UPDATE: Flying out, Tokyo Orientation and Kobe Orientation

Hi all~ sorry for such a lack of posts :( I still don't have Internet on my laptop so I'm using my phone although it lacks all the pictures that I want to show you >.<  but I'll start from arriving on Tokyo.

The flight from Honolulu to Tokyo was approximately 8 hours and a 19 hour time difference so when we left Saturday morning, we arrived in Tokyo Sunday afternoon. Felt a little cheated of the day that's we lost, but it was so exciting for finally make it to Japan!! All the Hawaii JETs flew out together and after going through all the immigration  and passport steps, we were greeted by many people wearing bright green shirts! These were TOAs (Tokyo Orientation Assistants) and they helped us grab out bags and show us where the tour buses were. Being from Hawaii, we're exposed to quite a bit of humidity, but that was nothing compared to the humidity in Japan. You feel sticky the moment that you walk outside.


Tokyo orientation took place at the Keio Plaza Hotel and it was gorgeous. I can't imagine the bill that the Japanese government racks up from this with over 1,000 of us staying in the rooms. Needless to say, the elevators were always busy for the next couple of days as we went down to breakfast, to our various workshops and ceremonies and back to our rooms during our leisure time. The workshops were very useful and helpful and ranged from team teaching to using technology in the classroom to driving in Japan to skill development for ALTs. Once our twelve hour day was over, we had the night to ourselves to explore Tokyo with our newfound friends. During orientation, I was able to meet people from all over the world such as from New Zealand, England, Canada, various states in the US, Australia, Trinidad, Singapore and even Trinidad!

The Kobe JETs flew out on the 7th and we were greeted.by various members of the Board of Education, including out supervisor, Ando sensei. We also met our JTEs (Japanese teachers of English) and they took us to our apartments and helped us settle in. Over the next few days, our sempai JETs took us through orientation and showed us our neighborhood, Gakuentoshi. I caught the subway for the first time and throughout the days, was able to get a small taste of what Japan will be like :) everything is a new, but valuable experience for me and I'm thrilled and extremely honored to be able to be where I am now. I promise to upload pictures from my laptop once I get Internet on it!