Making my way from Raunds to Heathrow, I was in a bit of a haze after not so much sleep and in deep thought about the journey ahead. Having spent the week saying goodbye to some amazing friends and family I had very mixed emotions....excited about the adventure and new life ahead of me.....and sad to say goodbye.
With a 12 hour flight ahead and 160 UK JETs on board I had a fair amount of time to make friends with all of the newbies, right? Wrong!....anyone who has flown with me before will not be suprised at my at my powers to sleep...before the plane had left the runway I was sound asleep and only when the steward nudged me at meals times did I wake up...I am sure I looked very attractive with my nodding head and eye mask!
From Narita we took a coach to Tokyo Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku (5 Star!) Where we had a few hours before the rest of the JETs from around the world arrived....about 1000 in total.
So I still had plenty of time to mingle right? Wrong!....Apparently I suffer from jetlag.... I was sound asleep by 1pm in my room on Sunday, only waking due to my stomache rumbling....so I ventured to the shop and bought some kind of Japanese rice noodle pot (very salty and not so filling) and went back to sleep until 12am when my body decided it was time to be awake....so now everyone else is asleep!!!!
The jetlag pretty much took over me for the next 3 days.....awake at night, struggling to stay awake for the seminars and workshops in the day!
When the optional workshops were taking place I made my way to the hotel terrace pool.....an outdoor roof terrace overlooking Tokyo surrounded by tall buildings, palm trees and deck chairs....it was a bit of a wow moment to be swimming outside in the centre of Tokyo!
The first night out in Tokyo was organised by our prefecture....all of the Nagano JETs were taken to a bar by the regional advisors in order to meet our fellow neighbours to be from around the world. On entering, Tina and I were bombarded by a group of Japanese men keen to talk and buy us beer....I am sure that their intentions were sincere but it made it difficult to speak to the rest of the group.
The second night out in Tokyo we were invited by the British Embassy to a welcome reception at the British Council. All the Brits headed there together in taxis, where food, beer and wine were layed on with entertainment from Japanese drummers.
After the reception we went back to the hotel....and as it was the last night in Tokyo we went to the 47th floor SkyBar for cocktails and to admire the view.....another sad moment as this would be the last night I would see the British JETs that I had made friends with before we all left for our prefectures in the morning.
After a 5 hour coach journey going via Matsumoto we reached Nagano.
I was met off the bus by Suzuki Sensei (an English Teacher at Nishi) and Jay (a former JET who has been in Japan for 4 years now).
They took me to Nishi where I met the Principle, more teachers, students and my predecessor, Rita.
We left school and headed for my apartment so that Rita could show me the ropes! The apartment is nice, only 1DK but enough for me.
Rita and Jay took me to an Italian for Pizza and the most amazing ice-cream I have ever seen! Food in Japan really is an art....I can`t wait to try more!
My first night in the apartment was suprisingly really good...being in Japan feels so natural (apart from the language at the moment).....I feel really relaxed and happy with my decision to come to Japan.
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