For anyone who reads this blog I am very sorry that I haven't written anything for a really long time. Plenty has happened but for the most part everything has just sort of become normal for me so I haven't felt that there was really anything worth writing about.
But in a nutshell,
Halloween was interesting. The elementary schools had Halloween presentations and they wore these garbage bag costumes and did little skits. It was really cute. Really really cute. I did a little introduction to halloween in Japanese in front of all of the parents too. That was a little embarrassing. I had a cloth power ranger mask on I got from the 100 yen shop so I think that made it a little more embarrassing.
Nothing big really happened in November. I went to a few more single adult activities and I meet some girls, get their email addresses only to find out that all but one time they were at least 10 years older then me! I found one girl who was really cool and just a little younger then me, but of course she had a boyfriend. The whole girlfriend thing is frustrating because I am doing all that I can do. I go to every single activity I can, no matter how far away it is, I don't let myself be shy and I go up and talk to strangers in Japanese, and I make it a goal to get at least one email address every time, but so far no luck. There are only so many activities. I do have friends who are keeping their eyes out for a girl they can introduce to me, but I guess it all comes back to patience.
December was Christmas the entire month. I did the same Christmas presentation at least 20 times. And if it wasn't that we were doing Christmas vocab or something like that. I didn't exactly hate it or anything but it was just a lot of Christmas. The high light was on Dec 24th-28th I was able to spend time with Courtney, Emily and Julienne, my friends from when I studied at Konan. We exchanged gifts, did yakiniku (hot plate bbq I guess), sang karaoke, watched stupid videos online, just good old hanging out. And on new years I spent the day with the bishop's family and had some traditional Japanese food. It was pretty great. I also had chocolate covered potato chips which were actually great.
So with the basic what I did stuff out of the way I want to talk a little more general about my life here. First off, I love my life right now. My job is fantastic. In the future I may have a job that is more rewarding and I will have a job that pays more, but I don't think I will ever have a job that is as fun as this is. With the younger kids all I basically do is play with them. Sure I sneak some actual teaching into the fun but its just great. I really enjoy spending time with the kids and I actually miss them when I am on break. Children see the world as such a bright and happy place and I can feel the same way by being around them. At my schools there is next to nothing to prepare and it is easy to change things up on the fly if need be. Middle school doesn't have that same happy go lucky atmosphere but I really enjoy talking to the kids outside of class. They all have some great personalities and are a lot of fun to be with if you get to know them. Inside the class things don't always flow all that well and you have to deal with the crazy shyness but it isn't "unpleasant" you just need to know what to expect. It is normal to get few volunteers or have some kids talking to each other. Once you can accept that, you are fine.
The pay is also great. As long as I am careful about my spending I can eat out whenever I want, pay all my bills, get all the little odds and ends that I need, buy one big thing that I want, and still save $1000 a month. If I was more careful I could save $1500 but I like shopping. I get 20 paid days off a year. That is basically a month of free pay. I also have great co-workers. Everyone likes me and I like everyone. I don't agree 100% with some of the teachers teaching style, but I don't really know the school system here. I took Japanese in college, not middle school, my experience isn't exactly the same as what the students are going through.
I also love where I live. My apartment is great. It is actually really warm. It is nothing like what I went through when I was in Kobe. I stay nice and toasty. Of course the reason for that is that my town has really nice weather. It is now January but it is a really nice day out. Kamogawa is also just a great place to live. It is so nice and peaceful, tons of nature everywhere, but you can still do shopping. Every time I go to Tokyo I realize how much better Kamogawa is. Tokyo is so busy and loud. It just drains the energy from you. I go to Tokyo to meet up with people or do shopping but at the end of the day I always just want to get back home.
At my job I also get a lot of time to study Japanese. Its great for two reasons, the first being its really hard to get yourself to study on your own, especially when you are out of school. If I don't study at home in my free time no one will know and or care, if I study while at work I look busy and that is a good motivation because other wise I would diffidently not be. The other reason is that I am getting paid to learn. For the past 4 years I have had to pay to learn, now I am getting paid to. If I can keep this up my Japanese will be at interpreter level in a few years.
I saw all of this but I only have one friend, by normal definition, in Kamogawa. The reason I say by normal definition is that there are lots of people that care about me and I enjoy talking to, but they wouldn't come over for a halo match. Like I said before I miss my students and I look forward to going back to work. I think of my students as my friends, just not normal friends. Same goes with all of the other teachers. And at my church I am friends with people who are much older and married and the missionaries who can't really do much. So while I always want to make more friends, I am not lonely. I think a lot of people who complain about living out in the countryside don't look at friendship the same way I do.
One thing still bothers me though, I don't know what to do with myself after I am done with JET. Obviously I want to continue to work with Japan and use Japanese. And truth be told I want to stay in Japan. I really love this country. I of course love America too, its my home, but you can't really compare the two. People always ask why I like Japan so much and I don't really have a good answer. Of course originally it was just I like Anime and how exotic Japan appears but the more I learn about it the more it just seems like this place matches my personality. It is really easy to get along with people here, the scenery puts me at ease, and just the lifestyle seems just what I want. There is one problem with working in Japan after JET and that is over time. On paper the work week is supposed to be 40 hours but in reality 60+ is normal. I don't want to do that. I want to come home as soon as possible and spend the evening with my family. I am willing to budge on it every once in a while, an extra hour here two hours there but in Japan people literally work themselves to death. So I don't know what I'll do. I at least have some time to think about it.
Ok well that was a nice good blog. If anyone has individual questions about living in Japan that might give me some more direction on what to write about.
till then
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