Golden what now?

Wow, it’s been two weeks since my last post.  You are probably thinking I am so deeply involved in my various adventures I haven’t had a second to keep you updated.  Or you may be thinking that I am getting home from work at 1130 at night, drinking a large beer while watching half an episode of The Mentalist dubbed in Japanese and falling asleep.  Those of you in the second group are correct.  Congratulations, you win a rice ball.  Work has been sucking up a lot of time, and unlike before it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to start early and sneak out at 8 or 9.  I’m also commuting super hard core to a total of 6 branches, none of which are close.  Monday and Thursday I’m going to try to ride my bike.  Both of these days my branches are around six miles away.  On Thursday I’ll actually be going about 3 miles west, stopping to teach 2 classes, then continuing three more miles and teaching another two classes.  So far I have three totally different kinds of classes:  Elementary classes that follow a popcorn-themed power point, Jr. high “Practical Conversation” classes that I teach with almost no materials, and high school classes that prepare students for the English listening portion of an SAT type test.  So far my high school classes have only one or two kids each.  This week when I asked them what they thought kitchenware was, three classes in a row answered “an apron?”  I think we should just go ahead and change that word so they get the points.

What else besides work?  I finally got a phone.  My number is 080 4962 1773.  I think you need to dial 011 81 to get Japan from the USA.  But the best way to get a hold of me is through the Facebook messenger app or the line app.  Both are free and only use cell data.  By the way I have seen the future of text messaging, and it is going to change into an art form in about a year.  Emojis are just the beginning.  When I came back from study abroad in 2007 I predicted the rise of texting, so you can trust me on this!

If you want pictures I’ve added a few to Facebook.  Last weekend I took two separate hikes.  One was to a temple I had visited before and one was up a random trail I found at the base of the hills.  It led to a power line tower.  Since I’m in sort of a fridge suburb here, I’m only a few miles from the mountains.  (Like the ones that cover 80 percent of the island).  I’m planning to go back tomorrow to see what else is up in there.

The other small thing I want to mention is that I just started a one week vacation!  It’s golden week here which is a cluster of holidays that result in many people getting a week off.  This one really snuck up on me, but I promise I’ll do something fun and unexpected and hopefully meet some new people.  The other Americans at work are a nice bunch and we’ve hung out several times.  They invited me to play games and have drinks both days last weekend.  I’m not sure if they’re into going out, or my type of random exploring adventures, though.  Hopefully I can convince someone to take off with me for at least a day or two this week.  I’m going to see a few of them in a couple hours, so I’m going to go dig through some maps and see if I can’t find somewhere appealing to go for break.  I’ll update in a few days!

It's time to check in.

Today Delta sent me an email to inform me that it's time to check in!  For some reason my company bought me a round trip ticket and the return portion leaves tomorrow.  It's funny to think that if this were a two week vacation I'd be packing up and heading home.  Instead it feels like I'm only half way unpacked here.
Well in terms of physical unpacking I'm pretty much in to my new apartment.  I must have been shopping a dozen times already for things like juice, coffee, neck ties, an iron, a new belt, multi colored pens, a squishy soccer ball, drain cleaner and  bags to do more shopping with.  Somehow after all of this I do not have a phone or internet access at my home.  This is irritating.  Especially since it took me like a day to get a phone last time.  Apparently the fact that I misplaced my official seal could slow things down even more.  The seal or "hanko" is a stamp with Kanji for a person's name.  It's used in place of a signature.  In my case my boss made up name Kanji for me: Mai (to dance or whirl) and keru (to kick).
Work has been going alright.  Two days a week I'm riding the train to the town of Tajimi, which means I'm going from the far northwest corner to the east corner of a 10 million person metropolis.  The ride there is okay, but for some reason the 10pm train out of Nagoya is always full.  What where doing until 10pm downtown Japanese businessman?  Couldn't you just do that at your house??
Classes look like they should be easy.  I have one elementary class that I teach 10 times a week called Popcorn English.  It's actually designed to be taught by a Japanese teacher so all the English is pre-recorded.  The students just follow a power point, repeat and listen to my various lewd interjections.  I have been dispatched to teach it at a few select branches because management feels other schools are encroaching on our territory.  Schools in our safe territory will have the classes  taught by the regular Japanese staff.  I am also required to stand outside as the students arrive for class.  Tactical.
I gave my introductory speech at the big company meeting on Tuesday.  I made it very polite and short.  Later several new Japanese employees gave speeches.  One guy described how he drove his car through 46 different prefectures and another guy talked about how his most noticeable asset was his powerful baritone voice.  I regret worrying about my speech now.
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I also went to my favorite bar yesterday only to find that it was totally empty at 8pm on Saturday and the only staff member left was the owner.  He was also very drunk.  Kind of a downer couple of days.
Well my first week back was fairly relaxing and kind of dream-like in a way, but the second week was pretty much run and gun.  Next week promises to be more of the same.  I'd like to do some reflecting but I have to use my computer time to look up a few a things for this week's classes.  Keep it classy and check back in a week or so.

A few introductory details

Hello friends and thank you for your patience as I slowly set myself up here in Ogaki, Japan.  I arrived safely and without a single delay.  The company sent a guy with a van to scoop me up and an hour after clearing customs I was back at the old HQ talking with old colleagues and meeting new ones.  I got a three day crash training course and next week I'll visit each school and observe classes.
So far the only difficulty has been not having a phone or internet in my apartment.  Whoever usually takes care of the American teachers phones is off on vacation somewhere and I'm going to wait for help so I don't get stuck with an incomprehensible $95 bill every month like last time.
I did bring my phone from the states, if you were wondering.  Virgin Mobile advertises that it charges "no roaming fees" but doesn't mention that it has absolutely no coverage once you stray away from its towers.  That's right, it doesn't transfer you to another network, it just lets you sit there with a dead phone wondering why the hell you paid an extra ten dollars for the "international service bundle".  Nice.  Hopefully we'll get that remedied soon, as I'd really like to communicate without yelling at people's balconies like Romeo and Juliet.
My apartment is nice.  It's on the third floor, has two rooms with a double sliding door and a tatami floor in the bedroom with a single bed.  Basically the same as last time.  What's different you ask?  Well first of all there are 11 Americans, up from 6 when I was there last time.  Also unlike last time they tend to do everything together in big groups.  Some one came knocking on my door Friday, Saturday and Sunday to invite me out.  In the past I've avoided the roving pack of foreigners, but it's actually kind of nice to have a some people to hang out with right from the start.  We did Karaoke on Friday, watched pro wrestling at a guy's house on Saturday and went biking under the cherry blossoms today.  If you want to know what my karaoke sounded like, put on Holiday by Green Day, crank up the volume and then also squeeze your cat really hard.
What else is different you ask?  Well this year I'll have between 3-5 classes a day, ages 4th-12th grade, at 5 different schools.  I'll be repeating a lot of lessons so I'll actually only have to make 3 lesson plans a week.  (one elementary, one Jr. high, one high school).  My branches are all pretty far, so although I'll only be working around 7 hours a day, my commutes will be 1-2 hours each way (I think).  Speaking of commutes, I need to use the rest of my time at the Net Cafe to look up directions to the place I'm going tomorrow.  I will post again probably next weekend, unless I somehow get internet at home sooner.  I'll also upload a few pictures of my new place to facebook when I get some wifi for my phone.  Thanks for staying tuned as I sort a few things out.