I Couldn't Eat the Rocket

I found out my placement for Japan. I will be going to somewhere in Akita. They haven't told me which part of it (it's rather large) because I'm what is called "Prefectural"--meaning I'll be teaching in a high school and will find out later.

It went down like this--I woke up early and started scouring the message boards, hungover from last night's festivities at the Yeah Yeah Yeahs concert (more on that later). Moments after posting "when will we know" type posts, I checked my e-mail and it was there! Akita. I hadn't heard of it and was immediately disappointed about not getting one of my three choices (Fukuoka, Sendai, Hyogo). I went straight to Google Maps and found that it was very far north with almost nothing around it. This was my biggest fear in placement. Even assuming I would get rural, I hoped to at least be in proximity of the big cities further south. And the north has terrible winters with lots of snow and cold.

I disappointingly continued to look for information. Here are the pros that I've gotten so far.

1. It will be cheap. I can probably count on paying less than 200 dollars per month for rent. Also, the apartment will likely be large.

2. People are friendly there.

3. It supposedly has the most beautiful women in Japan (though the people on the message boards slightly disagreed).

4. I will be around some beautiful natural landscapes.

5. I will get really good on guitar since I won't have shit to do.

And of course, the cons:

1. Everyone is moving out of this area and population is dropping.

2. I won't have easy access to things like English bookstores.

3. Social life will suffer.

4. Long train rides to anywhere that's happening.

5. People are going to be older rather than younger.

6. Cold, cold, snowy winters and hot summers.

7. Will probably have to buy a car.

I feel weird about all of it. Things would certainly be better in my tired mind if I had gotten a placement that agreed better with me, but I'm definitely going to make the most of it. I want to bitch to someone, but I'm fully aware that it's unacceptable to complain about your placement in online forums. Plus, with my situation, I can't complain to my family or even my friends too much. I need to be EXCITED in order to keep the facade alive that I'm not making a mistake.

Hopefully, I'll look back on this post and laugh--having had such a great time in Akita. We shall see.

I got sushi for lunch today. I vowed I would try some different stuff in order to prepare myself to try different stuff in Japan. The mystery sushi/sashimi plate was ordered. On it was a piece that my friends and I have commonly referred to as "the rocket" because it looks like a doggy-dick. It's the white piece with the red tip. I couldn't eat the doggy dick sushi, though.

I wanted to wax poetic about my thoughts on all of this, but it's not coming out right. I'm hungover and dreading my Japanese class this evening.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs concert was great last night. I'll have to post a proper review soon.