hey,
Today, I met Ayumi (my coordinator) at Ageo-shi train station, and she took me and another ALT to our schools. Turns out, I did find the right place before, but now I'm not sure how I'm gonna get to it. I got to the train station a little early, and decided I should check on my bike. Lo and behold, my bike was not to be found. Since I only paid $30 for it, this is not the end of the world, but it is annoying. It is a 45 minute walk from the train station to my school, so that is kinda out of the quiestion. On the other hand, I've heard not so great things about the buses. I can buy a brand new bike, but I shudder to think of the prices. Plus, I'll still have to ride in to Ageo tomorrow on my hypothetical new bike, which would take 3 times longer than the train. Either way, walking or biking, I'm looking at getting up 45 minutes earlier.
Anyway, once at the school I met with someone who was apparently another teacher, and I introduced myself to him, and then Ayumi and the teacher spoke for a few minutes in Japanese, and then I introduced myself to the Japanese teacher I'll actually be working with. And then we left. So, I still don't know how busy my days will be, or a lot of other things. It seems like I get into these situations, and I go into shock, and later think of questions that I should have asked at the time.
After that, I came back to Omiya, and updated my visa status and my gaijin card, so now I officially have permission to work and live here. I tried opening a bank account but they wanted a telephone number, so I'll have to wait until I pick up a cell before opening one.
Dinner yesterday was kinda a disaster. I bought what I thought were the right noodles, but they were actually some kind of shaped clear starch that was incredibly chewy (think gummy bears, but more so) once cooked. The Pad Thai tasted ok, but the non-noodles really threw the texture off.
Tomorrow is going to be a long day, so that's it for now.
Cheers
