Settling in

Today is more or less my fifth day in Japan and I still haven't completely overcome the jet lag and I'm still a bit overwhelmed with the situation.

I can definitely say that the food is delicious (I take a picture of almost every meal beforehand ^^') and I really like the environment and my accommodation! I still need to get used to the constant fluctuations in the weather. It's usually already quite cold in the morning and then it's too hot in the afternoon. At least I had more rain in Kucchan than in the last few weeks in Germany. ^^

Now I just need to figure out how to best interact with my host family. They are all super nice and kind, but it's difficult to communicate with them. They only know a few English words and I'm too unsure about my Japanese to start a conversation on my own. Besides, I usually don't know what topic to talk about or I simply lack the vocabulary. Even when I try to talk to them, there's still the problem of understanding them... Japanese people have the habit of speaking very fast and it's usually difficult to follow them if you're not yet confident in the language.

I was always accused of speaking too fast in German. Now I know how the others always felt v.v

At least this whole experience has motivated me a lot and I'm actually studying vocabulary for once. I keep trying to form new sentences and memorize words that could be important for my everyday life in the kindergarten. Unfortunately, I couldn't come up with too many words...

Well, now onto the important part. Tomorrow, I will start my work in the kindergarten. I already met all the staff a few days ago and I've already seen the kindergarten as well. It's really big and the staff are all very nice. Apart from that, the kids are just so cute :3

I'm starting to get really nervous now. Simply because I'm afraid of making a mistake or not understanding something correctly. That's why I'm a bit uncertain. Now I just hope to get through tomorrow without having a nervous breakdown...

Best regards

Janina

P.S. Unfortunately, a bit too late to post...