Prefectural Orientation, Beach Party, and Fukuoka

Orientation in Yamaguchi City was a little over a week ago – and it was a lot of fun hanging out with the other JETs. The actual orientation part itself wasn’t exactly “fun,” but it was informative. Oh yeah, I finally read that speech at the contract signing ceremony. Thursday night AJET had a dinner planned and it was a lot of fun. Afterwards a lot of us went to Karaoke. I stayed the night with some people in one of the JETs apartments who lives in Yamaguchi City – so thanks to Eric, many of us didn’t have to pay 5,000 yen for a hotel which was super nice. Friday, after orientation, everyone headed back to whatever city they live in.

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Saturday there was a beach party over in Hikari which took me 2 hours by train to get to from Ube, but the beach is really nice and that evening there was a festival and fireworks on the beach. That night some of us stayed the night in a JET’s apartment that lives in Hikari – so once again, no need to pay for a hotel. The rest of that weekend I spent cleaning and doing laundry.

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Monday I was back at my base school which is pretty boring right now because there’s nothing to do since it’s still summer break. I pretty much just surf the web most of the day because I don’t have internet in my apartment yet. I also read the Japan Times because my school gets a copy in English for the ALT – that’d be me. It’s nice to keep up with what’s going on in the world. After work one day I went over to the internet place – which was a good 30 minute bike ride – and after about an hour I think I managed to sign up for Yahoo BB. The guy said I should have my modem delivered to my apartment between August 20th and 22nd. So fingers crossed, I should have internet by the end of this week. Also, they’re having some special where I don’t have to pay for it until October AND since I’ve moved since May then I get about 1,000 yen off each month for a year! That’s about $10 off a month. On my way home from the internet place it was dark and I totally ran my bike into a cement wall because the sidewalk was super narrow and I thought I could make it, but no. I hit the wall. It was either that or the telephone poll. Fun times.

I didn’t have to go to work Wed-Fri because I got “special leave” for the obon holiday. It’s called “special leave” because government employees like myself and the other teachers don’t officially get time off for obon for some strange reason that nobody knows, so they all take “special leave” and don’t use their vacation days for it. Wednesday night I headed to Shimonoseki which is the largest city in Yamaguchi. They had a famous fireworks festival where they claim to be competing with Kyushu as to who has better fireworks displays. Oh, and for those who don’t know, Shimonoseki is a city on the edge of Honshu (the main island of Japan) and there is a bridge from Shimonoseki that connects Honshu with Kyushu (the southern island of Japan). It was really cool – the fireworks were amazing, but there were SO MANY people. It was crazy. Afterwards a lot of us headed over to a JET’s apartment to hang out since the bars are small and most likely full anyway because of the festival. It was fun hanging out. There are 3 JETs who live in that apartment building, including my friend Charlotte, so it was awesome to just crash at her place instead of trying to catch a crowded train back to Ube. The next day we went shopping at Sea Mall. I love Japanese t-shirts with crazy English… I need to stop spending money on them though, haha.




Friday I took a day trip to Fukuoka with this Portuguese girl who lives in Onoda, the town next to Ube and also with Meng – the other JET in Ube. It was a waste though because it rained the ENTIRE time and all we did was shop. But, I made them go to the IMS Motor Show which was pretty cool. Saturday night Meng and I headed back to Fukuoka because this guy we met in Shimonoseki was going there to go out along with some other JETs. So we made our way back to Shimonoseki and met up with Daryl and his Japanese girl friend drove us to Fukuoka from there – which still took awhile, but it was nice to be in the car instead of the train this time. We had a lot of fun and I’m sure I’ll be back in Fukuoka again soon since it’s the closest BIG city. Fukuoka is HUGE and it’s known around the world for good shopping, good night life, and good ramen. I will definitely be back. Total, it takes about 2.5 hours from where I live in Ube, but it’s totally worth it.

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I’m looking forward to this week. Monday and Tuesday I’m going to Ube Shogyo, which is the commercial high school that I’ll go to every Wednesday once school starts in September. They asked me to come and help the English club prepare for an English competition that’s in October. Apparently, one of the girls actually won last year and this is her last year – so I feel like I have a little pressure, ha, but I think it will be fun. This is the only school I go to that actually has an English club and I’m really looking forward to it. Wednesday and Thursday I’ll be back at Ube Nishi – my base school. Then Friday I’ll head back to Yamaguchi City for the Yamaguchi Newcomer’s Orientation. Ok, that’s all for now! As soon as I have internet in my apartment I’ll start posting pictures somewhere!