In Sasayama

Sorry this post has taken me so long to write. I know all of you have been waiting in anticipation for every word that I write. Anyway, I made it through 3 days of orientation in Tokyo and made the trek to Sasayama in Hyogo.

The orientation in Tokyo was ok. A lot of the information they gave us was much to general and broad to take to heart. The speakers would say something and then immediately say "but your situation may be very different". There were about 1000 ("just" 1000 I found out) so it is hard to make everything apply to everyone. I was able to meet JETs that were going to all parts of Japan. From the northern most city in Hokkaido to an island in Okinawa almost touching Taiwan. I got to meet up with a friend from my time at Hosei. It was good to see her.

So last Wednesday morning they loaded up all the JETs going to Hyogo prefecture on a bus to Tokyo station. After sweating all liquids out of our bodies, we finally boarded the shinkansen (bullet train or "new trunk line" if you are a Japanese official bent on translating everything literally) to Shin-Osaka station. The shinkansen is one of those things that sounds much more impressive than it feels while you are on it. It really doesn't feel like you are going fast because the ride is so smooth, but it really saves so much time. Airplanes are so passee. I sat next to a really nice girl from South Africa on the way to Osaka. She had never been to Japan before so I was giving her my 2 cents. I've met more South Africans last week than I have ever seen in my life. Go figure.

We then boarded a bus from Osaka and rode to Yashiro in Hyogo. Yashiro is a city in the middle (sort of) of Hyogo prefecture where the Hyogo Prefectural Educational Centre is located. I'll actually return there next week for a Prefectural orientation with the 100 new JETs in Hyogo. At Yashiro, they put us all in a line and called out our names as our contracting organisations picked us up. It was all very slave like. I thought they might see me and attempt to trade me for the brighter looking chattel further down the row. Two people from the Sasayama Board of Education were there to pick me up along with a current JET, Lucas. He filled me in on the goings on at the Sasayama BOE. That afternoon was a lot of going around to people and introducing myself to them. Then I got to my apartment and the gas man came and told me about how to operate my gas appliances safely.

This is getting too long, so I'll save it for another day. Probably tomorrow. I won't have internet at my apartment for about another week and a half, and I can't check my email at the computers at the BOE because they block almost everything. But Facebook. Meh. I've got a bunch of pictures but I have to wait until I get internet at home.

Short summary:

I'm in Sasayama.
I have a landline, mobile, and a car.
My apartment is great. A bit too big and whoever designed the layout obviously doesn't have OCD but great none the less. Everything is automatic and on some sort of timer.
I "work" everyday. But school hasn't begun so there's not much for me to do. I get told everyday to go explore the city.

If you feel like hearing my pretty little voice, give me a call: +81-80-5331-8803 or drop me an email on my phone: lequebeclibre@ezweb.ne.jp. I haven't figured out a good way to call internationally yet, so that may have to wait until I get internet.