My first term as an AET has come and gone! Where has the time gone?! It’s been 3 months since I boarded that plane! Whaaaaaat?
Things in Japan are going really well. I’ve adjusted to teaching (for the most part) and my life is in full swing! For the most part, my life here is no different than in America. Except everything is in Japanese, I’m a pro at taking public transportation, and I’m in general more active. Okay, so maybe my life here is a little different than in America.
Since Golden week, I’ve had Undokai (sports festival), high school students from Wisconsin visit, parent’s day, and my Dad came to Japan!
Unodkai was a lot of fun! At both my schools, there’s a white team and a red team and they have a bunch of events for each grade and they compete against each other. Each grade also does a class performance for the parents.. Usually it’s a dance.
Parents day was interesting. The first half of the school day is normal. After lunch, there’s an assembly with the students and parents and then the last two periods, parents sit in on classes. I had my first grade parents sit in on English class and I think they enjoyed it.. Maybe they learned something!
Having high schoolers from Wisconsin visiting was cool too! They were from Milwaukee and the adults were from Mankato! Small world right? Needless to say, we bonded for the whole 2 minutes we had together. Having my Dad in Japan was also nice. For the most part, we stayed in Tokyo and he showed me around. We met family members who live in Japan, ate good food, and of course, did some shopping. I brought him back to Mito and showed him my apartment and took him to Church. I was excited to show him all that I had learned since I’ve gotten here, but the only thing I showed him was that I was capable of taking a bus from my apartment to Mito station. I promise you all, I’ve learned more than that! I’ve also learned how to take the train to Tokyo and to the beach.
Overall, this summer in Japan has been pretty mild. Rainy season was pretty nonexistent although I did experience a thunderstorm here (apparently they’re rare). The heat and humidity isn’t too bad either! With summer halfway over (for America), it hasn’t been very hot. The sun however, is much stronger here than in Chicago or Minnesota. So even if the air temperature isn’t high, if the sun is out, you can sweat.
For the most part, the more time I spend in Japan, the more I like it. There are good days and some not so good days… But for the most part everyone is nice… But I miss Chipotle.
