The swelling on my eye finally went down. I spent yesterday marathoning Supernatural with a cool washcloth over my eye. M drove down from Nanmoku and I showed her my place. We went to the second hand store together and I got a vacuum! I was also rather tempted by the ovens they had there. It may be a future purchase. I miss baking and making casseroles! Though Ichigo-sensei told me I could ask the home ec teacher if I could use the school’s ovens. The second hand store was very clean and organized. Things were in really good shape.

We then went to Beisa and thoroughly impressed M. I bought a couple things for the house including a bread knife, yay. Got my hands on this week’s groceries. It was fun shopping with someone again finally. We stopped by a bakery on the way back, but it was closed. Then we hung out and drank tea!  A lovely afternoon. Spent a lot of money. All that cash and now I have to go to the atm again…

Attacked again in the middle of the night. 2:30 am wakeup call this time.  Two mosquitoes were vanquished. I think my screen was slightly cracked open this morning when I checked. I’d fixed that before and the attacks stopped so I think it’s the same culprit. But since it was the middle of the night, I just ended up closing my windows and doors. It was already cool inside. The one bit me on my eyelid. It had already swollen a bit so I applied some Benadryl. In the morning though, my whole eye was almost swollen shut. It looked like I had been punched. Perfect for the first day.

First day of classes for me! Managed to print/copy everything in time. But we were slightly late to the first class because we also had to carry a projector and screen. Then I ran out of paper for nametags and we also needed the extension cord so Ichigo-sensei went back to the staffroom and got it. Otherwise class went smoothly. I’ve already adjusted the lesson. No nervousness, yay. Beat that in Czech Republic I guess. The second years are quite enjoyable. I felt they understood more and laughed a lot at my jokes. The first years were quiet. I hope they open up soon! There was one girl in the second year class who spoke English smoothly. Wow.

I met up with K for dinner by the silk mill gate. We wondered around a bit, but not many places were open. We ended up at a place called Mirai. It seemed rather popular as many people came in and out as we were there. K asked if we could sit anywhere, but they wanted us at the bar. We were served something in a small dish. No idea what it was except the wasabi, maybe a bit of tuna? It was in some frothy white stuff. Very hard to eat with chopsticks! We tried to decipher the menu, but K only recognized the words for French fries and google translate was only sorta working. He ended up just asking for some meat things for himself, yakitori and sashimi for me. The waitress worked with our minimal words.

We got asked some questions about where we working/living. Nice conversation. The waitress had an old classmate there at the same time who had done a homestay in America. We talked briefly with her too. The sashimi was amazing. Melted in my mouth. Salmon was the best, but I also had tuna and some other white fish. He even gave us some extra on the house. Despite being quite expensive (the norm for sashimi), I’d definitely go back! I wish I had understood more of the menu though. Must work hard on my Japanese!

Fog in the mountains this morning

Last night, I had an evil visit from a mosquito. I don’t understand how I’ve gone really long without letting one in and then that changed so suddenly. I woke up at 3:30 am to the whine of a mosquito. Luckily I kept my mosquito killing wits about me: promptly leaped out of bed, grabbed my glasses, turned on the light and shut my door. It was sitting there on the wall where I smashed it…and got blood smears all over. Clearly it had feasted well. Three vampiric bites on my neck, one on my forehead and hand.

Still haven’t gotten computer access at school…so I wasn’t able to print stuff for my classes yet. I keep forgetting to remind Ichigo-sensei. I’ll just have to come in early tomorrow to get stuff settled before my four classes in a row.

I used my card at the JP post atm, testing it out. It worked just fine and wham I have the first bits of my self-earned yen in my hand. That evening I had to bike about 2.5 km away to get to my Japanese classes. They are held at the learning center by the library for two hours and are free. It’s all run by volunteers some of which are from Tomioka International Exchange and some are my students! I forgot to bring my textbook but we covered a lot of useful vocab. Seems like a very sweet group. K and I are the only Westerners but there are some others from Philippines and SE Asia I think. We even got tea/juice and snacks at the end.

Ichigo-sensei brought me a cheese edamame bun from her favorite bakery yesterday. It was delicious. I really need to go there and buy some bread! So sweet of her. I also found out today that she is the disciplinary head at the moment as the usual teacher is currently hospitalized. That means she’s the scary teacher that yells at the girls when they do something wrong, ha. Good thing our school is calm and well-behaved.

