First day of work

First day of work today.

In summary:

The university's in a beautiful spot. Right next to a forest - a rarity in Japanese cities, actual nature! - and the university itself is quite bright and modern. It's much smaller than the other universities around, but I like it.

My students are all super lovely. Though I must admit, I had trouble remembering their names and telling them apart. To people who say 'Japanese people all look alike', I've always protested 'no, they don't!' I suppose it is easier when you have a variety of ages, genders, jobs and styles. However, having 35 Japanese girls of the same age, most with very similar hairstyles... it might take me a few days to distinguish them properly. But then, I've always been bad with faces...

The working day is long, and I felt like I worked hard. It was also strange teaching, essentially, the same lesson 7 times in a row. But for a short period, I think it's okay.

I also complained about the commute before. Now that I've done it, it's really not so bad. Two of the three train lines are not very busy, and I could get seats on both of them, both going and returning (this would *never* be possible working in Kawasaki at peak hour) Part of what makes it take so long is the walking to and from stations, but then all the teachers have that same situation. Yesterday I bought a pedometer at a 100yen shop. Today I wore it all day; I did nothing special, just walked to and from work, around the classroom, etc. I walked about 15,000 steps, or about 11km. I shall be very surprised if I gain weight working in this job.

Anyway, apart from the day feeling so long - I teach 8 lessons every day - I am pretty happy with everything right now. ^_^

In Kawasaki

I was going to say that this blog shouldn't really be called 'In Kawasaki' any longer, because it's become more of an 'in (random city around the world)' blog. However, as it happens, I am actually right now in Kawasaki.

So, to update you on my week, I am living in Nagoya now. I was met at the airport and took the shinkansen into Nagoya, and the day after arriving was a day off. Then we sorted out a few requirements like alien registration, and took the shinkansen back to Tokyo. I am not actually starting work until Tuesday, so I took advantage of the free shinkansen ticket to delay my return a little and stay in Kawasaki for the night. I'm gonna meet a few friends, from Kawasaki and then from the ship, tomorrow. Yay!

My neighbourhood is very, very quiet and residential. I thought I lived in a quiet suburb in Yokohama, but I now realise that wasn't so. I think it's at least a 10 minute walk to even get to a restaurant or conveience store. In my neighbourhood in Yokohama, I had two convenience stores, three supermarkets and at least 20 restaurants within a five-minute walk.

I did a bit of an explore of Nagoya. You know before I was complaining that my commute was long. Well, I still think it is - it's longer than that any other teacher in the city - but there are two perks. One is that I'm in the same apartment building as several other new teachers, and they are lovely. The other is that my commute - and therefore the commuter's pass my company provides me with - covers quite a bit of the city, meaning I can travel to lots of places for free. Every day I'll be travelling through the city centre and hub of activity, so that will be nice.

My apartment is quite good. It's probably slightly smaller than my previous one in Yokohama (those who have been there will hardly think it possible) but the use of space is better so it feels more spacious.

I don't think much of Nagoya at the moment, to be honest, but I expect it'll grow on me.

I was gonna post more about Nagoya, but this keyboard is not very good. The keys keep sticking, so I'll leave it at that.