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I am in my new place. Today was an interesting day. I still have a bit of jet lag, but it's much better. We left the hotel at 8:45. I met Glenn, an Australian guy who's also working in Komaki city. William met us and took us to Komaki city hall so that we could meet the Board of Education guy. William works for Interlink, the company that handles our housing and living details. He handed us off to Stuart, who is an area supervisor for Komaki along with Graham, who I still haven't met. Stuart had another Aussie with him, Mic, who joined us for the BOE meeting. Mic has been here for a year, but it's Glenn's first time out of Australia.
Our coordinator's name is Aya, and she was very nice. She speaks English fairly well. I think she works for the city, but I'm not entirely sure; she said she would be at our training on Wednesday. She took us up to meet Ishikawa-san, whose first name is Manabu, or learn. *g* He was nice. As we talked, I really appreciated the amount of Japanese I understand. Poor Glenn was lost, and Mic didn't seem to follow too well, either. I had to bite my tongue to not start translating for them and let Aya and Stuart do their jobs. We each did a short introduction in Japanese. I'm really glad that I'm teaching elementary school. Ishikawa-san made a comment about there being pressure for Mic and Glenn because they have some big shoes to fill. For me, he said it's okay if I don't pick things up so quickly. Aya assured him that I would be fine. I still don't know which schools I'll be at. Ishikawa-san said he'd decide by next week. Most of what he wanted to know was about what kind of clubs and extracurricular activities we could help with. He made a point of asking us to become a part of the schools that we're at. I'm excited!
After this, we went to find Glenn's apartment, which meant a little bit of wandering. A note about Japanese addresses-- The street names don't have names. Major roads have numbers, but addresses are a series of place names until you get to the neighborhood and the building name. so finding a place with only an address is quite difficult. More about that later.
We found it after a bit of cellphone usage, and went in to check Glenn in. He has a new apartment near Komaki City center in Yayoicho. I finally got a map, and Komaki is a lot more spread out than I expected. Oh, and the area I'm in is kind of far away from other things. It turns out I do need a car, unfortunately. After the check in, Glenn and I both got into regular clothes, and Stuart took us back to city hall so that we could get our registration cards. We have to register as foreigners while we're here.
There's a supermarket/department store (Apta) near the city hall, so we went there and got a bite, and got passport photos for Glenn. Then we headed back to the city hall and filled out the forms. In order to get services like an ISP, cellphones, and bank accounts, we need our registration cards. Unfortunately, Komaki city is slow, so our cards won't be ready until May 7. In the meantime, we had to pay about $4 for two slips to use to get a bank account and such.
We finished at the city hall, and decided to head back to Apta and check out the cellphones there. Very confused, we both decided to wait a bit before getting a cell phone. I find it disorienting in English to try and determine which company is best for me. In Japanese, I was defeated.
We decided to walk back to Glenn's place, and on the way I saw a bank, so I thought I'd go in and change my dollars for yen. Just a quick stop. 30 minutes later, after filling out my form and giving them my passport with the registration paper in it, they called me to the counter to tell me that they couldn't accept the three new 20s I had, so could I please fill out the form again. I was NOT a happy camper, but I managed to calm down efore they called me up again to give me my yen and inform me that they had made a copy of my passport. Which kind of pissed me off again. I was happy to have Glenn to bitch to and get it off my chest. This was the low point of the day, so not so bad, eh?
We made it back to Glenn's place, and waited for Chris, another Interlink guy, to show up. He got there, and we asked if we could stop by an internet cafe to get Glenn set up so he could drop a line home. We did that, and Chris and I headed off to check me in to my new place.
It turns out Chris is the owner of Interlink and several other businesses in Nagoya area that cater to foreigners. He's lived in Japan for 11 years, and has a Japanese wife. The amazing part is, he doesn't speak Japanese very well. I didn't realize this at first, so when we stopped at a convenience store and he went in to ask directions, I thought we were fine. A little later, when we asked a woman if we were in the right area, she informed us that we were in the wrong neighborhood, by a good bit. Through talking to various people, and eventually asking at a gasoline station (where I did all the talking), we finally found the apartment.
I moved into an apartment that another teacher moved out of. Zach has a wife and a child, and they left a lot of stuff for me. I'm so amazed!! And his wife, after discovering that I speak Japanese, explained some things to me, including the trash, which is really complicated. I have a futon, a three part low sofa, a kotatsu, two TVs, a VCR, a kerosene heater, an electric heater, a fan, a stereo, microwave, a 3/4 Japanese fridge, a washing machine, and a bunch of organizing bins, hangers, and trash cans. The only things they didn't provide that I really need is some kitchen stuff, but that's fine, and way cheaper than buying TVs or a washing machine. I am really lucky. What we're supposed to get is a futon, a table and chair, some kitchen stuff, a half fridge and a microwave. Oh, and just as I was about to head out to get food, my lost luggage arrived. It really worked out that I didn't have to lug it around all this time. Somebody up there is watching out for me. *g*
Chris and I went through the check in process, and my rent is going to be about $560/month. I have two rooms, and a large kitchen space. It's really too big for me, but that's okay. I'll just use the front room to dump stuff in.
