tomorrow marks the end of a chapter. its been a wild ride as a pseudo english teacher, but come tomorrow im getting off this roller coaster for good. this past year has been eye opening to say the least. i discovered many things about myself i never knew before, like how i dont like teaching english, living in a small remote town, or living in a house without a flush toilet and with an outdoor shower. but i want to stress that not all of it was negative. in fact, i feel that i accomplished everything i came here to do.
__three goals__
one year ago i arrived in kihoku with three specific goals in mind:
as for the not hating kids thing, i mainly wanted to learn how to deal with them; i wanted to learn how to interact with them and see things from their perspective. and though i still dont like some of the kids ive spent the last year or so teaching, at least ive learned how to not automatically hate all of them.
ive been told that im progressing quite well with my japanese ability, but i personally feel that theres still a lot of room for improvement. A LOT. out off my three goals, i feel like this was my weakest accomplishment.
and as for the traveling and exploring goal, i thing i pretty much nailed it. ive amazed all of the teachers i worked with everyday with stories of seeing temples, castles, and beaches near and far. i feel very lucky to have had the opportunities to travel so much. exploring japan was a blast! some of the teachers have even told me that they think i saw more in the year i lived here than they saw their entire lives; i didnt disagree with them.
__the next chapter__
so now that this adventure is over, what comes next? i miss my friends back in america and i feel that this distance is definitely straining things, but i just cant quite come back yet. i feel that there are still a couple more adventures to have in japan before i can return without regrets.
tomorrow ill leave this small town filled with old people and spiders and head for my next adventure. after a couple of quick visits with some boston and vegas friends who now live in japan, ill head north to okazaki city (岡崎市) where i plan to study japanese for a couple months. theres a non-profit japanese language school there called yamasa that offers short but intense language programs, and i look forward to learning japanese in a more formal setting.
after studying japanese for 2 or 3 months i plan to move to tokyo (東京) where one of three things will happen:
as i close this first section of my third life, i look forward to the upcoming challenges and self exploration. tonight ill fall asleep one last time in my old centipede-infested house. come tomorrow, may the next adventure begin.
__three goals__
one year ago i arrived in kihoku with three specific goals in mind:
- 1. learn how to not hate kids,
- 2. learn some japanese, and
- 3. explore the hell out of japan.
as for the not hating kids thing, i mainly wanted to learn how to deal with them; i wanted to learn how to interact with them and see things from their perspective. and though i still dont like some of the kids ive spent the last year or so teaching, at least ive learned how to not automatically hate all of them.
ive been told that im progressing quite well with my japanese ability, but i personally feel that theres still a lot of room for improvement. A LOT. out off my three goals, i feel like this was my weakest accomplishment.
and as for the traveling and exploring goal, i thing i pretty much nailed it. ive amazed all of the teachers i worked with everyday with stories of seeing temples, castles, and beaches near and far. i feel very lucky to have had the opportunities to travel so much. exploring japan was a blast! some of the teachers have even told me that they think i saw more in the year i lived here than they saw their entire lives; i didnt disagree with them.
__the next chapter__
so now that this adventure is over, what comes next? i miss my friends back in america and i feel that this distance is definitely straining things, but i just cant quite come back yet. i feel that there are still a couple more adventures to have in japan before i can return without regrets.
tomorrow ill leave this small town filled with old people and spiders and head for my next adventure. after a couple of quick visits with some boston and vegas friends who now live in japan, ill head north to okazaki city (岡崎市) where i plan to study japanese for a couple months. theres a non-profit japanese language school there called yamasa that offers short but intense language programs, and i look forward to learning japanese in a more formal setting.
after studying japanese for 2 or 3 months i plan to move to tokyo (東京) where one of three things will happen:
- a. i get deported because of work visa issues,
- b. i run out of money and have to leave, or
- c. i find a software developer job and happily work there for about a year before leaving japan.
as i close this first section of my third life, i look forward to the upcoming challenges and self exploration. tonight ill fall asleep one last time in my old centipede-infested house. come tomorrow, may the next adventure begin.
Friday, July 29, 2011 |
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