Hello there.
I hope you've settled down in your lovely little apartment which was mine for two years. It was my very own place for that time and I have wonderful memories of it.
If you are planning to continue reading this, I hope you wait till Sanba-sensei and Ikai-senseis have left the apartment. You would have been picked up by these two senseis at the Mie BOE and they would have driven you far west to Nabari. It's a long drive and you must be tired out.
Have they left, then? Good. Let me tell you a little about them.
Sanba-sensei is like many Japanese women, sweet and strong as steel. Ikai-sensei is very Japanese at heart - but with a very quirky 'foriegner' side to him. You'll come to understand what I mean in time. I don't want to spoil the surprise. Haha.
Your apartment is made of some earthquake resistant materials. The walls are kinda soft and you can use pins or thumbtacks to fasten papers or stuff to the walls - don't use screws or nails though! This apartment is real nice, but the plain white walls drove me crazy my first few months. You could do like i did and buy fabric to use as wallpaper - fasten it to the walls using double-sided tape (comes off nicely after you are done with it too) and a few well-positioned staples. I also ordered stickers and pasted them on the walls. I've taken them off now, so you can make the apartment your own.
Your oven is not really the school's oven. It's actually Tony-sensei's. You actually had a sorry little toaster oven but your grandma (my predecessor) liked baking so much, Tony sensei offered to exchange his oven for that sorry excuse for an oven. He had brought it to school anyway, cos his family had bought a new oven. If you like baking, as I did, you can rely on this oven. It's churned out many a treat. Just remember to press the O-BUN button twice otherwise it doesn't work.
In winter (Oct to March), your apartment is nice and toasty compared to your fellow ALTs. They exclaim in astonishment over the fact that your olive oil doesn't solidify in winter, but theirs does. Those who live in Eki-mae Masion, especially.
In summer, your apartment is a sauna. Heat rises, and your apartment is on the second floor. The insulation that kept you warm in winter will ensure you want to keep the fan and/or air-conditioner on all the time.
I used the room with the sliding doors as a rec room. First, the windows face the east, so I hate being woken up by the sunlight (as early as 4 + am in summer), so I sleep in the other room. Also, that room is right next to the living room, so you might want some privacy.
I sleep in the other room, but it's right next to the main road, so sometimes the noise of the cars passing can be really invasive and wake you up with a start. I've taken to sleeping with earplugs. Haha.
You're really blessed. You are the best situated amongst all the JETs in Nabari. You live 5 minutes from school. Other Nabarians have to take buses and/or trains. I usually wake up at 7.30 am, a time most Nabarians are about to leave their apartments. Of course, your apartment is one of the most expensive too. I hope you don't mind. I didn't - I threw a lot of fun parties in that apartment.
Your school is known as a comprehensive school. The students aren't really into academics, but most of them try, and they are really nice. They will enjoy talking to you, so please spend time with them outside of classes. Join the baking, sewing and pottery classes. The teachers are happy to let you, and it'll give them a chance to talk to teachers and students alike. Be initiative. Plan activities for the students. You can do stuff for the annual bunkasai! Plan a treasure hunt or sing or act or dance! Whatever you can do, show it off! The students will like it and it'll give you a talking point.
Go watch the sports games. Your school's soccer team is pretty good and the soccer boys are always willing to talk - when they aren't training. The basketball team is hardworking and they like talking too. The rhythmic gymnastic team is beautiful, and so graceful. Watch them if you can.
Your school has a gym, called a toreningu-rumu (training room). It's well-equipped and there're shower facilities too. You can use them when you have free periods (plenty of which you will have).
Your place in the staff room (shoukuinshitsu) is in the school events department. To your left will always be a computer teacher. Everyone else around you can change positions. The art teacher next to you is seldom at his desk, but he is awful nice and has annual exhibitions. He paints beautiful oil paintings of Iga scenery and wild water-life.
Your principal is a quirky guy, always ready for a joke. He looks clueless and goofy sometimes but he is powerful and knowledgeable. He spent some years supervising the building of expressways in Iraq and has travelled extensively. He can speak English and you can always approach him if you need help.
Matsumoto-sensei is the best friend you'll ever make in this school. She's bright and cheerful and always has plans to do something. Life is never boring around her. My mother, your grandmother, told me, and so I tell you now, that if ever Matsumoto-sensei asks you to go out, go. She has amazing friends.
The computer you are assigned sucks. It's about ten years over it's use-by date and requires one or two restarts throughout the day. Don't play Youtube videos on it unless you want it to hang. Other than that, it's good as a work tool. Not much else.
Sometimes the teachers forget you are around. So, listen and observe hard. Ask about what is happening because sometimes there's a big event and they forget to tell you. Wear blazers on the first and last days of school term.
Winter is bitterly cold in Nabari. Suit up, glove up, scarf up and ear-muff up. No central heating. Electricity bills in winter tend towards 9000 yen a month. Spend the money or else you'll feel miserable.
Nabari is a lovely little town. There're nice walking routes all over town and the Akame-guchi Falls is popular from Spring to Autumn. Don't forget to visit Shorenji-dam. It has a fantastic little English cafe called Ingleside Cafe and the proprietor speaks English (Anglophile alert!) In spring, sakura bloom beautifully around Shorenji-dam. It's a good spot for a barbeque too. Renting a car (there's a rental car place just 1 min from your apartment, and it has very affordable rates too.) is a good idea if you go to Shorenji-dam.
Aoyama-san is also another friend you will make. A Japanese lady whose two children attended your school, and whose daughter I taught, she is a pera-pera English speaker after listening to NHK English tapes for nearly 29 years. She owns and runs a classical Japanese cuisine restaurant and she and her husband are extremely generous. She will show you how to cook Japanese food and even prepare a full course Japanese lunch or dinner for you at least once while you're here. If you are ever in trouble, please ask her for help. She is a powerful lady in Nabari Old Town and has many connections and friends. She only asks that you speak English with her so that she can improve her English.
You'll never regret having been posted to Nabari. It's a great place with great people. I am so envious of you and I hope you make the best of it now that you're here.
Now, sit down, unpack, and cry a little. Cos that's what I did.
Love,
your predeccesor.
I hope you've settled down in your lovely little apartment which was mine for two years. It was my very own place for that time and I have wonderful memories of it.
If you are planning to continue reading this, I hope you wait till Sanba-sensei and Ikai-senseis have left the apartment. You would have been picked up by these two senseis at the Mie BOE and they would have driven you far west to Nabari. It's a long drive and you must be tired out.
Have they left, then? Good. Let me tell you a little about them.
Sanba-sensei is like many Japanese women, sweet and strong as steel. Ikai-sensei is very Japanese at heart - but with a very quirky 'foriegner' side to him. You'll come to understand what I mean in time. I don't want to spoil the surprise. Haha.
Your apartment is made of some earthquake resistant materials. The walls are kinda soft and you can use pins or thumbtacks to fasten papers or stuff to the walls - don't use screws or nails though! This apartment is real nice, but the plain white walls drove me crazy my first few months. You could do like i did and buy fabric to use as wallpaper - fasten it to the walls using double-sided tape (comes off nicely after you are done with it too) and a few well-positioned staples. I also ordered stickers and pasted them on the walls. I've taken them off now, so you can make the apartment your own.
Your oven is not really the school's oven. It's actually Tony-sensei's. You actually had a sorry little toaster oven but your grandma (my predecessor) liked baking so much, Tony sensei offered to exchange his oven for that sorry excuse for an oven. He had brought it to school anyway, cos his family had bought a new oven. If you like baking, as I did, you can rely on this oven. It's churned out many a treat. Just remember to press the O-BUN button twice otherwise it doesn't work.
In winter (Oct to March), your apartment is nice and toasty compared to your fellow ALTs. They exclaim in astonishment over the fact that your olive oil doesn't solidify in winter, but theirs does. Those who live in Eki-mae Masion, especially.
In summer, your apartment is a sauna. Heat rises, and your apartment is on the second floor. The insulation that kept you warm in winter will ensure you want to keep the fan and/or air-conditioner on all the time.
