4:41 a.m. Thursday August 7th Fukuoka

I arrived in Fukuoka yesterday at around 1 p.m. As soon as I arrived, everyone parted to get to their respective cities in Fukuoka prefecture. Up until yesterday afternoon, I was with JET participants who were in the same boat as me, but not anymore… And I already miss my Ottawa JET friends and new JET friends I met at the Tokyo Post Arrival Orientation!

After having lunch, my JET supervisor and I went to the International Relations Bureau at Fukuoka Prefectural Government. I have seen the building before on Google map so I wasn’t too surprised until I entered my office. Before I left Canada, I always told people that I didn’t know what to expect about my new placement, but I realized that I actually unconsciously had some expectations. I thought this office would be full of CIRs from different countries… I don’t know exactly where I got this idea from… But in front of my eyes, there were around 30 Japanese staff and 1 CIR from Korea. I wasn’t too surprised by the small size of my desk attached to 10 other desks because I have seen such setting in Japanese dramas before. But then, my brain unconsciously just compared my former office in Parliament to this office. I don’t think that really helped… I just remember in my head all I could think was “OMG! This is not what I expected, and will I survive the next year?” Everything was new and very different.