21/04/2025 - 27/04/2025 Week 6 in Japan

It’s hit week 6 and I’m getting more settled in as the days go on. Another week done at school and I’m feeling more comfortable there; everyone is still very friendly and the lessons are definitely the highlight. I’ve found I’m able to contribute more as the lessons go on and I’ve been making a few worksheets that the teachers like. Everyday is different here but it’s fun and exciting; some days are definitely more interesting than others like the day that I found a ‘gejigeji’ centipede in the hallway. This was my first experience of finding a Japanese bug that is so different from anything we have in the UK, and it definitely gave me the heebie-jeebies. Apparently, the gejigeji is a friendly creature that actually helps by eating all the other non friendly bugs that might make their way into your home, however it actually looks like a terrifying sea-creature with about a hundred legs. One of the teachers helped me remove it from the school but it did send me on a google dive into terrifying Japanese bugs that I hope I don’t ever see in my time here. 

On the same day, my JTE ran into the staffroom to tell me to look outside to see a rainbow. It wasn’t raining so I was a bit confused but as I looked at the sky, I saw that there was a rainbow halo around the sun! Apparently it’s a phenomenon called ‘solar halo’ and is caused by a refraction of sunlight through ice crystals in high altitude clouds. It was very cool. 

Aside from work, it has been a calm week. Chloe and I filled our weekday evenings with seeing friends, baking a microwave cake at Louise’s flat, and chilling at Starbucks! The evenings are some of the best moments here when we get to explore the area and, honestly, it’s nice being able to speak in English properly!! On Saturday, we all headed out to a local Korean BBQ restaurant and tried our hands at cooking our food. I say ‘we’ but really Nick and Chloe were carrying the cooking! The food  was delicious and it was a lot of fun, despite us nearly setting our eyebrows on fire multiple times… We finished the night by playing cards back at the flat!

On Sunday, Chloe and I got up and headed to Ikebukuro to meet Barbara and her family for the day and we started off by venturing into Sunshine City mall; a massive 60 story building that has its own observation deck, aquarium, and planetarium. It also has the world’s largest Gachapon collection and so after fueling up on some coffee, we ventured into the gachapon area. It was massive, there were rows and rows of machines and so it was a bit of a task to try and work out with ones we actually wanted. We came out with handfuls of funny cats, soft toys, and keyrings. The day ended with all of us running about Taito mall to try and find a fancy pen for Barbara to give her host, and finally, after some manic rushing around, we managed to find one!! It was a really fun day with her family and it was nice to see people from home :) We also walked past a hot sauce vending machine which was cool and definitely something you wouldn't see in Hertfordshire.

I have nearly been here two months and the time is flying by. I do miss home but I know that the year will soon be up so I have to make the most of it! Everyday is an adventure.