The only other thing that happened was I walked around a bit, went shopping, got some food, and stopped by the local cell phone store. I asked the lady tere to explaing the basic difference between the different companies. It makes more sense now, but I found out that I need my foreigner card and a bank account to get one. Oh well. Not that I really need one at the moment anyway. It turns out that Altia provides us with a phone and a fax. I don't know the number yet though.
Our coordinator's name is Aya, and she was very nice. She speaks English fairly well. I think she works for the city, but I'm not entirely sure; she said she would be at our training on Wednesday. She took us up to meet Ishikawa-san, whose first name is Manabu, or learn. *g* He was nice. As we talked, I really appreciated the amount of Japanese I understand. Poor Glenn was lost, and Mic didn't seem to follow too well, either. I had to bite my tongue to not start translating for them and let Aya and Stuart do their jobs. We each did a short introduction in Japanese. I'm really glad that I'm teaching elementary school. Ishikawa-san made a comment about there being pressure for Mic and Glenn because they have some big shoes to fill. For me, he said it's okay if I don't pick things up so quickly. Aya assured him that I would be fine. I still don't know which schools I'll be at. Ishikawa-san said he'd decide by next week. Most of what he wanted to know was about what kind of clubs and extracurricular activities we could help with. He made a point of asking us to become a part of the schools that we're at. I'm excited!
After this, we went to find Glenn's apartment, which meant a little bit of wandering. A note about Japanese addresses-- The street names don't have names. Major roads have numbers, but addresses are a series of place names until you get to the neighborhood and the building name. so finding a place with only an address is quite difficult. More about that later.
We found it after a bit of cellphone usage, and went in to check Glenn in. He has a new apartment near Komaki City center in Yayoicho. I finally got a map, and Komaki is a lot more spread out than I expected. Oh, and the area I'm in is kind of far away from other things. It turns out I do need a car, unfortunately. After the check in, Glenn and I both got into regular clothes, and Stuart took us back to city hall so that we could get our registration cards. We have to register as foreigners while we're here.
There's a supermarket/department store (Apta) near the city hall, so we went there and got a bite, and got passport photos for Glenn. Then we headed back to the city hall and filled out the forms. In order to get services like an ISP, cellphones, and bank accounts, we need our registration cards. Unfortunately, Komaki city is slow, so our cards won't be ready until May 7. In the meantime, we had to pay about $4 for two slips to use to get a bank account and such.
We finished at the city hall, and decided to head back to Apta and check out the cellphones there. Very confused, we both decided to wait a bit before getting a cell phone. I find it disorienting in English to try and determine which company is best for me. In Japanese, I was defeated.
We decided to walk back to Glenn's place, and on the way I saw a bank, so I thought I'd go in and change my dollars for yen. Just a quick stop. 30 minutes later, after filling out my form and giving them my passport with the registration paper in it, they called me to the counter to tell me that they couldn't accept the three new 20s I had, so could I please fill out the form again. I was NOT a happy camper, but I managed to calm down efore they called me up again to give me my yen and inform me that they had made a copy of my passport. Which kind of pissed me off again. I was happy to have Glenn to bitch to and get it off my chest. This was the low point of the day, so not so bad, eh?
We made it back to Glenn's place, and waited for Chris, another Interlink guy, to show up. He got there, and we asked if we could stop by an internet cafe to get Glenn set up so he could drop a line home. We did that, and Chris and I headed off to check me in to my new place.
It turns out Chris is the owner of Interlink and several other businesses in Nagoya area that cater to foreigners. He's lived in Japan for 11 years, and has a Japanese wife. The amazing part is, he doesn't speak Japanese very well. I didn't realize this at first, so when we stopped at a convenience store and he went in to ask directions, I thought we were fine. A little later, when we asked a woman if we were in the right area, she informed us that we were in the wrong neighborhood, by a good bit. Through talking to various people, and eventually asking at a gasoline station (where I did all the talking), we finally found the apartment.
I moved into an apartment that another teacher moved out of. Zach has a wife and a child, and they left a lot of stuff for me. I'm so amazed!! And his wife, after discovering that I speak Japanese, explained some things to me, including the trash, which is really complicated. I have a futon, a three part low sofa, a kotatsu, two TVs, a VCR, a kerosene heater, an electric heater, a fan, a stereo, microwave, a 3/4 Japanese fridge, a washing machine, and a bunch of organizing bins, hangers, and trash cans. The only things they didn't provide that I really need is some kitchen stuff, but that's fine, and way cheaper than buying TVs or a washing machine. I am really lucky. What we're supposed to get is a futon, a table and chair, some kitchen stuff, a half fridge and a microwave. Oh, and just as I was about to head out to get food, my lost luggage arrived. It really worked out that I didn't have to lug it around all this time. Somebody up there is watching out for me. *g*
Chris and I went through the check in process, and my rent is going to be about $560/month. I have two rooms, and a large kitchen space. It's really too big for me, but that's okay. I'll just use the front room to dump stuff in.
The only other thing that happened was I walked around a bit, went shopping, got some food, and stopped by the local cell phone store. I asked the lady tere to explaing the basic difference between the different companies. It makes more sense now, but I found out that I need my foreigner card and a bank account to get one. Oh well. Not that I really need one at the moment anyway. It turns out that Altia provides us with a phone and a fax. I don't know the number yet though.
