Hi everyone!
This is the first blog post of the international adventure that I'll soon be embarking on. I'm going to travel to Komagane City in Nagano Prefecture.
A bit of background:
Since my trip to Japan in 2007 on a soccer tour through Biola University, I had been interested in returning to Japan. At first, I had solely wanted to learn Japanese and revisit with the sole intent of experiencing Japan through more literate eyes, but I soon found out about the JET program. Through this program, I reasoned that I could possibly return to Japan, get paid to speak my native language, and, in doing so, give back to the community that was so welcoming to me back in 2007.
I had put off learning Japanese until my sophomore year in college with the excuse that soccer would've left me with no time to study Japanese. After realizing that I could take a Japanese introductory course during the summer at a community college, skip the first course of the UCSD sequence during soccer season, and continue the sequence during the winter quarter, I opted to do just that.
I took Japanese for 4 consecutive quarters at UCSD (JAPN10B, 10C, 20A, and 20B). After skipping 10A and not being able to attend many classes 20A (during the fall of my junior year) due to the soccer team making it to the national championship, I was struggling quite a bit. I had reasoned that 20B was going to be my last class. No more Japanese for me.
Then, a few days after Spring Quarter began, everything changed.
My friends invited me to go to a Japanese festival put on by my school's various Japanese clubs. I wasn't sure if I had really wanted to go, but I went anyways. While I was waiting for my friends to get there, I met one of my Japanese teachers, Mochizuki-sensei. She had always been really supportive of me, even when I had to miss class for soccer. She wondered why I wasn't taking Japanese anymore and told me that this class was going to be particularly fun. Since they didn't have to follow a textbook, she told me that she'd be teaching about Sailor Moon, sumo, anime, etc. and that it's not too late to sign up for the class!
I'm not sure why I changed my mind. Maybe it was a guilt trip? Maybe it was the feeling that I had left something unfinished...? (Probably the guilt trip...I just couldn't turn that nice woman down...). Anyways, I went to the next 20C class and stuck with it for the rest of the quarter.
I met some fun people in that class, but most importantly, I met Ryan.
Long story short, we got along really well and even ended up living together after his previous apartment-mates moved out. We eventually started dating and he encouraged me to act on my
interest in the JET program.
We both applied, finished up our senior year undergraduate studies at UCSD while concurrently taking classes at UCSD Extension for TEFL certification, and, after a terrifying interview that I thought I did terrible in, we eventually got emails confirming our acceptance into the program (much to our relief).
When I first got my assignment, I wasn't really sure what to expect. The email that I received had stated only: Nagano-ken, Nagano-ken. I soon found out that I was going to become a Prefectural ALT, teaching in a high school somewhere in Nagano Prefecture. The only thing I knew about Nagano was that it held the 1998 Winter Olympics...and that it was really, really far away from where Ryan was placed (in Aomori).
It's been a very long and grueling year, but I'm soon going to be boarding my flight from LAX to Narita Airport. While I'm ecstatic to be returning to Japan for the first time since 2007, I'm also pretty nervous, despite having all of the preparation for teaching from my TEFL certification classes! Sometimes I wonder..."What on earth have you gotten yourself into...?!?", but once I get acclimated to my surroundings, I'm sure I'll do well.
Anyways, I'm really excited to be leaving, but sad to be leaving at the same time; it's been a very emotional last day. I've been trying not to cry so much, but it's really difficult not to when I realize how much I'm going to miss my family and friends. They've supported me from the moment I said I was interested in teaching abroad in Japan til the moment I passed through the security gates(*).
I'm also nervous about my Japanese (or lack thereof), but everyone keeps telling me not to worry, since I'll be immersed. "You'll pick it up before you know it!" they say. If only it were that simple....it's still gonna be a rough first couple of months trying to communicate since my Japanese has gotten so bad. I just have to keep my head up no matter what and learn to laugh at myself. It's not going to be easy, but I'm excited for the opportunity to improve my Japanese!
It's hard to believe that, after this month, I'll be in the schools and actually teaching! I don't think that anyone I ever went to school with would have thought that I would be teaching anything. Teaching is definitely going to test my introverted tendencies and force me to break out of my shell quite a bit. It's going to be difficult, but I know everything will be ok! My family and friends are all supporting me from the USA...they all believe in me, so all that's left is for me to believe in myself and my abilities now. Hopefully, that's where my goalkeeping abilities will kick in and help me in the classroom (...not that I'm gonna be yelling at my kids or anything haha)!
I've got to sign off very soon. People are starting to board now! Hopefully I get to sit next to Ryan on the flight over. That would definitely make the next 11 hours less stressful... :)
I'll write a more detailed blog post when I get to Japan! I'll have more stuff to write about when I'm actually there!
(*) Winnie came to LAX all the way from San Diego just to see me and Meghan, a fellow JET from UCSD, off!! Thanks Winnie!! <3
