Sleepless in Seattle

Well, I officially left yesterday. However, I am only in Seattle. I will be here until Saturday for training. Yesterday was such a long day. I had major issues packing, everything weighed way too much! And, at 10:00 at night I realized that my big suitcase was 2 inches too big. They would have charged me at $300 for 2 extra inches of suitcase! So, I went to Walmart and bought a new suitcase and had to re-pack. Ugh..I hate packing!! Well, I had to leave at 3:15am for the airport. Needless to say, my mom came upstairs at 3:05 and I was just finishing and hopping in the shower..no sleep for me!

Saying goodbye was hard. My mom, Kelli, and Tanner took me to the airport. It was a bit emotional to say the least. I got on the plane and luckily I had my own row. I used my little pillow that my aunt bought me and I do not even remember taking off. I woke up off and on through the flight, but I slept through the landing as well. I have never done such a thing and am quite shocked that I slept through it! I had a layover in Minneapolis. I did meet up with two of the other teachers there. They are a married couple. We had a few minutes to chat before we got on the plane. We flew into Seattle and went down to get our luggage. We were collecting our bags, and as I am grabbing one, I see another one (my brand new suitcase) get stuck on the side of the belt and rip open. It ripped the zipper off and was halfway open on top. Sad. I was with a bunch of people I had just met so I was trying to play it off as no big deal. I was freaking out on the inside a little bit though!! We ended up taking it to the claims department and they gave me a brand new suitcase! It's a tad bigger and honestly, better quality! So, thankfully that worked out.

Yesterday we went to apply for our visas and then just got to go around town and do some sightseeing. We went to the fish market and the first Starbucks. I was in bed and asleep at 8:30, haha. I was so tired.

Today was our first day of training. We basically just practiced the phonics that we will be teaching. Instead of teaching the basic sounds first, we will be teaching all of the sounds for one letter at once. It's hard to explain while typing. Anyway, it's very different from how I was taught or how most people still teach. Although, it makes sense. So we were practicing the sounds, as well as writing the letters really big in the air backwards. That doesn't sound so hard, but try it! I think I have the hardest time with the letter 'g'. We have to do it backwards so that it looks the same to the kids when they do it. We also have to hold out the letter card while we write the letter backwards and say all of the sounds. It's a lot to do at the same time. After practicing a bit, it got much easier though.

The training today made me feel a little more confident in what I will be doing. A lot of what we talked about, I had learned before. And the stuff that we will be doing is stuff that I really think I can handle. If I didn't have any background in teaching, it would probably be overwhelming. But I am feeling okay about it all so far.

Tonight, they took us to this really nice seafood place right on the water. It was so beautiful with the mountains in the background. However, I do not like seafood. I ordered a pork chop. I did try a muscle (ew!) and salmon (ew). The salmon wasn't as bad as the muscle, but both were gross. At least I tried them though, right?

The training is good, I am glad for the time that we have here to get to know each other as well. I am ready to just be in Japan and get started though! Three more days until we leave. Honestly, I just feel like I'm on a trip. It doesn't seem real. It will soon sink in I think, I'm just not sure when.