Tokyo Orientation 2014, Day Three

Today wa our last full day in Tokyo! I really wish we got more time here, especially more free time. I'm not sure when or if we'll be able to come back since we live so far away in Tottori.

I went up to the 43rd floor this morning to try and get photos of the sunrise over Tokyo. It didn't quite turn out as I wanted, because the bathrooms which supposedly have a great view were closed (it was 5am). There was a big window in the hallway though.

View of Tokyo from the 43rd floor of Keio.

View of Tokyo from the 43rd floor of Keio.

7:00am-8:30am Breakfast
Same fare as yesterday, but with the addition of french fries.

Our breakfast spread this morning.

9:00am-10:30am Life in Japan as an ALT panel discussion
There were 3 current JETs who answered a variety of questions. It was nice to actually hear from more JETs. That said, a lot of information is placement specific, so it was all kind of useless.

10:30am-10:45am Break

10:45am-11:35am Meaningful speaking activities
This workshop was about speaking activities, so we learned a few games, how to adapt activities to other levels, and how to balance fluency and accuracy. I felt like it could have been a little more in depth.

11:35am-12:50pm Lunch
Today we had vegetable curry, minestrone soup, and salad. It seems like they are making sure that meals are vegetarian, which is thoughtful.

12:50pm-1:40pm Reviewing vocabulary through games
This seminar was about teaching vocabulary in different ways, like charades or pictionary.

1:40pm-1:55pm Break

1:55pm-2:45pm Improving your language awareness
This seminar was focused on grammar and how to approach it in the classroom.

2:45pm-3:00pm Break

3:00pm-3:50pm Helping students with writing
The last seminar of the day was about teaching writing. I was really tired by then, so I kind of zoned out.

3:50pm-4:05pm Break

4:05pm-4:55pm Host prefecture/designated city meetings
I was really looking forward to finally meeting people going to my prefecture! There aren't very many of us, but there is 1 other Canadian, so I'm not completely alone! I still can't believe there are only 2 new Canadian JETs coming to Tottori, though. Here we found out some information on travelling to Tottori tomorrow, what to expect on our first day, and Tottori orientation.

4:55pm-5:05pm Survey completion and submission
We had to complete and submit a survey about all the seminars across the entire orientation.

5:15pm-8:00pm Luggage collection
We actually missed this, but its just for loading the bus before we go to the airport, so it should be fine I hope!

We missed luggage collection because this evening we met up with Asumi and went to Sweets Paradise, a dessert buffet! It took a while for us to find it and we even had to go ask at an information desk inside a department store, but we got there! The food was really amazing and there was a huge variety - not just sweets either. I completely gorged myself on all sorts of delicious cakes, as well as kakigori (flavoured shaved ice), one of my favourite Japanese foods.

My first dessert plate. The brown one is chocolate, the tart is a yogurt tart, the jelly is ramune jelly, and I'm not sure about the flavours of the two cakes in the foreground, but they were also delicious.

Chocolate fountain at Sweets Paradise.

Just part of the dessert buffet at Sweets Paradise.

Afterwards, when we were walking back to our hotel, we ended up going down this narrow, winding street. It was a traditional Japanese pub street, lined with restaurants. Interestingly, many of them seemed to be run by women. One woman and her 5 year-old daughter caught our attention and we chatted with them for a moment...er, well I guess it was more like awkwardly smiled and tried to get two shy girls to talk without success. The lady was very kind and gave Yana some candy. I wish we could go back there again, it smelled delicious!

If you look closely, you can spot the woman and her daughter peeking out of their restaurant on the right.

I'm a bit nervous about tomorrow because its probably when this will all sink in. Being mostly confined to the hotel over the past few days has really sheltered us from a lot of the realities of living here. I also hope I get my voice back by tomorrow, because otherwise I am going to sound completely ridiculous when I try to speak!