2 weeks in!

Hi everyone! I’ve officially lived in Japan for 2 weeks! What a crazy and awesome and terrifying experience. I took 2 years of Japanese in college, but I still feel underprepared for the experiences I’ve yet to have. Thankfully, I have met such kind and fun co-JETs, teachers and staff at the schools, and have been blessed with two amazing ALT’s in Noto! 

Mal, short for Mallory, is the ALT I am working most closely with. We are the two ALT’s working in the elementary and junior high schools. She is going into her 4th year as an ALT and is fluent in Japanese! I live in the apartment above hers so I can always have a friend nearby. Mal studied creative writing in college and definitely uses her fun way of words in her classes. She always tells her classes a witty dajare, the Japanese equivalent of a dad joke. She is such a fun person to be around and I feel like we clicked the second I met her when she and our supervisor from the Board of Education (BOE) picked me up from the regional airport.

Alex works at the one high school in Noto. The three of us have been hanging out after work and have (so far) made gyoza dumplings and ramen! We are budding chefs, but I’m excited to learn how to make more Japanese food with them. Alex lives about 20 minutes away, closer to his high school, but we include him anyway, haha. He is also a really fun person to be around, and also one of the kindest people I’ve met so far! He graduated with a degree in history and is starting his first year as an ALT like me.

---

Today is the end of the first official week of second semester classes in Japan. School is different in Japan compared to the United States.

Here’s a brief rundown of the school calendar in Japan:

1st semester: April to July

2nd semester: August to December

3rd semester: January to March

There are 10 schools in Noto: 5 elementary, 4 middle, and one high school. I work at 3 elementary schools and 2 junior high schools, Mal works at the other 4, and Alex works at the high school.

---

About Noto

Due to population decline, Noto is essentially a bunch of small towns grouped into one. Noto Town is comprised of Ushitsu (the biggest town and where the City Hall is located), Yanagida, Ogi, Matsunami, Ukawa, and a bunch of other smaller towns and villages in between.

Ushitsu is the location of the annual Abare Matsuri (Fire and Violence Festival). Ogi is known for their delicious squid and massive squid statue rightly named イカキング(Ikakingu), or Squid King. Matsunami has delicious strawberries; Yanagida has delicious blueberries. Ukawa has a prefecture-famous gelato shop (I tried salt ice cream!).

Thank you, as always, for taking the time to read about my journey!

ゆり