Japan Time

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Sushi revisited and training alone.

Tonight, my friends Beth and Mike took me out to Genji as an early birthday gift (which was amazing - thanks, guys!). They are into the sushi scene, so they ordered some various things to share.
Now, I've never really cared for sushi. I've tried, that's for sure. When I was in Japan before, I tried very hard to develop a palette for the dish that seemed to be everywhere we went. But, I just never liked the taste of it. It wasn't the raw fish that got me, either - it was the seaweed. Not a fan. Like licking the bottom of the ocean.
BUT, I did give it another shot tonight, since I know that I will be faced once again with the ever-ubiquitous sushi very soon. And, to be honest, it wasn't as bad as I remembered. I really enjoyed the spicy tuna roll. But wasabi...yikes. That's a taste I don't think I will ever get used to!


On a completely separate note, I found out yesterday that I will be the only person in my training session when I get to Japan. Normally, my first ten days in Japan would be dedicated to training with other new teachers. But there won't be any other incoming teachers in my area when I arrive, so my training session will be completely solo.
I'm not quite sure how I feel about this yet. On one hand, my training session will be shortened (since I will get such individualized attention, we can get through each topic faster) - so that's cool. I'll get to move into my apartment and meet my co-workers and students faster.
But...I was really looking forward to meeting some other new teachers and having some people in the same boat as I will be when I get there. I thought it would be cool to meet teachers from other countries and hang out after training.
I have no doubt that the trainers will take great care of me and make sure that I get well adjusted to my new life in Japan, so I know that even without other newbies around, I'll be just fine.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Took me a while to warm to sushi too, don't worry it'll happen!
Training alone... wow! I did follow-up training alone in Nagoya, yeah you get a lot of attention when you're alone that's for sure! How much shorter will training be now?

Brianna said...

I'm told my training will be five days instead of ten...so my schedule will look something like:
Nov. 8: arrive
Nov. 9: day off
Nov. 10-15: training
Nov. 15: go to Fujieda; move into apt.
Nov. 15-20: transition period between Jen and I
Nov. 20: start teaching!

Jeannette said...

Happy birthday, Brianna! Hope it's been a great one!