It begins!

I know what you're going to say:

"Oh, look. Another JET blog."

Unfortunately, I have no excuses. This is just another JET blog. I am just another JET.

On the other hand, I'm just another JET here:

Welcome to Beppu City, Oita Prefecture! Apparently referred to as the armpit of Japan, although I have no idea why. I mean, sure, it's hot, sweaty, a little smelly, and occasionally even hairy, but it's also one of the most freaking beautiful places ever.

Witness.

That's the view from my apartment. Compare your life to mine and weep profusely.

Of course, the trade-off is that this is my apartment... all two feet of it:

It's slightly bigger than a two bedroom in Manhattan!

Anyway, I'm doing this blog for three reasons:

1) I'm a narcissist

2) People asked me to (really!)

But mostly 3) When I was accepted to JET, and found out where I'd be living, I scoured the internet for information on Beppu and Oita, and had a hard time finding much. In fact, the best resource I found was a JET's blog from Nakatsu. So I'm hoping that while this will (theoretically) be entertaining and (hopefully) enjoyable for the rest of the internet, I'm really doing this for you. Yes, you, you future Beppu JET, desperately seeking something relevant about your new home. I sincerely hope it helps.

That being the case, I don't really want to talk about Orientation, since that's sort of Jet Prep 101, but for the sake of friends and family I'll do a super-fast rundown: swanky hotel --

Seriously! ... What an awful picture!

 

--and lots of boring talks. Future JET, people on the forums will tell you to skip panels and take naps. This is a good idea. They will tell you to ignore the fact that "Prefecture Night" officially no longer exists and go out with your prefecture people, if not also many other of your awesome new ALT friends. This is also a good idea. I went out twice, and although I was super-tired... well, I've been super-tired since I got here. It's called jet lag and being ridiculously busy. It happens! I'm glad I made friends while being tired. That's a good change for me.

See, Tokyo loves us!

So after Tokyo Orientation, we got dumped into the middle of absolute chaos and somehow made it to Kyushu, and now...

 Well, that's what the next year (at least) is all about. I hope we both enjoy it, reader.