So I Finally Got Placed

I'm headed to a small town in Iwate prefecture (just south of Aomori prefecture, the northernmost area on Honshu, the main island) called Miyako. I'm in a bit of a rare position in that not only am I going to be teaching Senior High School (my company specializes in elementary and middle) but I'm also going to be held responsible for the daily lesson plans and the teaching of them, whereas normally I would just be an assistant teacher. So I'm actually pretty stoked because this means I can stop pretending that what I'm doing in the classroom is important and start actually doing serious work/teaching. Teaching starts the 16th, but I'm headed up there on the 8th (sunday) for some "follow-up" training.

But, aside from it being kind of cool that I'm teaching high school, I'm most excited by what this city actually is. Like I said, its in the prefecture south of Aomori, so that means mountains and snow, in summary, skiing. Its also a beach town, and the beach closest to the city, Jodogahama, is apparently a force of natural beauty to be reckoned with. Oh, and supposedly a lot of people consider one of the restaurants there to be one of the best sushi spots in Japan.

Now, it does suck that I've grown used to gettin' down in Tokyo, especially considering the contacts I've made (ESPECIALLY considering I, as of now, have to cancel my plans to try out for Church of Misery vocal duties (fuck that sucks)), but when I came over here I had the intent of getting groovy in rural Japan (aka the real japan) and so I don't think I can ask for a better placement than this Miyako spot. Plus, there are only 4 other foreigners working as English teachers over there, and hopefully its safe to assume that there aren't many more than that in other vocations, so it really looks like I'm about to plunge head first into 100% authentic Japanese culture. Wicked exciting.

Miyako:


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Jodogahama: