Suddenly, information!

The information drought is over. I have my placement information!

It has been decided that I will be taking over the Elementary school positions in Monbetsu, teaching at a number of elementary schools throughout the city and ranging from full size to outlying schools with class sizes below ten. As everyone says that the elementary school kids are the most fun, I'm pretty stoked about this.

I've also received information about my apartment. It looks like I'll be living in a fifth floor apartment that comes fully furnished, and provided with a company car for traveling to the schools - I couldn't be happier. This is great, since I won't have to worry about getting the money together to buy a car right away, and I can wait a few months to look into getting a car for personal use. The furniture being sold by my predecessor also amounts to less than a hundred dollars, so for now my money worries appear to be over. Rent is pretty cheap, too!

My predecessor sent me a long text file describing the living conditions, schools, and town in detail - it sounds like Monbetsu is a fine place to live. Although I'll have a better idea once I get there, it sounds like most of the necessities are within easy walking or biking distance.

August can't come fast enough! Now to go shopping for my tracksuit.

Welcome to Monbetsu

So I finally got my long-awaited placement today. Although the days until I leave are still crawling by, I now know at least the city where I will be living, which helps a lot.

For at least the next year, I will be living in Monbetsu, Hokkaido, which can also be spelled Mombetsu thanks to the lovely Japanese alphabet. Having never heard of this town, I looked it up promptly on Google. Google tells me that this is Monbetsu:



Charming! Turns out that's just the ocean, which is celebrated for being covered in ice. Scientists from all around the world come here once a year for a conference to talk about sea ice, apparently. This is Monbetsu:



It's a town of 26,000, situated along the northeastern coast of Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost main island. Monbetsu is known for the aforementioned sea ice, as well as apparently having the best crab in all of Japan. It's quite isolated, as Japanese cities go, and as a city in Hokkaido it enjoys long winters and heavy snowfall.



When I applied for JET, I requested Hokkaido, as I've always wanted to visit the region and it's said to be full of natural beauty and wilderness. Many JETs don't get placed where they want, and many view Hokkaido as a "worst-case" placement, but I enjoy the cold and I thought it would be a neat place to go, as well as perhaps more available due to the number of applicants who specifically don't want to go there. Apparently, this plan worked, as I'll be headed there in August!

The next step of my process is to hear from both the local Board of Education and my predecessor. The JET program itself does not employ me or any of the other JET program participants; my employer will be the Monbetsu Board of Education. Once they get in touch with me, I'll know more details about the schools I'll be teaching at and my living arrangements. At this point, all I know is the city.

My predecessor is the person who is currently residing in my position, and will be leaving before I arrive. They will tell me all about the area and the appointments, including the living situation and transportation. They may also sell me their furniture and other items that they won't be taking home with them. Again, once I contact this person I'll know much more about my position.

I'll post more information about my placement as I get it; for now, anyone who wants to know more can check out the official city homepage, in English. In my next post I'll be going back in time once again and talking about the interview process, back in February. Until then!

Placement Panic!

To return to the present from my reminiscing about the recent and arduous past, I'd like to expel a little bit of pressure buildup in the form of a warm and gassy blog post. Right now, myself and hundreds of other new JETs are waiting with forced patience to find out about our placement, or the details of our near-future lives in Japan. The program states that this information generally comes around June, but word on the street seems to have it that we could hear back any day. Needless to say I'm fairly exploding at the seams waiting to hear. One prefecture actually jumped the gun this year and informed its applicants early, and some of the departing JETs have taken the liberty of contacting their replacements already. Neither has happened to me, because I have rotten luck.

Hopefully within a week or so, the general announcement will go out and people will starting getting their information officially. At this point, I will most likely hole up on my laptop and do as much research as I can about my particular rice paddy because I really am in dire need of ways to pass the time.

Until then, I guess it's back to studying. So many kanji characters, so little time.