Saturday, June 25, 2011

秋田県横手市!!

So the title of the blog is the prefecture and the city that I will be teaching English for the JET program. It is Akita Prefecture, Yokote-city. Where is this dandy place you might ask? Well...it's in the frigid north, on the main island and closer to inland Japan and the Sea of Japan. The pictures of this city include people sitting in "kamakura" or igloos and eating food. Let me tell you, this is not exactly what I had in mind when I signed up for this job. But after many hours of google maps, wikipedia and various other internet sources, I decided that maybe this place will be pretty spectacular! Reasons include the following~

1. They have all four seasons, so I will be enjoying a cool spring with thousands of cherry blossoms (which is also the city's flower!) as well as milder humidity in the summer, the beautiful colors of fall and a bit of snow. Kumamoto (the place where I studied abroad) had death humidity.

2. As there is snow...there is also skiing somewhat close by! I think the closest ski place is about 40 minutes away, and I am super excited to try skiing in Japan. Also this means that I'm closer to Hokkaido, which I have always wanted to visit!

3. I have never even been close to this area of Japan. So...that will make for tons of adventures and fun!

4. The cities population is around 100,000. Not too big, not too small...kinda perfect size I think.

5. There are mountains, rivers, all sorts of nature things to do around there, and I am all about communing with nature (or what little of it I do.)

I could go on with a few other reasons why I'll likely like this place, but then I might get there and actually super hate it...and that would suck.

What is most surprising though is that I leave in less than a month! That is super weird. I thought the summer would go by much more slowly, but no in true summer fashion, time just keeps plowing ahead. Am I ready to completely move again after less than a year back in the states? Probably. I hate leaving all this easiness behind though. I can go where even/whenever here...Japan...not so much. I can already see the frustrating days ahead. I know it will be good though, good for me, hopefully good for the students I will teach. Good, good, good!


Links to view both Yokote and Akita Prefecture! Love wikipedia! Oh and apparently this prefecture is known for sake, rice and its beautiful women...the Akita Bijin 秋田美人.

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