ECC (the largest English conversation company in Japan) has over 170 schools in Japan, one of which is in Fukushima City, only a 10 minute walk from our apartment. Haidee's brother, Joel, has been working there for a year and a half, and really loves his job. When I learned that a full time teaching position would soon be available, I jumped at the opportunity and applied for the job. ECC requires all of their new employees to attend a two-week job training at the Kanto headquarters in Tokyo.
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| It's the first time in my life that I've had to wear a suit and tie to work every day! |
And so, last Saturday morning, I found myself on a Shinkansen (bullet train) speeding towards Tokyo at about 300 km/h (186 m//h). I arrived at Shinjuku station in less than 2 hours. Over 3.5 million people use Shinjuku station (新宿駅) every day, making it the world's busiest transportation hub. It's also very close to ECC's 10-story headquarters building where I attended training every day (except Sundays). That being said, I got a little disoriented at the station and ended up being about 20 minutes late to training. Big Mistake. In Japan, being one minute late is just as bad as being an hour late. It's okay, I didn't get fired . . . .but I was reminded of the importance of arriving early (especially when you're not entirely sure how to get there).
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| Shinjuku Station - west exit - at 3pm on a weekday |
Other than that, ECC training has been a blast! There are 15 of us new teachers (split into two training groups) from England, Australia, Canada, and the USA. It's kind of like being in college all over again: we're in class for about 7 hours a day, visit during lunch and breaks, and occasionally go out together in the evenings. I really enjoy having a group of peers to hang out with. It's been a lot of fun getting to know everyone.
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| ECC headquarters in Shinjuku |
The training itself is pretty intense. ECC has a lot of very specific teaching methods and procedures that they'd like their teachers to follow. It's fun to watch the trainers demo lessons for us - they're really good teachers! It can also be a little intimidating - it's a lot of information to digest in a short period of time. We had training for adult classes last week. I definitely have more experience with adult classes (most of my teaching this last year at Izumi Lutheran has been adults), and I found the methods and tips that ECC presented to be very helpful! Most nights Haidee and I would talk on the phone and I'd recap the things that were covered in that day's training.
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| Our fun training group! |
This week we're in kid's training. We take off our shoes at the door, sit cross-legged on cushions, and act like 3-12 year old Japanese kids. We have a lot of fun and laugh a lot! It reminds me a lot of my classroom music education pedagogy classes back in college. The instructors are pros at teaching kids, and it's really amazing to sit back and observe their teaching methodology. Excellent teaching is like an artform: it looks so smooth and simple, but just underneath the surface there are many specific methods being implemented. Our own teaching demonstrations will be at the end of the week. I'd really like to do well on this one, as the vast majority of my classes that I teach at ECC in Fukushima will be for kids.
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| Friends |
When I'm not in training, I've had a little bit of practice navigating Tokyo's vast train system. My first Sunday (and day off) I went traveled by train to Sakurashinmachi to visit some friends that I had met last May at a Kid's Camp in Fukushima. I made it to the correct location (after asking a clerk at Seven Eleven convenience store where the church was located). It was wonderful to see familiar faces and share stories with each other!
One night later that week I took a 6:30pm train (right in the middle of rush hour) on the Shōnan-Shinjuku Line. It was packed full, but I somehow managed to squeeze onto the train. Then, all of a sudden, I was swept along with the mass of people further into the middle of the train car. During rush hour at some of the busier train stations in Tokyo, there are employees with white gloves whose job is to literally push people onto the trains to fill them to maximum capacity before the doors slide shut. I'd heard about these people-pushers, but had never experienced it before. Needless to say there was no need for me to hold on to the plastic rings along the ceiling for support, I wasn't going to move anywhere. Thankfully, two stops later, a good percentage of people got off the train and I could breathe again. What an experience!
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| our friends Efrain and Seiko |
The second Sunday I was in Tokyo Haidee came down to visit!! We met our friend Efrain and his fiancee Seiko at Tokyo Baptist Church, and went out to lunch together afterwards. Then Haidee and I wandered around Shin-Okubo (the neighborhood where I'm staying) for the afternoon. It's kind of like a Korea Town - with lots of Korean grocery stores and restaurants. We enjoyed a somewhat pricey, but incredible meal at a Korean BBQ restaurant called プングム (Pungumu). The meal came with a variety of Korean side dishes called banchan (like kimchi, pajun, kaenip), spicy soups, and other things we didn't recognize. The best part was that the server brought the meat to our table and BBQ'd it for us on a little charcoal grill placed on our table (perfect for a chilly evening). I'd recommend this restaurant to anyone.
So, would I ever want to live in Tokyo? Probably not. It's so massive, crowded, and noisy. With all the trains, lights, buildings, hustle and bustle there's a constant energy in the air that, while it may be a little exciting at first, would really drain me out. But it's where the people are. And it's been pretty fun to not be the only strange foreigner living in the neighborhood (in fact, Tokyo is quite diverse). I think I'll continue to enjoy traveling to Tokyo for an occasional visit. . . and then I'll enjoy coming back to Fukushima!
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