BOE Days

From arriving in Hidakagawa, I have spent the work week at the Board of Education. We have had to do paperwork such as the alien registration and make my personal seal, set up bank accounts and deal with all sorts of matters to get me fully settled here. Aside from that, I have had plenty of quality time with the two other ALTs in my town to discuss matters related to life and teaching here in Japan. I have also being trying to wade through the copious amounts of paper and books collected at the Tokyo Orientation. If any future JETs are reading this, my advice is take an empty carry-on size bag with you to that because you are easily going to collect 5kg of books!

We have also had some fun in the summer at the BOE. One day, we all followed Emi home to have lunch with her there. That was a real treat as Mrs. Mori prepared a great spread for us. >

With all of this food, we were stuffed!
We also got to meet Emi`s charming 90 year old plus grandmother. We had so much food, we couldn't`t eat it all in spite of our best efforts. Although Emi assured us lunch is not always such an event at her house, it was easy to see why she always magically disappears home for the lunch break!
Lunchtime at Emi`s!
One day, our local town paper came by to interview none other than Mac about the loss of Pluto as a planet from our solar system. Although Mac is not fully trained as an astronomer, he was deemed qualified enough to give an opinion based on his citizenship as an American. Weird, huh?
Mac`s upset over Pluto`s loss; Looking camera ready

Last but not least, Emi was training Mac in the ancient Japanese system of counting. He took to it well and I think Emi had fun teaching him!
Crunching the numbers, Japanese-styleWakatta? Mac ponders the counting system

All in all though, I am ready to get out there teaching because I`m so curious how it will be after all the preparations and work it took me to get here to Japan.