A BIT isolated out here.

Dear Dylan,

My name is Madeline and I live in a place called Echizen Town in Fukui Prefecture. You may have heard of Sabae City (about 10-15 mins by car from me) or Echizen City/Takefu (about 20 mins by car from me).

Myself and Iker Gomez (who lives in Tsuruga) are the 1st year reps on the FJET Council at the moment.

I hate to hear that you are feeling isolated but I think it's wonderful that you have made this post. You definitely shouldn't feel alone in the way you are feeling and what you are going through. There are many JETs in the same/a similar position.

Before I came to Echizen Town I confused it for Echizen City, which has a much larger population. When I arrived I found that it was much smaller than I had been imagining. Like you, Echizen Town is actually made up of 5 smaller towns, and I live in one of those (Asahi). It all gets a bit confusing really! It was a bit of a shock for the first month when I didn't have a car, phone or internet.

I am so glad to hear that despite your placement you are getting along well with your supervisor and your school. That is one of the most important relationships you will have whilst you are here, and can heavily influence your daily enjoyment of life, so it's wonderful that that's off to a good start!

My advice for you now is to try and hang in there until you get your phone etc. set up. Do whatever you can to keep in touch, like using the internet at your school. I bought a phone card for the first month whilst I was here, until I could skype properly.

Whatever you do, get outside! The worst thing you could do would to keep yourself holed up in your house, as this will only make yourself feel more isolated.

I hope this helps a tiny bit. It's really a matter of hanging in there for a little while. Feel free to contact Iker or I at fjet1styears[at mark]gmail[dot]com if you ever want to chat!

Mad

Hi Dylan,

Madeline is a very smart lady... listen to her.

If you can figure out the bus/train schedules, there is a Mikuni fireworks festival on Wednesday. If you can somehow make it out to a slightly bigger city, you could ask around for a lift to the beach. The International Club goes every year and so do lots of old and new ALTs. I can't recall if you signed up for the Fuji climb or not, but that's also a good way of getting out and doing things. This weekend is Obon, so there could be a festival nearby your town. Ask your supervisor about it and go check it out. If you have or can get your hands on a bike, go explore! The weather is unforgiving though, so remember to keep yourself hydrated.

The first month is extremely tough. I hope someone near you sees this post and goes out there to hang out with you. If you think this boredom will persist, I'd suggest joining the Host Family program. That way, if there are no available ALTs in your area, you'll still have some local Japanese support. For now, try not to go too crazy cleaning your apartment or your desk at work. The internet will arrive soon, so that should alleviate some your current stress.

I do want to double stress the exploring, however. Little towns generally have hidden treasures. Go explore, use your gaijin-ness as your special ask-Japanese-people-anything card. Most will be more than glad to help you out. You might even make a few friends eager to speak English with a native. FJET will be there for you however we can, but please don't forget that the Japanese inaka (countryside) practically runs on rules of hospitality. I hope we'll see you at least at contract signing and the after-party.

Hang in there,
- Cindy

Hi Dylan,

Thanks for posting on the forum and for staying positive throughout the process of adaptation. Your honesty is very important and sharing your feeling with all of us is very touching. Please know that all of us are here to help you, especially you can call me any time. If I miss you call I will call you back as soon as I can.

As Mad, Cindy and Traci wrote above please know that there are number of events you can join, number of ALTs you can meet up and as it seems a wonderful supervisor who is there for you. Tomorrow at 1:20pm the Japanese language course in the Reinan International Center will be held (call me if you want to attend, there are spots available), or you can attend the Fukui class, which starts at 2pm at the Fukui International Plaza. In addition to the Japanese lessons Mikuni Fireworks will be held, I will be meeting people at Fukui St. at about 4:30pm and directing them to the train they can get on in order to get to Mikuni, as Cindy said the Fuji climb is this weekend and soon the Tsuruga fireworks will be happening as well.

In addition I will see you on the 20th of Aug at the Team Teaching Seminar in Fukui, and the day before that you will be joining the Wakasa/Oi English camp; then on the 24th you will see us again at the Contract Signing Ceremony, which will be followed by a party. In between these days your neighbor ALT will be back in town and you will be most likely hanging out with other Tsuruga ALTs. In fact I saw today Lucia, who told me that she came around your apartment and wanted to take you out. If you want to hang out with her she is around; she is an expert of the area. I can pass on to you her e-mail and cell phone so you can get in touch with her.

One thing Mad said is that she is the First Year Rep, an FJET position, she and Iker will come to end to by the end of this month. If you really want to get involved in the FJET community this position will certainly keep you connected and busy; you can apply for this position ASAP by stating your interest to the FJET presidents: Zach and Cindy 

Last but not least, all of the above is social events but once you begin work you will have couple of wonderful BoE organizations to work with, your school and the local research center, which might keep you very busy and much less isolated compared to now.

So please know that even though life now seems very isolating soon you might find yourself looking for free time.

Looking forward to hearing from you and seeing you soon,
HUGS Galina

Hey Dylan,

Sorry to hear you are feeling so alone! This is Laura, you Block Leader! Lucia and I did stop by your place on Sunday and I left some new towels on your doorstep along with some other survival items. Did you get them? We want to see you and take you out, but communication is difficult at this stage. If you need to get in touch with us, call from your school's phone (other new ALTs have called me and Ihave called their schools to touch base), or send me an email! As Mad, Cindy, Galina, and others have said, we want to hang out with you too, but the lack of phone and internet is inhibiting us from making that connection!

If you are not doing the Fuji trip, then give me a call or send me an email as I will be in town and would love to show you around. I have work off from Thursday - Monday, so just let me know when you are free! Also, Melissa should be getting back Friday or Saturday, so we can all go out for milkshakes and fun times.

Try to use your free time to organize your apartment and get the layout of the area, because you will get busy soon enough and wistfully remember when you had the time to fold socks and enjoy sunsets. I will stop by your apartment this weekend regardless of whether or not you reply to this post or message me, so do not fear! We Reinan-ers did not forget about you!

Laura

Hey Dylan

Hope you're okay. I can imagine it being difficult at first being so isolated. I have at times felt isolated (due to the language barrier I've faced) in the city!

I don't know how the transport is like there, but you are more than welcome to come through to Fukui-Shi for a couple of days if you want. I have room for you to stay and it might help you settle in a little better (?)
Either way the offer is there and it'd be good to see you. Alternatively if you wanted to come up a day or two before the contract signing.

I know you may have things to do by then, but I thought I'd put the offer out there.

Anyway, hope things start to improve shortly

Stuart

Hey Dylan,
It's Thom from Mihama-chou. I don't have any internet either, so I feel pretty out of the loop at the moment. I'm pretty sure you're not too far away from Mihama so feel free to visit. Are you going to the Tsuruga matsuri tonight? I'm only about 15 minutes away by train from Tsuruga, so if you want to crash at my place you're more than welcome.