Current & Former JETs - Your best and worst experience as a JET?

[OatsCurrySummer]

but a child can bite someone up to 15 times before they're excluded.

And imagine if this fucker knew that and made sure to bite her only fourteen times before he graduated?

[Jiggit]

Like, where did they get 15 from? Why is that the amount?

That is a lot of biting. Like I would understand if there were a limit of 3, or 5, but 15?

[Lianwen]

Human mouths are so dirty.

[Frap]

And imagine if this fucker knew that and made sure to bite her only fourteen times before he graduated?

Ikr. She got no support from the SLT, either.

That is a lot of biting. Like I would understand if there were a limit of 3, or 5, but 15?

Yeah it's so dumb. We were just talking about it in the staff room and my face said it all. She looked really shaken, too. Had been crying, etc. I felt bad for her.

Human mouths are so dirty.

Right. He also threw his muddy boot at the Headteacher once. (This secretly made me laugh 'cause she was a bit of an enabler to be honest)

[5100]

Human mouths are so dirty.

That explains your dating life, Kal.

[acpc2203]

I found the stark contrast between how strict and intense Japanese middle school is to how little the teachers are allowed to do in terms of discipline to be rather odd.

[ThroneofBlood]

Boring because it's so close to Tokyo. Everyone goes into Tokyo for fun, so unless you're the kind of person who wants to take the train into Tokyo everyday, not much to do.
But since JET I've gotten into the craft beer scene here and that's been cool, and Saitama is actually pretty good for beer drinkers, but didn't find that until after JET. During JET I mainly was drinking vodka straight while playing video games.

Oh, gotcha. Craft beers?! That's pretty awesome. Guess I'll try to look deeper beneath the surface to see what's available around me when I get there. If I could find something like that, it may help with the boredom.

Honestly, I can't think of many low moments that were related to JET or the job itself. But I did have one instance early on where I let myself get very bitter about my circumstances.

I was sitting at my desk wearing my nice business clothes, sweating to death in the summer humidity, in a staffroom that was mostly empty because it was the Obon holidays so neither of my JTEs were around. I was feeling miserable and lonely, but I was too timid to do anything about it. At the time my Japanese was so poor that I could only talk like a caveman and understand snippets of conversations. At one point a few coworkers said "American" as they chatted and then laughed. In my self-made paranoia I felt like they were making fun of me. I guess I expected a warmer welcome and at least some guidance as to what I should be doing with my spare time. I was so afraid of making a bad first impression that I didn't even use the internet on my computer.

Thankfully someone finally did come to my rescue. A very kind woman, the home ec teacher, came by and asked if I wanted to go attend a special summer class that some students were having. I didn't really understand, but anything was better than stewing in resentment, so I went. The room was so much cooler, which immediately lifted my mood. I did my best to follow the lesson (it was about stranger danger which I gathered should be solved by running away and yelling). The home ec teacher and a science teacher engaged me in simple conversation and I was introduced to some students, too. Home ec teacher told me I didn't have to sit at my desk and should wander around and chat with staff and students whenever. She basically laughed at me for being so serious and told me to relax because it's summer and no one cares what you do.

I'm so glad someone shook the stupid out of me. It seems obvious now that I should have reached out to other people instead of waiting for them to approach the weird foreigner who was silently seething at her desk. And ever since then I've become very proactive about getting the information and help I needed instead of waiting for someone to tell me. I've mostly had good or uneventful days since then.

Good to see that you had a pretty positive experience as a JET. I'll make a note to try to be more proactive early on and try to engage people, though my Japanese is probably much worse than yours was when you first started!

Actually, all of my truly "bad" days in Japan came after JET. Of course I had better days than others while a JET but nothing too terrible and as I think about it in hindsight, no big incidents come to mind.

If I had to choose something, I'd say the worst thing that happened was shortly after I arrived at my placement. It was probably my second day at work in August. My JTE/supervisor said she would take me to the preschool for introductions and I'd stay there for an hour in the morning. She dropped me off and I had tea and met the teachers. Then they showed me into the large hall, led in a group of 0-4 year old children and told me to start my 50 minute lesson. Did not see that coming.

There are too many great memories about my time as a JET and I think the best part was *knowing* I was living in some of the best years of my life. It let me appreciate them so much more while experiencing them rather than looking back years later and realizing they were the best.

However, if I chose one good thing it would be becoming friends with one of the other ALTs who arrived in my group. I talked to him on the flight from Tokyo to our prefecture and he didn't seem like the type I'd hang out with. Plus our placements were quite a distance from each other so I figured we wouldn't see each other much. But at that time, and during the orientation meetings, he always told everyone to drop him a line if we came to the city and he'd show us around.

