Day 0: November 1, 2021
Monday - Off to Rumoi City
Finally! My 14-day quarantine is officially over. Today also marks my "release" from room 1350 of Keio Plaza Hotel. It only means one thing... I'm finally flying to Hokkaido.
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| Time to go! |
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| With fellow Filipino ALT Abhie of Wakkanai, Hokkaido |
Since there were numerous Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) departing to different prefectures today we were given a check-out assembly schedule to avoid crowding. The Hokkaido-bound ALTs were asked to gather at the 3F GRACE South Tower by 8:30AM.
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| Rode the bus to Haneda Airport |
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| Arrived at Haneda Airport |
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| Inside Haneda Airport |
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| There's our plane |
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| I'm a proud Filipino! |
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| Team HokkaIDOLS |
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| Off to New Chitose Airport - Good bye Tokyo! |
After everyone's accounted for, we were ushered to an airport bus that brought us to Haneda Airport. We reached the airport by 9:20AM and spent a few hours waiting for our flight. We boarded flight NH820 for our 11AM flight and arrived at New Chitose Airport at 12:35PM.
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| Short briefing with our Prefectural Advisor Max |
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| Hokkaido ALTs Batch 2020 & 2021 |
We were welcomed by our Prefectural Advisor Max Hawkes who briefed us and then gave us a piece of paper with the name of our school. We were then asked to proceed to another part of the airport where we met our supervisor.
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| I finally met my supervisor - Kutsumi Sensei |
My supervisor Kutsumi Sensei, was fluent in English and was also cool so we didn't have the awkwardness of looking for the right words to say to each other. From there, the ALTs went separate ways like children picked up their parents after a day in the playground. Kutsumi Sensei and I boarded a train at New Chitose Airport Station going to Sapporo Station.
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| Late lunch at Tonkatsu Wako |
Once in Sapporo Station, we had late lunch at Tonkatsu Wako where of course we ate tonkatsu. We finished in time to catch the 2:30PM bus to Rumoi City.
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| Time to board a bus going to Rumoi City |
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| Inside the Chuo Bus bound for Rumoi City |
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| The beauty of Hokkaido can be seen from the bus |
We arrived at Rumoi City at around 4:30PM. We transferred to Kutsumi Sensei's car and then drove to Rumoi High School to meet Kouchou sensei and Kyoto Sensei, which unfortunately were both out. So Kutsumi Sensei and the kind staff Sekiguchi-san accompanied me to the apartment where I'd live.
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| Today is the day that I'll finally see this place... |
They explained to me the things that I need to know about the essential things in the apartment like operating the heater and refilling it with touyu (kerosene), and also operating the microwave, washing machine, and water heater.
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| My home in Rumoi City |
When everything was clear, Sekiguchi-san gave me the house keys. After the "thank yous", Kutsumi Sensei and Sekiguchi-san left and that's when it dawned on me that I am now officially a Rumoi ALT. Something that I have been daydreaming about months back after receiving that fateful placement email. To wrap up the day, I unpacked my stuff, placed my long sleeve polos, coat, and pants on the hangers, and then heated water to make my celebratory coffee drink. However, I was probably overwhelmed and exhausted with today's events that my caffeine intake was nullified and I fell asleep after I lay on the bed.
Well, that's it for today, my dear readers. See you at work tomorrow!
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You have a very cute supervisor!
ReplyDeleteHahaha! She would be happy to hear that.
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