Today, the office need my IRS documents which I had forgotten at home, dur. Ichigo-sensei drove me to my place to pick them up and give them to the main office. She then said we could go set up some automatic withdrawal at the bank so we headed there next. Every time I’m there, they use the suffix “sama” and it makes me feel super important, haha. We stopped at a bakery on the way back to school so she could grab some lunch. Super small and cute coffee shop. They sold actual bread! Very tempted to buy some. Also had a cute hedgehog dessert. I definitely need to go back, I don’t think it’s too far from my place.

Tomioka Silk Mill

At 11 am, Kocho-sensei was going to pick me up and take me out around town. We first walked over to the world heritage site, the Tomioka Silk Mill, to visit my students who volunteer there. We stopped in at the newspaper shop where I met one of the school’s former students. Kocho-sensei knows a lot of people and likes to talk with them. We passed by many businesses. It has really revitalized that area. I tried some of their famous soap. It was so soft and very expensive. They wear the town’s mascot costume, Otome-chan. We couldn’t find them, but we walked around the grounds and into some buildings. We got in for free though. As we were leaving, he stopped by the main office to give his thanks and I saw another Westerner! He’s apparently a French-Canadian CIR. Maybe someone to practice French with?

Nukisaki Shrine

We then got lunch right nearby. It was a clay pot filled with rice, some meat and veggies. Very yummy. Best of all, they had wifi there! I’d been searching in the wrong spots. Should have check the touristy area first. After lunch, we went back to school, and took his car to Nukisaki shrine. It’s apparently the only shrine in Japan that you walk downstairs too. Normally, they are all on higher ground and you walk up stairs. The shrine was so beautiful. The detailed painting with gold on the building, wow. He showed me how to clean your hands first and then pray. Throw a coin in and clap your hands twice, bow twice, and clap your hands twice again before praying. We’ll see if my wish comes true, heh.

Next we went to the Tomioka City Museum up in the mountains. What a stately, modern building. Really nice and super air conditioned! We met with the director and got in free. She used to be a student.  We looked at some of exhibits and my artsy side promptly started itching. Need to get some supplies! She gave me a pin commemorating the 20^th anniversary of the museum and a bookmark. As we left, she gave us both a free folder with a drawing on it, so sweet! We then went across the street to the Natural History museum that also has the concert hall on one side. Our school’s students were practicing and having their songs recorded there. Of course, we went past all the authorized personnel signs and into the hall. He greeted the students and introduce me. As we were leaving, they began to sing again. Wow, just wow. I don’t remember going to choir stuff in high school, but they were seriously talented. So beautiful.

Nukisaki Shrine

When I returned to school, 3 hours or so later, the teacher’s room welcomed me back. They told me good job for working hard, and I heard poor thing, haha. My principal has quite a reputation all throughout Gunma.

I had to take my first PTO day for tomorrow as the school closed today at 5 pm. It’s Obon time. Luckily I have prefectural orientation on Thursday and Friday so I only had to take one day off.

On the way to school

Boring day. Was at school. It’s summer vacation right now so many teachers are absent and there’s not much to do. I’m enjoying the calm before the storm.

I did have some students come talk to me while they were waiting on another teacher. My principal helped them out at first and then he left. After he left, the convo got a bit better because they couldn’t rely on him. As a group they formulated and answer several questions about Disney, my fav artist, whether I was married, and if my hair was dyed. Lots of cute giggles.

My sleep schedule is pretty wacked due to the early sunrise and sunsets here.  I finally cleaned and unpacked all my stuff. I thoroughly searched through everything to see what my pred had left. It included some knitting supplies, and arts n’crafts things. I really need to buy a vacuum though. There’s dust everywhere and I feel like the broom isn’t cutting it. Maybe need to check at the second hand store?

Shrine by my apartment

I also made a longer trip over to the library in search of computer access. I passed through the touristy Silk Mill area. So many people on a weekend! Huge tour buses as well. I need to learn bike etiquette here really quick. I was able to use a computer at the library, but many sites were blocked. I almost completely my whole sim card application, when it needed an email verification so I had to quit. One of the librarians approached me with a sheet of paper once I stood up. I think I was supposed to fill out some type of computer request first. I apologized and gave her a super confused face. 

The building next door, I think is a learning center, is supposed to have Japanese classes, but I don’t know how I’ll go about figuring this out. I know K is also interested so I’ll have to check in with him.

Buckwheat tea

Friday, Friday! Today I finally met Ichigo-sensei, my actual supervisor. She’s in charge of the handball team so she was away in Osaka on a tournament trip. We headed off to the bank in the morning. We discussed the pros and cons of Gunma Bank and I mentioned to her that I’d like internet banking. She ended up getting me an account at a different bank, Ryokin. I think they have better access across Japan. Now I just have to wait for my atm card to come in the mail. As a foreigner, all we get is a cash card that you can use at ATMs. No debit or credit cards right from the get go.

