I guess it makes sense to start at the start. This blog – at least for the time being – is going to center on my time and adventures teaching English in Japan. It used to be about international politics, human rights, China, and US foreign policy, and I still might write about those things. But for right now It’s going to be about Japan, what I’m doing here, and my life here.
Some general info: I’ll try (emphasis on the word try) to post about once a week. I will definitely try to keep the posts under 500 words – this is mostly a self-discipline thing. And I’ll try to send out emails whenever I write a post that’s relevant to my life, for example if I do something exciting. But if, for example, I were to perplexedly blog about the CCP blocking Bob Dylan from doing shows in China, forcing him to cancel all his dates in Asia, I probably wouldn’t send out an email. For example.
About Me Right Now: Many of you know me. What many of you don’t know is exactly what I’m doing with my life abroad. Right now, I live in Kumagaya City (熊谷 which I think means Bear Valley) in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It’s about 60 minutes from Shinjuku, Tokyo – which I guess could be called the “center” of the city, or at least one of them. The central part of Kumagaya is pretty urban, but where I live, in a neighborhood near Kagohara Station (籠原), is quite a bit more rural. I live in the suburbs that wedged between a highway and a fairly major train line, so I can see trains passing to and fro about every 5 minutes (luckily though I can barely hear them). Here’s a map of the whole area. I live between Kagohara and Kumagaya, but much closer to Kagohara.
As for my job, which officially began Thursday April 8th, I’m an ALT, an Assistant Language Teacher of English. My job is to assist the main teacher – to varying extents – in planning lessons, playing games, and demonstrating proper English to the students. I teach at two schools, one elementary school, and one junior high school. The elementary school students that I teach are in the 5th and 6th grades, and the JHS students that I teach are in the (US equivalent of the) 7-9th grades, which are just called the JHS 1st 2nd and 3rd grades again.
Ok. I think hat’s about it for now.
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