Culture Shock at its Finest: Weekend in Mito

For Japan's Thanksgiving Weekend, I went to visit some family friends, the Tsuneki family, up in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture.

Fall Plum Blossoms

The view over Kairakuen

Yutaka and Takuma Tsuneki

Autumn Leaves

For more pictures, follow this link.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2111828&id=71004761&l=0e21151f51

People and Places

The Sasahiras - The summer before my senior year of HS, I did a 6-week homestay in Tokyo with this family. We have kept a great relationship over the years and now that I am back in Japan, I have enjoyed going "home" on long weekends.

Kiyomi - Music Teacher at Nishiko. She comes to my place on Wednesday nights for Conversation Lessons.

The Hidakas - my Aunt Keiko's family: Uncle Nobi and cousins Hiro and Seiko. They live in Kamakura, Kanagawa-ken.

The Islands - Japan has 4 islands: Hokkaido, Honshu (main), Shikoku, and Kyushu. These are listed from north to south.

Shizuoka - the prefecture (state equivalent) where I live.

Shimizu - the town where I live (approximately 68,000 people)

Nishiko - West High School, where I work. WESTSIDE!

JUSCO - Think 2 floor Target with a bowling alley on the 3rd.

U-Mart - Supermarket near my apartment.

Pion - This is Japan's Pier One and just as expensive. It is a tempting 2 minute walk from my apartment.

100 yen shop - This is Japan's dollar store only the quality of the products are worthy of Wal-Mart. There is one even closer to my house than Pion.

Helpful Acronyms and Abbreviations

JET Programme - Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme. This is the organization through which I got my job in Japan.

CLAIR - Council of Local Authorities for International Relations. Another JET organization that publishes a lot of stuff that comes to my desk.

ALT - Assistant Language Teacher. This is my official job title but it is certainly a misnomer. I am not the assistant... I am THE teacher: I plan the lessons, I create the worksheets, I make the copies, I make the midterm and the final exam, and I do this for 17 classes which = 640 students a week.

OC - Oral Communication

JTE - Japanese Teacher of English.

Culture Shock at its Finest

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Weekend in Mito

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