "I don't understand". He then proceeded to yell at me in a mocking tone, "Wakarimasen!? Wakarimasen!!!" The next sentences that followed were slurs against gaijins, I understood that much. I had never been so humiliated and hurt in public. He yelled at me to get off the bus and I did. I then had to run back to the previous stop as I choked back tears. When I finally arrived at the school, I took the wrong entrance (despite the instructions saying the contrary), and found nothing but hostility. The supervisor and my fellow teachers were cold. She took every opportunity to either ignore me, or belittle me. In fact, she soured every opportunity I had at a friendship in that circle. And every subsequent meeting she would remark on how I was, "finally on time" and "not like that other time when I was incredibly late".

When the awful, awful meeting ended, I found out there were no buses back at that time and I had classes to teach. I practically ran. Turned out, it was about a 45 minute walk. Ugh. When I finally made it back to the station, I saw some of my fellow teachers. They actually turned their backs on me and walked away. Then I noticed the station seemed very busy. I try to pay attention to the announcements before I finally take out my phone and find out all of the trains have been delayed to Utsunomiya. Now I was screwed again. I was going to be late to check in for my classes. I called head office and informed them the trains weren't running. They said just wait in the station and keep them informed. It took about an hour before the trains were back, and the train ride to school was about 45 minutes as well. I let head office know my situation, and they resignedly asked me to "try my best to be on time" and let me know it would still be considered my fault if I was late. Circumstances were apparently irrelevant. I spent the whole train ride prepping to run out of the doors when it stopped. And that's what I did. I practically flew by the man taking tickets, although he seemed unfazed - perhaps even found it amusing. I literally made it to the school within a minute of my deadline. I raced to the phone and called in. Head office was mildly impressed, and commented that I must have ran. 

The next day was the earthquake. Truly, the week from hell.

Well, thank you so much for reading! If you like, I've made a gallery of photos from Nagoya! Ciao!