First month

So it's been a month since I first flew to Japan and I'm finally getting around to writing down some of the things that have been going on.

Timeline:
3/19-3/23: Visited the Ohashis and Nathan
3/24-3/29: Training in Hamamatsu
3/29-4/14: Moved into my place in Fukuroi-shi
4-14: Started teaching

The blessings of Christ:

So as I shared with some of you, when I was preparing to come to Japan, I was pretty nervous because I had been placed in a city I've never heard about and had no idea what I was going to do for church and stuff. It was around this time I was praying for God's work to be done and learning to trust that He has a plan that's a lot better than mine.

So anyways I was talking to a friend I had met at perspectives who worked as part of International student ministry, and she told me that she knew someone who was working as part of ISI in Japan and offered to connect me. And through that I was acquainted with Dan who was doing missions work in Tokyo. I was able to spend the night at his place the first day I was there, and had a nice conversation with him.

Dan then introduced me to someone in Hamamatsu (The closest big city) who was a Christian that had found Christ in college and then returned to Japan to work. Long story short, his ministry in Hamamatsu and around was to help people who were returning to Japan. TECHNICALLY, I'm not a returnee but it really worked out and Seiji-sans' been a huge blessing to me in settling down here. He recommended a church to me that's run by a long term missionary, and also has introduced me to really cool Christians in the area I've been been to meet and connect with.

I've been going to a church called Sakuragi Christian center. It is lead by a missionary who basically grew up in Japan and has TEN KIDS. A lot of them help out on the worship team and it got me thinking, if you are needing more servants having kids is a great way to go. (This statement is not scientifically proven)

But yeah, it's been such a huge blessing to have met these people and to experience the blessings of Christ through them. My worries about finding a church and Christians around here was really answered by God and even though people here tend to be busier on a whole other level, I've still had the opportunity to hang out and interact with them. I've been really hoping to connect with people at church and I found a friend this past Sunday who took me to a nearby castle so that was fun.

I didn't actually take a picture of the castle but here is a model of the castle I took at the castle.









In reflecting about this month in Japan, I've really seen that God has provided for all my needs. I've definitely been able to enjoy the gifts of His kingdom here and seen the strong faith of the believers in Japan. I still miss my community back in the Bay, a lot a lot, but God is gracious to the whole world.

I still don't really know why I'm here in Shizuoka, or really what I would do anywhere in Japan. But it's been really cool meeting all these new people and going through the cycles of life here. It's been a little scary putting myself out there and being like hey tell me about what's going down, but people have been receptive and really open.

Training:

The start of work was kinda crazy because they were trying to fit in a lot of information in a short 4 days. There were a few 12 hours days where the we'd do some training on how to teach kids and then spend time doing superfun paperwork.

The really cool thing about training was that I got to get to know the people teaching in the area as well as the people who will be teaching in the same city as I am. It was quite a blessing to connect with them and experience all the fun together. They ended up becoming pretty good friends that I see on a pretty often basis.

The trainers as well were a lot more relaxed than the company overall I believe. Interac generally has pretty strict policies on what to wear to school and when you're supposed to smile (all the time) but the guys who ran my local branch were like eh just wear what the other teachers are wearing, suits aren't practical. Funny thing though, track suits are considered like business casual here but jeans are seen as too casual. I'm like what? No way. But there it is.

The move:

When people say that Japan has a lot of bureaucracy, they weren't kidding. I don't think I've ever had to sit down for so long and just fill out forms. Over the course of the month I've been here, I've been stamping documents for my company, the city, cell phone companies, anything you want to do, better get your hanko (name stamp) ready.

I think there was one day where I literally sat in the city office doing work for about 3 hours, and then moved to the post office to do work for another 3 hours, and then to the cell phone company for another 3 excellent hours of signing documents.

The bright side with all of this was that Interac hired some local people who spoke a bit of English to give us help and they were absolutely amazing. Most of what I just had to do was sit there and do what I was told, but it was really them who found out exactly what forms we had to complete and helped us fill out the hard bits.

I feel like I cheated with that part since besides stamping (sometimes I didn't even do this) I just sat there and looked broody.

The living:

My apartment is a studio about the size of 1.5 times the average Berkeley dorm but comes with a kitchen and washing machine. It done everything I've needed it to do so far so that's been nice, but I definitely underestimated how expensive moving to a brand new place would be. For the most part I've lived with roommates so there was always the convenience of like, oh I have a pot, oh I have a fork, great got everything we need.

 But now living alone I needed to get everything for myself. I had this one crazy day where I really wanted a peanut butter sandwich, but then realized oh crap I need to buy something to spread the peanut butter, and a place to hold the bread, and now I have to wash the plate so I need a sponge and soap. Now suddenly its a 10 dollar peanut butter sandwich.

I also have to dry my clothes manually as actual dryers are pretty rare. Usually this isn't a problem because you can hang your clothes outside. Sadly it's been raining kind of crazy but that doesn't mean I don't need to wear clothes. So I've had to be creative.

Now you might say, but Will, you know they sell indoor drying methods at the local hardware shop, and I'd say you're right.









Another unexpected expense here was the rice cooker. The Japanese are pretty serious about their rice, with some rice cookers going up to $1,000 that grow the rice, wash it, and cook it (Two of those are true). Here's my little set up with my hot water heater and rice cooker. Mine does not wash my rice, I have hands and water for that like a peasant.



School life:

So if you add up all the days, I've been teaching for exactly a week now. There will sadly be no pictures here as it's pretty prohibited at schools. Darnit right? I do look really good in a suit. Uh...I mean the kids are really cute and stuff. But seriously I've never worn a suit so many consecutive days in a row before this and boy are they a hassle. I miss the good old days of throwing on a potato sack and trudging to work. But Uniqlo is pretty big here and you gotta wear an undershirt with a dress shirt. Uniqlo undershirts are unique (HO HO HO) in that they're designed to really outline and highlight all the physical flaws of your body. The next step is just to make an Uniqlo face mask to really complete the package.

I'm teaching at four elementary schools and you really do get a nice variety having 4. I'm pretty much teaching a few classes at each school a week so in total its about 20-30 classes. THE SAME LESSON. I had to do my self intro and I was pretty tempted to just start changing the answers. Yeah I'm uh actually from space and I like gophers. But I didn't sigh. The kids as well you get a great variety, most of them are really happy to see you and talk to you so it's pretty encouraging but some are definitely like who are you, go back, leave! I eat lunch with them when I go visit the schools and I think at one school they were so excited they asked me to sit in the middle of the class so I could equally be enjoyed but the teacher (thankfully) was like no just sit here. I also play with them during recess, I accidentally hit the only kid who speaks English in the face with a dodgeball and I was like NOOOO please be my friend I need a translator.

I've been trying to also talk to the teachers but sometimes the language barrier gets in the way. What I found is if you just sit there nobody will ever talk to you, but if you say hi they are super receptive and start talking to you and stuff. It's hard to tell when is the right time to say hi though. Today my hi paid off in droves though. I was trying to stuff flashcards into protective covers because I wasn't sure I could use their laminator and after talking they looked and said like, that's impossible, here use this laminator :-D. The trick is to look absolutely ridiculous.

Summary:

Japan is colder than San Diego in Spring time and it is always rainy. Also today the kids brought their own lunch to school and their bentos look amazing. But like why would you make spaghetti just to put a little bit in when they already got rice. Don't make no sense. Kid didn't even eat it.