Arrival in Fukusima:

Our prefecture group took a bus from Tokyo to Fukshima, a ride that lasted about 4.5 hrs. It was a comfortable ride, as the bus was not full and each person had two seats to themselves. When we arrived in Fukushima, it was probably around 85 degrees and very humid (similar to the south) The entire group was ushered into a large government building in the outskirts of the city. We then had our arrival ceremony and met with the representatives from our contracting organizations. (our immediate supervisors in most cases) I was met two members of the Kitakata Board Of Education (BOE) and another JET who was re-contracting for a second year. One of the BOE members introduced himself as my supervisor. I was fairly surprised because he looked to be around my age or maybe even younger! (actually 26) The other BOE member was a woman in her 30s who spoke very good english.

The car ride to Kitakata took around an hour and a half. I sat in the back with the other JET and she discussed various details about life in Kitakata. We ended up getting lost a few times, but managed to find our way...

Kitakata is a small town of about 50,000 people, however, it was created by several nearby villages merging, and thus the town its is quite spread out and rural. Rice paddies appear everywhere and even in town, open irrigation canals run through the streets. Kitakata is located in a valley, and is surrounded on all sides by quite beautiful mountain ranges. None of the peaks are above the tree line, but they are very near, making them appear quite large.

First few weeks in Kitakata, Fukushima:
I found my apartment to be quite spacious. It is a Japanese style apartment with tatami mats, sliding doors, japanese style bathroom/tub, and even one of those crazy toilets that has illegible buttons that I have so far been afraid to push. I have a washing machine, but no dryer. Japanese people do not seem to use dryers, which I find strange since air-drying clothes in 99% humidity takes FOREVER. Anyways, I have a lot of space, and am in need of furniture since its pretty bare at the moment. My predecessor was still in Japan when I arrived and left the apt partially furnished. It was nice to have him to introduce me to people and show me around town for the first week while he was here. He left me his bike, which was a good find since it is an actual road bike, and not a 1 gear “mamachery” (cruiser) which is what everyone else rides in Japan. The bike is my main mode of transportation since I do not have a car. One of my middle schools is pretty far though, and it takes about 40min to get there by bike. (the alternative would be to take a taxi everyday, at the city's expense, but that seems like a waste of money to me...)
The first few weekends we had various JET organized events for the new people in the prefecture. The second weekend, we had a trip to Iwaki, a coastal city, and camped out on the beach. About 50 JETs attended. It was a lot of fun, the weather was great, and the beach was very nice. Camping on the actual beach is somewhat uncomfortable however, since sand gets everywhere, and into everything. (my teeth were pretty gritty by the next morning, and all the food had a slight crunch to it.) Nobody really got much sleep since the sun rises at like 5am, and its broad daylight by 530.
The next weekend most of the the new Fukushima JETs had a homestay/Japanese lesson in Aizu Wakamatsu, which is about a 30minute train ride from Kitakata. On Friday, we all met at the University of Wakamatsu for english lessons. These lessons were put on by faculty members of the University, and our large group of about 45 was broken into five smaller classes depending on ability. I was placed into the 3rd group, but after the first lesson, I was moved up into the second group with a few others. The class was slightly above my level, and I struggled to keep up with the teacher, but I was able to get by. After about 3 hours of class, we were then introduced to our homestay families. My family consisted of a mother and father who were in their 50s, and a 20 year old daughter who was away at college. My host mother picked me up from the University. She was very friendly, but spoke no english. My brain was already overloaded on Japanese for the day so we struggled through conversation. She told me that she had moved to Japan from Korea when she was a teenager, and was an expert on Korean cooking. They had a larger two story house near the countryside in Wakamatsu. When we arrived my host mother immediately began cooking different kinds of food. My host father arrived shortly after us. He was very quite at first, but came in the door carrying a huge box filled with a large assortment of various alcohol. Once he had ascertained that I drank, we immediately began. 'dinner” took place over the course of the rest of the night. There were about 8 courses of Korean foods that I had never seen, but were very spicy and good. During this 5 hour dinner, large amounts of alcohol were consumed. The custom in Japan is to never ever fill one's own glass. It is also considered rude to leave someone with an empty glass. (or even half empty). The result is that you have no idea how much you have been drinking because every time you take even the smallest sip, your glass is topped off once again. My host mother had invited a friend over, and since most of the conversation revolved around me, I found that I could ease up on the drink. My host father however, got completely hammered, and by about 930pm, I could no longer decipher anything he said to me. (My own drinking might also have contributed to this breakdown in communication....)
9Am Japanese classes at the university the following day were a bit of a struggle for everyone involved, since I found that my night of drinking was pretty much on par with everyone else's night. I made the mistake of buying coffee jello out of the vending machine instead of real actual coffee. Why ANYONE would purposely buy this drink is beyond me. It was a regular looking tin beverage can, though I missed the jelly description on the side (understandable given my state). Even the opening resembled any typical soda can, but there was jelly inside! The size of the hole made it impossible to drink, and although it did not taste terrible, it took me over an hour to finish the 8 oz can. A few other people in my class had made the same mistake, so at least that provided some entertainment... I found the classes to be interesting and helpful, but some of the grammar points we learned were a bit picky and detailed for my level.
The following night, I had an outdoor bbq with my host family with other neighbors in the area. There were 3 other families, and lots of good food. I am glad that Kitakata is close to wakamatsu so that I will be able to visit them in the future. My host father wants to climb Mt Bandai this fall, while my host mother is an avid skier.