Destination Confusion

After a little hiatus from blogging, I have returned. There have been quite a few variables floating around and a few have been pinned down recently so I can finally chat about them in confidence. From where I would like to live to where my schools actually are, it’s been a little turbulent.

There tends to be some frustration involved when dealing with people over long distance primarily via email. It has little to do with the people on either end and more to do with the fact that we have to wait till the following day sometimes to get a response. Thankfully, my contacts at Interac have been plugging away at making sure my needs are satisfied as can be. I ask a question, I get an answer. It may not be the answer I was looking for but hey, it could be worse. I’ll do my best to keep the next bits brief.

Shika is my city. Period. I believe my accommodation contact was trying to place me in Nanao (noted on the right side of the map) simply because that’s where they’ve had all the other ALTs previously. It is 45 minutes drive from Shika so you can imagine how far a drive that would be to  the 5 schools noted on the map. My dude is going to look into  finding a Leopalace in the Shika area but I’m not holding my breath. I did my own searching and found nothing. The closet building was in Hakui, about 30 minutes south. Unfortunately, google maps no longer lets me search for アパート which is just weird. Before I could pull up every apartment in Japan that was listed.

Click on the “View Larger Map” to see the actual addresses and such.

What happened originally was my dude gave me a call and we chatted about possibly having me move into one of the apartments that are currently occupied by ALTs that are leaving in April. This was a good idea in theory but like I said, they were all in Nanao and were way more expensive than the Hakui or Shika. Now it looks more and more like if I would like to get a place I actually want, it’s going to have to be on my own. A mightly daunting task, for sure, but a feasible one.

As you can see on the map, my schools are a little scattered. Three are well within acceptable distances (10 min, 17 min, and 23 min) but the two up north in Togi… a bit far. The saving grace is that I can take the cliff/sea-side highway and it’s about 45 minute drive to both schools. That will be just beautiful. The ugly icing on the cake? My base school is the Togi Jr. High. Of course, I mean why wouldn’t it be? It’s okay, I’m not really that bitter about it. It would have been too much of a dream to get the Shika Jr and Sr High schools like my placement guy thought I might.

Oh – and for anyone curious, I was originally just told I had 4 schools. That was it. I had to specifically ask for addresses. I assume they do this because things tend to change sometimes and it’s easier to give you all the information during orientation. But since I’m renting a place on my own, I want to have it reserved BEFORE my butt lands in Japan. In fact I may look at a couple apartments since they’re all so close to each other in the town. And then I sent another email asking that I please be notified should any of my schools change so that I can plan accordingly. Osaka Branch got back to me lightening quick to let me know I had another school (the 23 minute one). I guess it’s a compliment. They must think I’m pretty hot stuff.

The biggest issue now is how to go about getting a guarantor. For those that don’t know, this is something that most all apartment real estate agents require for any foreigner: a native Japanese to co-sign, essentially saying that you aren’t going to take off at a moments notice and are at least somewhat trustworthy. Though I could whip up more glowing recommendations than threads in a shirt… I don’t think it would get me anywhere. This seems to be one of those things in Japan that is simply unbending. Right now, my feelers are out with a friend who works in the state government of Delaware and with a friend in Japan who has recently discovered a fellow JET ALT who found a guarantor through her board of education of her prefecture. Hmmm…

That’s enough for now. I’ll do another blog soon about packing struggles. Since I’m a girl, I’m sure it’ll be unendingly entertaining.

With love – M

Placement: Shika, Hakui District, Ishikawa

It would be smart to post where exactly I’m going… just maybe. I’m rather excited, though initially I was slightly put off because I’ll be so far from a close friend who’s currently over there already.

So this is me, or will be in about 8 weeks. My friend, Nathalie, is in Anan, Tokushima Perfecture. If you look at the directions, it’s roughly 8 to 9 hours of travel time between us either by train or car or whatever. It’s a long haul. Longer than either of us were looking forward to but hey, we’re looking on the brightside.

The areas about right between us are Shiga and Kyoto. What better places to meet and share a weekend? They’re big but not crazy big. This affords us cheaper food and lodging so we can spend more time enjoying the towns and less time fretting over costs. I can’t say from personal experience just yet but every single resource screams it at you “Japan is EXPENSIVE. Be prepared”. I think if I’m smart and turn down my princess meter a gauge or two, I’ll do just fine.

A little bit about Shika: It’s the boonies. There are no less than 15,000 people living there, limited stores and activities. BUT I have put my meager Japanese skills to the test and have been clicking away on Google Earth to find the goodies close by. Things like the Silk Beach in Hakui, 30 minutes south, or the confection museum in Shika (drool!), a type of hotspring/resort area  on a cliff in Shika, really interesting looking temples and natural made rock formations on the sea side, and (the best part) my very own locally grown farmer’s market with some 300 farmers there.

Of course, many natives have already told me that  the best way to see the true Japan is to get out of the cities, stay in the countryside. And I thankfully have Hakui and Nanao within an hour’s drive. Also, two hours drive gets me to Kanazawa or Toyama. I say drive because I’ll have to have a car for my town but once I get to Nanao or Hakui, I can pretty much take public transport anywhere in the country.

Then there’s the most awesome fact for me. The awesome of awesomes. I will be living near the sea. A large body of water which connects to other large bodies of water. I realize Japan’s an island, but I could’ve landed in center Nagano or Maebashi. I’m sure it’s great there but I’ll take waves over mountains any day. I am a ocean kind of girl. My name even means “gaurdian of many waters” or “ocean goddess”. Oh and when I say living near the water, I mean I have been actively searching and in contact with realtors about certain apartments that are as close to the ocean as possible. Oddly enough, these are also really close to the main schools in Shika.

So it’s not all bad, right? Somehow, I’ll survive… that was total sarcasm.

Anyone out there in the Ishikawa area reading this, you should let me know. The more friends I have before I get there, the better.

One last thing before I close – I received my email from my branch office, evidently in Osaka this morning. They have advised that I fly into Osaka airport and travel from there to the hotel for us, which also right next to the office for training. That’s all well and good except flying into Osaka costs a good 400-500 dollars more AND stops in Tokyo on the way, usually for a minimum of 3 hour layover. I am seriously debating flying straight to Tokyo and hoping on a shinkansen into Osaka for 200 dollars less and many hours less. I think after 16 hrs, I’ll be sick of flying for a while. However, all this is speculative based on a roundtrip ticket because the one way tickets… are almost exactly the same for Tokyo and Osaka. The roundtrip tickets are always cheaper but I have no idea what the holiday schedule is for my August break yet. Some schools let out the week before August, some the week after July. I just don’t know. Too much to think about.

I hope this was somewhat informative. If you have any questions, ask away. I may edit them into the post, even.

With love -M