My First Day at Chizu JHS

Today was finally my first day of school! I go to JHS on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and ES on Tuesday and Thursday, so it was JHS today. The JHS is actually my base school; my employer. 

I met N-san at the town office around 8:15am and we walked to school together, which took about 20 minutes. It was sooo hot! The sun was out with no clouds and shining directly it is very strong. So of course I arrived looking disheveled and dripping with sweat. Somehow with all the walking my skirt also managed to turn around so I was wearing it backwards. Great start.

One of my JTE’s, J-san met us in the hallway and brought us to the meeting room. The principal was there to greet us as well, and then N-san left. J-san explained to me the schedule for the day, and then we went with the principal to the staff room. The principal introduced me in Japanese first and then I introduced myself in mangled Japanese. 

After that, J-san showed me my desk, the locker beside my desk, my shoe locker at the entrance, and my other two lockers in the change room! Then she brought me back to the staff room, and all the teachers promptly left for a meeting. I wasn’t completely alone though, there are 3 office ladies who work in the school. Their job is to do things like cleaning, serving tea, answering phones, etc. Two of them chatted with me for a bit. It was a bit of a challenge, but I think we managed to do alright somehow. 

My desk at JHS.

I spent a while going through all the things in my desk. There were also 2 omiyage left on top of my desk, gifts of food from other teachers who had traveled recently (which was so thoughtful!). I later got a third omiyage from my other JTE as well. One of the coolest things in my desk was a collection of cards from all the past ALTs at the school. 

Omiyage on my desk

After a while I decided to go wander around the school. It is a completely new building, and actually is still in the process of being finished. So its super gorgeous and on top of that it is made almost entirely from local cedar and the architecture is based off of traditional Japanese design. I had just started wandering when one of the OLs (office ladies) came out to accompany me, which was nice, because she introduced me to a few students and told me what each room was. We also peeked into the Japanese style room (for tea ceremony, etc.), which had just been finished, because she hadn’t seen it yet either! 

The hallway just outside the staff room.

JHS Courtyard

We went back to the staff room, and it was around noon by this point, so all the teachers came back from their meeting for lunch. I didn’t bring one (derp, plus they had told me I could go home right after my introduction), so my other JTE drove us to Ikari, a grocery store near the train station, and we bought lunch. I got yakisoba. My two JTEs, the vice principal, and I all ate lunch together in the kitchen/staff lunch room place. 

After lunch the teachers all had another meeting at 1pm, but I had gotten the password for my computer, so I was able to use it to make a powerpoint presentation for my self introduction classes. The computer is all in Japanese and unable to be changed, so that was a challenge. I managed to waste enough time that the teachers finished their second meeting around 3pm or so. They were pretty surprised to see me still there and repeatedly told me I could go home, but I wanted to show my work ethic by staying until my contracted time and also it was nice in there because of air conditioning and internet access, if I’m being honest. 

We spent a while trying to figure out if we could change the language settings on my laptop, and by that time it was after 4pm, and J-san was leaving, so she told me to leave as well. I figured I may as well, so I left around 4:30pm and walked home (about 25 minutes). 

Overall, it was a nice and easy first day, which I appreciated. Everyone seems really friendly as well; two or three people have invited me to their houses, which is so kind but I have no idea who they are or where they live. 

On my walk home.