We also went to fill out more paperwork to transfer gas and water for automatic withdrawal, and we visited my rental company. They served us tea while Ichigo-sensei kindly filled out forms for me all day, and I stamped my seal everywhere. Right near here was a gelato shop owned by the mother of one of my students. Must go! And next door, a local produce market. Supposedly fruits and veggies are a bit cheaper here.

Ichigo-sensei got me lunch!

We then headed off to go shopping at a large grocery store, Beisa. On the way, we stopped at Yamada Denki, an electronics shop, so that I could buy an adapter for my laptop. Beisa is like a slightly smaller Walmart. It carried the same diversity of products, and was definitely a large supermarket. I randomly picked some staple items and tried out edamame chips. I nearly had a heart attack at the fruit and veggie prices though. Gah! One avocado was $1.30. I later found out this was the cheapest grocery store too. All the packaging sizes were tiny as well. I’m used to European sizes, but this was even smaller! The tiniest little things. A bag of potatoes could hold 3-4 potatoes. I think I will be shopping all the time.

La Maison - French style resturant

After dropping my groceries off at home, we returned to school. After school, I took my bike out for a spin to McDonald’s in the search of wifi. I was trying to get my sim card ordered and my wifi application completed, both of which I needed internet for. McD’s was really close but over a steep bridge for my 6-speed bike. No wifi. I turned back home a desperate women. Still not feeling that well food wise, so dinner was small.

My apartment view

When I woke at 5 am, like my apparently usual wake-up time here due to the sun, I was ravenous. I read for a bit and then decided to just eat the white rice by itself. I managed a couple more forkfuls than the night before but I still didn’t feel well though. I left my building at 8 am to stop by the conbini to get some ready-made food for lunch. I picked up a noodle tomato soup and an onigiri. No idea what was inside the onigiri. Mystery food is always fun. I hoped I’d feel better later.

At school, I sorted through my desk and read through the material my pred left me. There was a lot of it, and she left some detailed notes. Thank you, pred! K-sensei came by and introduced himself at 11 am. He gave me my inkan (personal seal) and we were off to city hall to register my change in residence. I had prepared my address written in Japanese and my name in katakana. We had to fill out a bunch of forms and hand in my passport and residence card. He checked some boxes and translated for me and then I had to painstakingly fill them out. Copying kanji is the hardest! If you make a mistake, you have to cross it out and stamp it with your inkan. Not only on the original mistake but also on all the carbon copies underneath. Don’t make mistakes! My middle name also caused some confusion, whoops. Then we waited for quite some time.

Since we left city hall at 12:10 pm and we had to be back at school at noon to pick up K, the bank account had to be skipped. K-sensei told me that Ichigo-sensei would take me on Friday. K apparently had the morning off so he had gone a three hour walk! He got to see Nukisaki shrine, which is the most famous one in our town. K-sensei drove the back roads to Maebashi instead of the expressway. We stopped at a conbini to grab lunch, I just ate my onigiri, my stomach still not up to par.

The senior high school appointment ceremony was in the main building this time. Suited up in the heat once more…I need to find a dry cleaner ASAP, ha. We got to sign our contracts, it’s all official now. Some speeches were given by more important Gunma government people, some only in Japanese, some in English. Then all the SHS folks got to give their speeches. Mine was brief and said only the bare minimum. Hopefully my pronunciation wasn't too horrible. A 5^th year JET there had to give a long speech in Japanese on our behalf. The whole thing only took about 45 minutes before we were on the road again.

The walk to school

K-sensei offered to stop at Nitori on the way back, a furniture/home goods store like Ikea. K and I jumped at the chance. He needed towels and I needed sheets. With the help of K-sensei, I could figure out what was 100% cotton. The prices were steep though. A single sized duvet cover cost me $30. I picked a pillow case and futon cover out as well, purple themed. Also got a hand towel, shower towel, and pillow. I asked if I could also get a futon since we had room and I was going to be dropped off at my apartment. I got a better one that seemed quite comfortable. The plan was to put it on top of my bed frame. Yay for shopping success.

We dropped K off near his place and then returned to mine. K-sensei was going to help interpret some of the kanji in my apartment – how to turn hot water on, run the washer, use the gas stove, use the air con. Apparently the gas is controlled by panels on the wall. You can adjust the temperature as you’d like. There’s even a button to fill up the bathtub automatically with hot water. I have to use this button if I want hot water for the sinks as well. After he left, I put in a load of laundry with my new sheets! Sadly they weren’t dry by the time I went to bed, but I can confirm the machine works.