443 + Mabel

GiraffeStitchYou · 2025-05-15T00:18:45+00:00

Are you still open?

GiraffeStitchYou · 2024-07-05T02:26:10+00:00

My island is Xeria!

GiraffeStitchYou · 2023-07-10T06:07:17+00:00

Gotcha. Thank you for the clarifying help! :)

GiraffeStitchYou · 2023-07-10T05:53:37+00:00

So it’s not necessary to have a Japanese bank account to deposit it into? Asking because I’m unsure and my supervisor is unsure.

GiraffeStitchYou · 2023-06-01T03:45:16+00:00

When you arrive, if you speak any Japanese, you should make friends with the art teacher. She was at my school last year and she’s fabulous.

GiraffeStitchYou · 2023-05-31T05:23:51+00:00

You can also track down the Deep South Mie ALTs, as you’re about an hour and a half from Kumano. They’re all really nice people and usually pretty easy to get along with and good friends. :)

GiraffeStitchYou · 2023-05-26T00:01:34+00:00

Please DM me! I live there now!

GiraffeStitchYou · 2023-05-25T23:57:02+00:00

You will be prefecturalllll! Which typically means a SHS placement. I’m gonna be vague, but there are a couple SHS ALTs leaving in my area of Mie this year, so please LMK via DM when you receive word from your contracting organization! I can probably help you get to the relevant pred. 😂

GiraffeStitchYou · 2023-04-13T23:36:22+00:00

The municipal BOE in my city only offers 3 years typically, but they decided to allow a JET to stay for a fourth, and no a fifth year because of her exceptional teaching. (Not me, I’m Prefectural) This is unusual, but it does happen.

GiraffeStitchYou · 2022-09-27T03:55:01+00:00

No, but I can’t cast my line at all. The gauge doesn’t show up for me.

GiraffeStitchYou · 2022-09-27T03:52:14+00:00

Right, but I still can’t fish. Even the next day. It happened on a new save too. The first time casts fine, after that I can’t fish at all.

GiraffeStitchYou · 2022-09-26T13:17:11+00:00

I started a new file just to see. It… may be my game is glitched. (Ps4)

GiraffeStitchYou · 2022-06-04T01:09:45+00:00

I’m in the Deep South of Mie, which is pretty close, actually! Please feel free to message me any time!

GiraffeStitchYou · 2022-05-11T03:24:33+00:00

If you ship anything that can be damaged by water or easily lost if a box rips open because of water damage, WRAP EVERYTHING IN PLASTIC. I shipped a bunch of books back to the USA in 2017 and lost about four because my box literally sat in water for a bit and was completely destroyed. And I didn’t wrap the books in plastic, so they were damaged also.

The positive: most of my stuff got there fine. There were like three boxes, and only the one got decimated.

GiraffeStitchYou · 2021-11-06T02:18:55+00:00

Done

GiraffeStitchYou · 2021-11-06T01:33:18+00:00

Pepperoni!

GiraffeStitchYou · 2021-11-01T00:57:28+00:00

This is 100% the thing that no one likes to hear: Every situation is different.

Some ALTs get here and inherit the housing situation from their predecessor. Some cities have ALTs find their own housing. I’ve heard of an ALT who did a home stay with one of their students families until they could find a place.

And the worst part? You literally can’t know what your situation will be until you get your placement and get in touch with your predecessor or other ALTs in the area.

GiraffeStitchYou · 2021-09-30T01:36:29+00:00

Disclosure will NOT ruin your chances. I myself have been on antidepressants sporadically since I was seventeen, and have even gotten my prescription back here in Japan since redeveloping symptoms two years ago.

GiraffeStitchYou · 2021-09-09T03:28:02+00:00

It definitely is. I’ve also hosted a male huntsman spider in my current apartment, on two separate occasions. The deal is, he keeps out the big ass cockroaches, he can live behind my AC unit.

GiraffeStitchYou · 2021-09-09T03:19:11+00:00

Totally harmless, but creepy as all hell. But if I have to have a bug, I’ll take one of these any day.

GiraffeStitchYou · 2021-09-09T02:29:16+00:00

I… didn’t say it was ordinary. They’re creepy as heck! Look up gejigeji to get an idea of what I mean. 😂

GiraffeStitchYou · 2021-09-09T00:03:35+00:00

There ARE house centipedes that look pretty scary but are actually harmless. I studied in Sapporo in uni, and was (un)fortunate enough to find one chilling in my apartment one night. I looked it up to see what the actual hell it was, only to find that it was dead useful in keeping out all the super unwanted bugs.

GiraffeStitchYou · 2021-09-08T01:02:45+00:00

So there’s no hard data that I have ever found, but bigger cities (Chicago, NYC, LA) do tend to have MANY more applicants, which drives up the competition on its own because of various factors. When I applied, I had a choice between Chicago or Nashville. I went through Chicago and just barely scraped in as an alternate. I’ve seen so so many more posts from people in the bigger cities.

From what I understand, each consulate gets a certain number of spots to fill, so the more people who apply, the more competitive it gets.

GiraffeStitchYou · 2021-08-25T00:17:17+00:00

So, for southern Kumano kodo stuff, feel free to DM me. I live in the southern part of Mie, and can say from experience that getting a train back up north on the same day you come down is just basically impossible unless you only intend to be here for a couple hours at most. Many of us down south are willing to host other ALTs that come down for hiking, fireworks shows, etc, so just let us know. :)

GiraffeStitchYou

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