First day of school selfie

Today was the first day of school which means I had to wear my suit again as I’m introducing myself to the whole student body. I got so many stares, giggles, and woahhh sounds followed with height gestures haha. Plenty of good mornings as well. We had the teacher’s meeting where I had to introduce myself in Japanese to the full staffroom this time. Lots of announcements plus some positive things where we clapped. Club achievements maybe for some of them? Then it was cleaning time. Every morning 40 minutes is allotted for students to clean their assigned area. I accompanied Ichigo-sensei to the entrance hall where she was assigned. The students took these small brooms and swept the hall, as well as a mop to grab extra dirt and dust. They cleaned on top of the shoe lockers as well.

At the entrance, you have umbrella racks. Most places have these, i.e. when I go to the convenience store I leave mine there. It’s polite not to carry a dripping umbrella through a building. When they were done cleaning, they had a log/attendance book that had to be signed to prove each student did their share. No janitors here, they clean everything. Afterward, we headed to the gym for the opening ceremony. The inside of the gym requires different indoor shoes, your indoor sneakers. I had to switch into guest slippers there. The students just walked around in their socks. There are about 400 hundred students. They lined up in neat rows and then sat down.

We all stood and bowed as the ceremony begun. Our principal handed out some awards first. All the girls were so quiet and serious. No whispering! The quietest assembly I’ve ever been to. A lot of bowing was involved and speeches by the principal and Ichigo-sensei. Kocho-sensei  introduced me and finally we got some reactions when he mentioned my family’s height. Dustin being 2 m, and Sophia almost the same really got some responses. I then gave my speech slowly and clearly (I hope!) in English. A tough crowd, no laughs at my jokes, but some smiles. It was rough.

No backpacks or school bags carried inside school, but also no lockers. I think everything might be kept in the classroom, but I’ll see soon. After school, all the students poured into the staff room, many carrying stacks of exam books and summer homework for the teachers.

Students start walking to school by themselves as first graders. Much more independence like Germany than USA in that sense. They all wear identifying yellow caps so that everyone knows they are first graders. So cute.

A much cooler day! A high of 80. Today, Ichigo-sensei drove me up to my visit school in Shimonita. It was a pretty drive. We passed this hill covered with lots of pink flowering trees (crepe myrtle?). There were plenty of hydrangeas as well. Apparently it’s famous earlier in the summer, the blue hill. I want to see it next year!

I got to wear the slip sliding guest slippers again. Stairs are such a challenge. I met one of my JTEs there, E-sensei. She’s my age and so friendly. She actually lives in Tomioka too, so I hope we can do some things together. The atmosphere was very relaxed there. The school building is actually newer than my base school. They even had white boards! I met some of my students as well. Almost no English spoken, but they seemed eager and nice. E-sensei took me to meet some of the basketball team as well. One of the guys there was taller than me, haha. She definitely helped me feel at ease. I also briefly met the principal who seemed kind and friendly. She then showed me how to get to the train station from school and I rode back to Tomioka. Apparently, I was supposed to spend the whole day there, but I didn’t know that ahead of time so I hadn’t brought my laptop.

I got off at a new stop, the one that leads to the silk mill. Such a nice station. Everything brand new and full of tourist stuff. Plus some signs in English! After I returned, Ichigo-sensei helped me a lot with all my Japanese trouble. So thankful! I asked her about my internet info where she said my service didn’t start till the 23^rd. She also said the bank info was about setting up online banking. It was a complicated process, all that extra security precautions. But, I have internet banking! Which also means I can send money aka rent via online instead of visiting an ATM every time. She called about my delivery too, and ensured they had the right address and would deliver it when I was home today.

I attempted to make it further in the wifi installation process. I found another guide on the internet and figured out what I was missing was ‘user’ was the username… I managed to get to the settings page in which I click some random buttons and changed my wifi name and password. My internet still wasn’t connecting through, cries. I think I’ve figured out I still need one more piece of paper from my ISP provider. The internet is so close I can taste it.

Meanwhile, my package came with my manga! Got my special 07-Ghost and Battle Rabbits crossover card too. Such pretty color pages. I added the card to my wall o’things. Anything to get this place more decorated.