Dis-orientation in Nagoya

Training in Nagoya was a blast.

I went to an British pub one night where I met a Danish couple (as in, they were from Denmark, not made of pastries) and an Irish guy who, after 15 minutes, realized we both worked for the same company. During the course of training I learned a lot about the other English teachers in our company as well as some basics of working in Japanese schools. The best thing I learned was what an awesome company I was working for. Every one of my bosses was really awesome, without exception.

On our last full day in Nagoya we had a dinner party at Outback Steakhouse. It was a two-hour nomihodai, which basically means that the company pays a set price and you can order as much beer/wine/mixed drinks as you like during that time. While in America that's normally a recipe for disaster, it works well in japan. The food was as good as I remembered, and we had a great time, although a few of the recently hired Aussies and Kiwis were a little disappointed to find out it was an American chain.

Afterwards, my supervisor led a few of the more stalwart drinkers to the narrowest Irish pub in existence. There was room for the bar, someone to sit at the bar, and room for someone to squeeze behind them. More good times were had and after a few more drinks we walked back to the hotel in a dignified manner.

OK, fine… we stumbled.

The last day of training was supposed to be about paperwork and teaching elementary-aged children, but was more about maintaining a professional and cheerful demeanor when you really want to barf, take a couple Advil, lie down, and ignore the orchestra in your head that is playing 1812 Overture and using your skull as tympani. We had to meet with our supervisors before we could go home, and as luck would have it, my meeting was last. My supervisor was clearly in the same shape I was, so it was nice to at least have someone to silently suffer with. After our less-than-energetic meeting, I rode the hour train home, went to bed at 8:30, and slept until 10am the next day. As rough as it was, though, I would have done it all again.