In Shape

I might not lose weight in japan, but I sure as hell am going to be more fit by the time I leave.

And I complained about the hills in San Diego. HA.

I swear I'm always finding myself living on a hill of some kind. My house is on a giant hill. Going to the train station rocks (I can book it there in about 5 minutes if I try) but going back? 15 minutes at least, with the last half of it going all uphill.

I'm also going to have stronger leg muscles I think.

So there's that. it means every time I leave home I have to climb a hill to get back, and then I'm all gross by the time I sit down at home. Winter's going to be fantastic.

Then, in Niimi, both my schools are at least half an hour away. North campus is up a giant hill that puts Peterson Hill to shame. I swear to god, that hill never ends. You start going up and then it will plateau for a little bit... and then go up again. Tease. Then you reach the campus and you're like, HOORAY I'VE MADE IT. ...and then you have to go up another super steep hill with ALL THE STUDENTS watching from the window.

Fantastic. They're going to know me as "that sweaty foreigner."

At least the walk back is downhill, I guess. Still doesn't change the fact that it's really freaking far.

I wouldn't mind it so much, except for the fact that my train doesn't quite come in on time for me to walk there. Like, I'm late by 5-10 minutes. If I wanted to get there on time, short of buying a bike (unsure about the buses - going to check them out for my one other school where they actually want me to be on time) I need to catch the train that leaves AN HOUR EARLIER. So that I'm not ten minutes late. WTFFFF.

Unhappy Jessica is unhappy about her commute.

Whatever though, it'll get better haha. I'm sure of it.

Really, it's a nice walk. Very pretty. Just holy crap, that hill.

And the stairs. All of my classrooms are like, on the third level. And these are no small stairwells. I swear, between the stairs and the hills and the walking I'm gonna be in great physical shape. I'll make sure of it. Because walking up the stairs next to my 60 year old JTEs and panting as I walk into the classroom is undignified and mildly embarrassing.

GANBARU~

Niimi

So I teach primarily in two different cities: Niimi and Takahashi, about half an hour away by train. In Niimi I teach at Niimi North, Niimi South (both high schools), and kenkou no mori (a special needs school). Today was my first day actually going to Niimi North by myself and - I kid you not - my directions on how to get here were "well, there are going to be tons of students walking to school so just follow them."

Needless to say, I was slightly apprehensive. Instead of taking the hella early train, which gets in right before 7 am and leaves somewhere around 6:30, I took the later train, which gets in just after 8 and leaves around 7:30, so that I would have plenty of students to follow. Naturally, it takes half an hour to walk to school, which ends in a giant uphill climb. I was not only late, but also sweaty when I got into the teacher's room since the meeting had started right at 8:30 and I was a couple of minutes late. >_< First day on the job and already, I'm late.

Lame. D:

But I guess I might turn into a morning person with this stupid commute I have to make haha... Especially if I start taking the 6:30 train. I might have to just bite the bullet and take that godforsaken early train and use the extra time to buy breakfast and lunch for later.

It's just so early though. I mean, I had to wake up this morning at 6 am - and that was early. Normally for Takahashi, I wake up at 7. To catch that train, I'd have to wake at 5. I shudder to think of it. That essentially means that I would be going to sleep no later than 11 pm. ._. yeah... fmylife haha. I mean, it's not the most horrible of commutes but jesus is it hot right now.