I used the room with the sliding doors as a rec room. First, the windows face the east, so I hate being woken up by the sunlight (as early as 4 + am in summer), so I sleep in the other room. Also, that room is right next to the living room, so you might want some privacy.
I sleep in the other room, but it's right next to the main road, so sometimes the noise of the cars passing can be really invasive and wake you up with a start. I've taken to sleeping with earplugs. Haha.
You're really blessed. You are the best situated amongst all the JETs in Nabari. You live 5 minutes from school. Other Nabarians have to take buses and/or trains. I usually wake up at 7.30 am, a time most Nabarians are about to leave their apartments. Of course, your apartment is one of the most expensive too. I hope you don't mind. I didn't - I threw a lot of fun parties in that apartment.
Your school is known as a comprehensive school. The students aren't really into academics, but most of them try, and they are really nice. They will enjoy talking to you, so please spend time with them outside of classes. Join the baking, sewing and pottery classes. The teachers are happy to let you, and it'll give them a chance to talk to teachers and students alike. Be initiative. Plan activities for the students. You can do stuff for the annual bunkasai! Plan a treasure hunt or sing or act or dance! Whatever you can do, show it off! The students will like it and it'll give you a talking point.
Go watch the sports games. Your school's soccer team is pretty good and the soccer boys are always willing to talk - when they aren't training. The basketball team is hardworking and they like talking too. The rhythmic gymnastic team is beautiful, and so graceful. Watch them if you can.
Your school has a gym, called a toreningu-rumu (training room). It's well-equipped and there're shower facilities too. You can use them when you have free periods (plenty of which you will have).
Your place in the staff room (shoukuinshitsu) is in the school events department. To your left will always be a computer teacher. Everyone else around you can change positions. The art teacher next to you is seldom at his desk, but he is awful nice and has annual exhibitions. He paints beautiful oil paintings of Iga scenery and wild water-life.
Your principal is a quirky guy, always ready for a joke. He looks clueless and goofy sometimes but he is powerful and knowledgeable. He spent some years supervising the building of expressways in Iraq and has travelled extensively. He can speak English and you can always approach him if you need help.
Matsumoto-sensei is the best friend you'll ever make in this school. She's bright and cheerful and always has plans to do something. Life is never boring around her. My mother, your grandmother, told me, and so I tell you now, that if ever Matsumoto-sensei asks you to go out, go. She has amazing friends.
The computer you are assigned sucks. It's about ten years over it's use-by date and requires one or two restarts throughout the day. Don't play Youtube videos on it unless you want it to hang. Other than that, it's good as a work tool. Not much else.
Sometimes the teachers forget you are around. So, listen and observe hard. Ask about what is happening because sometimes there's a big event and they forget to tell you. Wear blazers on the first and last days of school term.
Winter is bitterly cold in Nabari. Suit up, glove up, scarf up and ear-muff up. No central heating. Electricity bills in winter tend towards 9000 yen a month. Spend the money or else you'll feel miserable.
Nabari is a lovely little town. There're nice walking routes all over town and the Akame-guchi Falls is popular from Spring to Autumn. Don't forget to visit Shorenji-dam. It has a fantastic little English cafe called Ingleside Cafe and the proprietor speaks English (Anglophile alert!) In spring, sakura bloom beautifully around Shorenji-dam. It's a good spot for a barbeque too. Renting a car (there's a rental car place just 1 min from your apartment, and it has very affordable rates too.) is a good idea if you go to Shorenji-dam.
Aoyama-san is also another friend you will make. A Japanese lady whose two children attended your school, and whose daughter I taught, she is a pera-pera English speaker after listening to NHK English tapes for nearly 29 years. She owns and runs a classical Japanese cuisine restaurant and she and her husband are extremely generous. She will show you how to cook Japanese food and even prepare a full course Japanese lunch or dinner for you at least once while you're here. If you are ever in trouble, please ask her for help. She is a powerful lady in Nabari Old Town and has many connections and friends. She only asks that you speak English with her so that she can improve her English.
You'll never regret having been posted to Nabari. It's a great place with great people. I am so envious of you and I hope you make the best of it now that you're here.
Now, sit down, unpack, and cry a little. Cos that's what I did.
Love,
your predeccesor.
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