First Year, Part II: First Weeks

The first weeks were spent adjusting. I was confused, excited, tired, and nervous. Now I think that was all part of culture shock, and that my shock lasted quite a long time.
I was bewildered by my new job, which required me to sit at a desk for 7 hours daily with no particular job to do. I was told to 'make some lesson plans.' Having never taught before, possessing no curriculum, and being denied access to the teachers or classrooms, I did my best to arrange the teaching props and plans left by my predecessors into something I could make sense of. Otherwise, I read the stuff given to us JETs at orientation, studied Japanese, poked around on the internet when the community computer was free, and--took naps. I discovered my coworkers napping at their desks after lunch, I came to recognize it as a common, if not secretly accepted part of work. I can't imagine how else I spent the time--there was so much of it. I had a difficult time communicating and everyone always seemed busy, although there was one 'office lady' who worked in my branch who spoke decent English. She wanted to be friends very much. I was happy to know her.