Fast forward about 8 months. I had recently broken up with me girlfriend and, combined with culture shock, was having a rough time. I took a train to the city one weekend and was wandering around aimlessly and bored. Then I remembered that ALT and sent him a quick message asking if he was free to meet up. As it turned out, he was free and within 30 minutes we'd found each other. We grabbed lunch at a cafe he recommended and we got to talking. It so happened that we had a lot more in common than I thought. He became the best friend I've made in Japan and I owe a lot of the insane adventures I've had in this country to him and his off the wall ideas.

There. That's all I got.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Haha a surprise lesson is my worst fear, but hopefully they can't expect much from you in a situation like that. Hope my time in Japan is as positive as yours and that I can make some friends like that while I'm there. Cheers!

[Jiggit]

That explains your dating life, Kal.

Which 5 human body parts do you least want in your mouth, in order? Excluding your own.

I'll go first.

1. Feet
2. Butthole
3. Vagoo
4. Armpits
5. Dick.

[mothy]

Oh, gotcha. Craft beers?! That's pretty awesome. Guess I'll try to look deeper beneath the surface to see what's available around me when I get there. If I could find something like that, it may help with the boredom.

If I remember right you're going to Sendai? There is some good places for craft beer there.

[webstaa]

I found the stark contrast between how strict and intense Japanese middle school is to how little the teachers are allowed to do in terms of discipline to be rather odd.

Well, you can thank some feckless for slamming a poor 15 year old girl's skull in a school gate for being 10 seconds late and killing her. They went for harshly (but still arbitrarily) enforcing the rules to harshly, but harshly (but still arbitrarily) protecting the rights of students - which is why there are limits on why a student can be thrown out of class etc. (I have a sneaking suspicion some teachers bully problem students into leaving class/not coming at all for exactly this reason - there's nothing they can do withing the bounds of the rules.)

[OatsCurrySummer]

Which 5 human body parts do you least want in your mouth, in order? Excluding your own.

I'll go first.

1. Feet
2. Butthole
3. Vagoo
4. Armpits
5. Dick.

1. Asshole
2. Taint
3. Toe Jam
4. Armpit
5. ???

[Ananasboat]

1. Toes
2. Asshole
3. Armpit
4. Nape
5. The inside of the nose

[ThroneofBlood]

If I remember right you're going to Sendai? There is some good places for craft beer there.

Yeah, going to Sendai. Awesome! Once I get specific details of where I'll be in the city, I'll shoot you a quick message to see if there's any places near me.

[mothy]

Well, it's not like Sendai is Los Angeles. Being in Sendai equals being close to you.

[moonbeam]

The thing that drives me up the wall is the lack of communication between me and my schools. The elementary schools, no matter how many times I've asked, don't tell me the day's schedule ahead of time so I never know what to expect when I show up for work. I could have four classes, or one, or I could be expected to harvest rice or the BOE could be there observing classes. Who knows? My junior high schools are a bit better but my JTEs don't know how to use me effectively so I'm often the tape player or sitting in the back while they pretend I don't exist.

The lack of guidance is also difficult to deal with. I had no teaching experience before coming here (surprise) so showing up for work at elementary school and being told I'm the main teacher is beyond disorienting. And my JTEs often brush me off like it's not their problem when I ask for help. But whatever, trail and error has worked well so far so I'm not as miserable as I was before.

As far as the best, I think that would be the independence. JET pays well so being able to live on my own, travel, and buy nice things (not life hack like a college student) is pretty great.

[Ini]

have you tried going to the Elementary school the day before and asking what the schedule is?

[moonbeam]

That would mean going to work...after work...

But no, I'm usually 30 minutes between each school so it'd take a huge chunk of my time. I'm thinking about giving them a template schedule they can just fax to whatever school I'm at the day before.

[Ini]

30min is a huge chunk of time? Asking the school to keep track of your movements and fax schedules to different schools is a lot of work to heap on a school. Why not phone up the VP the day before if you cant go in person? You just said JET gave you independence but your attitude seems to still be of one who relies on other people to do things for you.

[moonbeam]

30 mins both ways. I'm not doing that every day. But yeah, I've tried calling and their responding panic is almost funny. It usually ends up with them calling my supervisor so he can figure out what I want. All of my schools have copies of my school schedule so it's not like they'd have to try hard to figure out where I am.

Anyway, I plan out all of their English lessons, surely they can fax a schedule. I'm not relying on them to do everything for me, just this.

[Jiggit]

Oh whatever.