Yesterday I was greeted at the Sendai city hall by Mr. Kawakuma, who works in the Kami board of education, and a young woman who is starting her fourth year here (apparently you can stay an extra two years if you teach elementary school). They drove another new JET and me to the BOE office, where we met the superintendent before going out to dinner with some folks from the BOE office. I kinda felt bad for the other guy, as he was fresh from the U.S. without any knowledge of Japanese at all. I helped him out a bit, as it seemed that my conversation ability was a bit better than the woman who had been there for three years already.
As for the town, it’s very much a farm town, but it’s really quite beautiful. Kami is actually a collection of 3 smaller townships separated by about a 10 minute drive. The one I live in, Nakaniida, is the largest, with about 14,000 people. There’s a lot of rice paddies and a lot of vegetable fields– and as a result, the food I’ve had here so far has been spectacular. In addition, everyone I’ve met has been quite friendly, considering I’m a new face here. On my morning exploration walk to the nearby convenience store, which is about 5 minutes away, I came across a group of kids across the street. I waved at them, and they all waved back. Much better than running in terror, right?
Right, like we had on our first trip to campus? Sigh…