First things first, we had pre-departure orientation in Nashville Friday. I got to meet the other people I'd be flying with, which was nice. I'm the only one in our group heading to Hokkaido, and there's only one person going to Okinawa, making us the bookends. I'm not the only one from Oklahoma in our group, which is a nice coincidence. Friday evening we had dinner at the Consulate General's home, which was nice but rather stuffy and formal. But still, a wonderful experience.
はじめまして。私はアシュリー マクビーと申します。アメリカのオクラホマから来ました。私は北海道の大樹町へ行きます。これから、一所懸命頑張りますので、どうぞよろしくお願いいたします。
One of the Japanese gentlemen there seemed genuinely pleased that I'm going to Hokkaido.
"Yes, it is very cold. But the people are very warm in their hearts. The very best people are in Hokkaido."
We stayed the night in Nashville and then at 7am loaded up on the bus. I didn't take appropriate pictures--sorry. Not exactly a wonderful start, I know. I couldn't get my large suitcase down to 50lbs, so I decided to bite the proverbial bullet and just pay the $75 in overweight fees. It wound up weighing 58lbs, but amazingly the agent waived the fee! It turns out they waived it for all of us, but I think I was the one most overweight. Either way, thank you very much, Delta!
Our itinerary was to fly from Nashville to Detroit, have about 2 1/2 hours to eat, and then board a 13-hour flight to Narita. We hung out in the food court to get breakfast, but our flight was delayed. We wandered to the gate and sprawled out--Belem and I bought cards and a bunch of us played for our delay. We made grandiose plans for swapping seats, meandering through the aisles to chat, and playing games throughout our flight. But then we were delayed again. Unfortunately our delay was two hours, effectively eating our layover to nothing.
The plane landed at 3pm. As our flight to Narita was to leave at 330, they began to board before we even taxied to the gate. And of course we were seated in the back of the plane to Detroit. Then we had to use the restroom. As we waited for the group to reform, the gate agent at our Detroit gate approached us.
"Are you the JET group headed to Narita? You need to be at your gate now. They're not going to hold the plane much longer."
So we speed-walked over the moving sidewalks, crammed onto the tram, and all but ran. We made it to the gate right at the tail-end of the boarding line. But again we were in the back of the plane and some had to use bins rows away because nearby ones were full. I wound up seated in the center of the plane, two or three rows away from the group, sandwiched between a little Japanese man who read or slept through the journey, and some indeterminate Asian man who slept most awkwardly hunched over his tray table when he didn't have his feet up on the back of the chair in front of him. Which was also awkward. I couldn't see the screens for the in-flight movies, which was actually fine, as the entertainment system crashed about an hour into the flight. The flight attendants reset the system, which shut it down for 20 minutes. I'm sure the business class cabin hated us. However, the reset didn't fix it, and the movies hiccuped, lagged, and jerked and the sound system faded in an out with static.
It was a long flight.
But we persevered and made it eventually! The flight arrived at 530pm. Then it was off through Immigration, Baggage Claim, Customs, and down the relay of blue-shirted JET volunteers around to send away our luggage and board the buses to the hotel. The whole airport trek took about an hour, and then it was another hour to an hour and a half bus ride to the hotel. It was nearly 9pm by the time we rolled into the hotel. We were on our own for dinner, but most of us were too exhausted to go far. I went up to my room, washed up, and just went over a block to the コンビニ and bought a sandwich and drink. Skype, shower, and bed by 1145.
Today was up at 630, get ready and dressy, breakfast at 745, then Post-Arrival Orientation, Day 1! The keynote speaker was hilarious and charming. I hope he never decides to start a cult--he could be a dangerous man. I got a lot of papers and information, and I actually ran into one of the guys who worked in the International Office at Ritsumeikan! He was recruiting for Ritsu as a grad school and promoting the SKP program, which is the one I participated in during 2010-2011, until the earthquake. The whole orientation is very fancy, and it's so odd to see all the men and most of the women in suits. Women are allowed to wear "cool business," which does not really mean closer to business casual, like we thought, but rather that we can wear blouses without jackets, as it's quite hot in Tokyo in August. Men.... you make adorable penguins. I wore my jacket in the morning but dropped it off back in my room at lunch.
After lunch we could choose three seminars to attend. I went to Visiting Elementary Schools, Resources for Lesson Planning, and Teaching at Multiple Schools, which it turns out didn't apply so much to me. Live and learn. I came back upstairs and dozed off for about fifteen minutes, then it was back downstairs for the banquet. Which was also fancy. It was a graze-and-mingle affair, and I did both, then skipped out at 730. I don't much care for large, crowded spaces and quite frankly, I'm exhausted.
Which brings me to picture time!
You only get pictures of Shinjuku from my hotel window. The Hokkaido JETs were unofficially invited on an informal night out to a 飲み放題, an all-you-can-drink party, in Shibuya, but I decided not to go. There are 46 of us, not including the Sapporo group, and frankly I'm exhausted. I just want to crawl into bed and die for the evening. FOMO, you can kiss my sleepy bum!
We have prefectural dinners tomorrow, I think, so hopefully there will be more/better pictures later! For now, I bid you all a fond adieu!
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