#jet program 2017

[quieteye12]

T-Minus less than a week until my JET Program interview.

I am quietly freaking out as I’m filling out my paperwork. ;_;

[viki-beans]

Japanese teacher: Otaku culture here is pretty fucked up... But you don't have problems like that in the west, right?

Me:... It's time for you to hitch your horse to this here pole and take a seat because I'm about to shatter your preconceptions about the west with some stories about... Bronies.

[quieteye12]

Apparently the JET Program doesn't think that my health insurance actively stymying my attempts to get my JET health form signed is "preventable". Over six months of time, effort, stress, and over half a grand wasted, and then I get a slap in the face with another $700+ unrecoverable travel fees. The JET Program is a joke if this is how they treat their applicants.

[sunflowersandsoftcream]

Mou Sugu...Natsuyasumi da...

I haven’t written here in awhile!  tbh I’ve been slacking.  Not on work but on blogging and doing anything really creative.  Or I guess I’ve been channeling my creative energy into lesson plans and activities.  There’s nothing left afterward, so I just watch K-dramas.  Such is the life.

But if anyone out there is following this tumblr (maybe some incoming JETs, helloooo thar!) then I figured I should write something and share a bit about life in the wilds of peach country.

So it’s almost almost ALMOST summer vacation.  I am. counting. down. the days.  I’ve got one full week left of school/actual classes, and then this weekend is a long weekend because Monday is 海の日 aka Ocean Day.  No plans for this weekend as of right now (if it doesn’t rain, I should work on weeding around my apartment) but I’m thinking of going to the mall and going to see a movie.

One thing I love doing here is going to a late show at the movies.  For one thing, there are way fewer people, especially if you go on a Friday night.  For another thing, it’s like 500 yen cheaper than a normal priced ticket.  I like just going by myself, getting some Cinemike popcorn and a drink and escaping for an hour or two.  It’s a nice thing to do when you want to do something but everyone is busy.

So my plans for summer are...work.  Not all the time.  I’m luck that my elementary schools don’t require me to come in during summer unless I need to get something done.  And my JHS don curr either, but I go in every so often and spend a few hours browsing the web or working on YETI stuff.  I’m on the council for our Yamanashi group.  It’s not AJET, just a general all-inclusive Yamanashi community.

We’re doing dinners for our new ‘nash arrivals for Group A and Group B during Tokyo orientation.  Then we’re getting one newbie ALT here in Hokuto, and my supervisor asked if I could go around with her to help with bank and cellphone and all of that stuff.  She speaks Japanese, so I know she’d be fine on her own but it’s kinda nice just having someone there who knows how things go.  Especially since our supervisor this year speaks ZERO English and kind of has a complex about it.

Then we have the BIGGEST fireworks festival this side of Tokyo in August called Ichikawadaimon Fireworks Festival.  We always claim a place so everyone will have an area to go to and won’t have to fend for themselves the day of the event.

Not only that but July 22nd starts the AKENO SUNFLOWER FESTIVAL!!!  I’m so excited cause it’s a full month where you can just go and take pictures of sunflowers and eat delicious sunflower ice cream and bask in the sun.  Akeno is where I teach.  IT’S MY PLACE.  So I’m quite fond of it.  Also, fair warning if anyone wants to come here for the sunflowers...we get the most sunlight in ALLL of Japan.

I also volunteered to do presentations at the JET Local Orientation about teaching at JHS and ES.  They’re throwing them both together and I’m like...erm...Cause elementary school is a completely different beast.  One that will melt your heart every day.  But I’ll do mah best, sir.

Mostly I’m just gonna chill at home, go into work sometimes, and try to have fun.  And watch more K-dramas.  Sounds like a pretty good summer vacation to me.

[quieteye12]

JET Program Disappointment

Oy vey. Six months, a lot of phone calls, visits, frustration, and stress later, I’m not going to Japan after all. Tbh, I feel like the program is a joke. My contact claims that my situation was preventable when it wasn’t. I was literally fighting the American health system for the past six months that had screwed with my coverage, preventing me from getting **ONE** form signed that boiled down to saying “Yes this person is fit to work in Japan”. I kept my coordinator in the loop every step of the way. It wasn’t like I was just sitting on my hands doing nothing about the situation. 

So now, after the joy of getting placed, of talking to tons of current JETs and talking to people who lived in the city I was going to teach in, of practically seeing one of my lifetime dreams come true, I get slapped in the face by my coordinator claiming my circumstances were preventable, being barred from applying in 2018, and likely having to pay out the ass for travel fees. Oh, and it gets better: I could’ve avoided having to pay those fees if my coordinator had told me that I should contact the travel agency about my situation too. 

This is all on top of the $500+ startup costs for applications, requests for documents, and medical tests I managed to get at my workplace that JET didn’t mention.

I genuinely wish everyone who’s able to participate in the program well, but I wish I’d heard more about the downfalls of the program before I wasted the time and money. At least then, I would’ve been more informed. 

If anyone finds this and reads it, consider this a potential warning of what you might face.

[quieteye12]

OH MY GOD

Okay, so my boyfriend is not taking my impending leave for Japan very well. We just started our relationship about two months ago; it's his first one ever, and I've been trying to figure out different ways to console him as best I can (learning tips for long distance relationships, figuring out the best apps to chat, checking where local post offices are to send him things, etc). In short, he's conflicted: he does NOT want me to go, but he also doesn't want to hold me back and wants to support me in this because he knows how important it is to me. (The same goes for me toward him because he wants to join the military at some point in the next 10 years). So what else have I been thinking about doing on top of researching LDRs? Getting matching rings to show him my commitment to him. It isn't a marriage proposal; it isn't any kind of engagement beyond something that is ours, my promise to him that I'm coming back. The toxic crap I've been through for the past 5-6 years has shown me the kind of person I want in my life and my boyfriend--my partner--is it. Honeymoon phase or not, he and I want the same things out of life and I'll be damned if I let that go after the shit I've dealt with. The only cause to groan? COULD I GET ANY MORE LIKE YUURI-FUCKING-KATSUKI??!!

[quieteye12]

After an absence and quite a bit of positivity-filled socializing, I now realize why I took a hiatus from this site. It's toxic and angry as hell and just drained my own energy from things that matter more. Anyway, I'll be on Shikoku for the next year. HMU if you wanna chat.

[quieteye12]

Finished and submitted my JET Program application for 2017. I’m extremely proud of myself. Scared, too, but mostly proud and relieved.

Now commencing internal screaming for the next few months. 

Or not. I’ve got a lot of other things coming up that I’m trying to make happen. We’ll see how things go.