Yesterday I spent the latter half of the day helping the new ALT, Brenda, get settled in.
It was all good memories when I arrived at Yashiro with Tsutsumi sensei and Yamamoto sensei to receive the new ALT. They changed the format a little bit, so it’s not so tough on the new ALTs, which was very nice. I noticed that I was not the only foreigner sitting among the Japanese teachers – there were two other guys hanging out. I didn’t recognize them but both were bigger and sweatier than I.
When they called our school’s name we went up and met Brenda. First impression was that she looked older than her age of 24. She reminded me of someone, but I’m not exactly sure who. She had three big suitcases, so we carted them off to the car and left for school.
She peppered me with questions for the hour long ride back, and as soon as we arrived at school it was rushing her around meeting people and doing paperwork. I enjoyed the experience – watching it from the outsider’s perspective is much more fun.
We took her to her apartment, and she looked less than thrilled, especially with the bathtub situation. Soon after we took her to the 100 yen store to stock the place, and then Ito Yokado and Carrefour for sheets and other things that she would need in the short term.
Finally we had a late dinner at an okonomiyaki restaurant. She did fine with okonomiyaki, and just looked a little overwhelmed. I knew how she felt – so I volunteered to help out a little more on Thursday.
One moment that stood out was when she went to Ito Yokado to buy breakfast. She couldn’t read any of the labels – and didn’t know what section had what items – completely lost. It was then that it truly realized how much I’ve picked up since coming here. The flip side of that will be in a couple of days when we’re walking around France and Italy and trying to figure everything out there – lots of different cultures and situations!
She seems flexible, though, and we’ll see if she can weather the initial storm and go on to greatness at school. I hope so!
