2011: A Recap (part 2)

2011: Part 2 – Japan

OK guys, how we doin’? Need a break? We’re halfway there now! Don’t worry though, I think the second half may not take as long.
            I’ve already covered a lot of August in the two posts called Japan: A Beginning so I won’t go into much detail so as to not repeat myself. And for Pete’s sake those are a pair of really long posts in and of themselves! Long story short: Tokyo orientation for 4 days was insane, jet-laggie, earthquaky and before I knew it I was already in Oda. After that: few weeks reading, playing games, being hot and sweaty, relaxing and unwinding from the whirlwind of the preceding few weeks. Finally: Shimane orientation where I met many of the crazy bunch of people I live close to and often enjoy drinks/jokes/singing/dancing with. Oh yeah, I got my phone right before orientation and with it a window back into the internet. I missed it so!
            September is when school and my life in Japan began proper. Did a speech in Japanese at opening ceremony, started doing classes with the teachers, sports festival and the following welcoming party was a blast and I met and started to get to know most of the people that are now a huge part of my life. That is, the crazy Oda crew, the teachers at Ni-chuu, surrounding town JETs and last but most definitely not least, the student body at school; gotta love those kids, even the ones that don’t give a quarter of a rat’s fuzzy bottom about English. School is interesting, everything is new, some students are funny, others are difficult, some are undetectable, the teachers are great fun to be around and they make me wish I was already fluent at Japanese so I could also joke around with them. I’m workin’ on it!
            The remaining months of the year go by in much the same manner as September, really. Still just teaching and generally enjoying my time in great amounts. In October I’m starting to feel a little more comfortable with Oda, school life and life in Japan in general. It began to sink it that I’m really going to be here for a while all the while time just flying by faster than I can even fathom. Honestly, it feels like sports day was just the other day but it was actually 4 months ago! In October the kids had culture festival, which was also a lot of fun! Each homeroom chose a song and they practiced and practiced and practiced it for the chorus competition that takes place at the culture festival.
            By the time November rolled around there were still some schools I hadn’t visited, namely the elementary school I visit a few times per semester. I finally got to go to it around mid-November and it was great. While in junior high, it’s sometimes hard to get the students motivated or excited about anything or to even smile, elementary school kids are, in stark contrast, a savage bunch of happy, energetic kids that, for the most part, actually try to do well and want to play games and answer questions and repeat after you! It’s not impossible in junior high but it’s often not easy. I’m sure most teachers out there can relate. It probably also doesn’t help that school is apparently quite difficult in junior high but hey, we all did it, right? Just gotta try to relate and help ‘em get over themselves when necessary, or something like that!
            Finally we round out the year with the month that ended yesterday: December. It was a really feel-good month. It’s finally now after several months that I’ve begun to feel, in some way, comfortable in the classroom. I’m still a little apprehensive in there sometimes but a lot of things are starting to become pretty commonplace and the patterns are starting to show up. I’m slowly learning the kids’ abilities, attitudes, aptitudes and demeanor and most importantly, their names. I can’t try to learn all of their names – I’ve got over 300 students – but I want to learn as many as possible. Names are powerful knowledge and also a sturdy bridge, not to mention a practical requirement in most any relationship. Also, they all know mine so it’s only fair I try to return the favor.
            Right after the semester ended the teachers had the year-end dinner and party and it was WAY more fun than the one at the beginning of the semester. I should note that that one was a lot of fun too. The main reason this one was better is because I now know a lot of the teachers a little better and they know me a little better and so it’s easier to have fun, I guess. Also, more karaoke this time, which, as you know, is my favorite. Sad note: the school nurse ended her stay at the school and I didn’t even realize it when she was giving her speech at the closing ceremony but man was it sad. Needless to say, people everywhere were turning on their waterworks. I almost cried too. She’s a super nice lady and I’m actually really going to miss her.
            Wow, there’s a lot to talk about in December. Wrapping up, I just got back from a super amazing little vacay in Tokyo. Had a ton of fun with Steph and Maggie and their friends Janelle and Ally as we gallivanted about the city and hit up all sorts of places. Check out my album in facebook for a peek at the photos I took. Like I said in a tweet recently, I was only in the city for a few days – not even a week – and I already miss it. I really have to go again and have some more fun there. To give you an idea of how much going about we did, here’s a list of the places we hit up: Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, Akihabara, Roppongi, Ikebukuro, Tokyo DisneySea, Ghibli museum, the Square-Enix store, the Evangelion store, the Pokemon center, and the list goes on, actually. I even got to have lunch with Kristen from Tiny Prints and her sister (who’s a JET like me) and their friend. We went to a tonkatsu restaurant that our friend Kimi suggested and it really was some of the best tonkatsu I’ve ever had.
            There’s a lot of things I didn’t even talk about but there’s really no way of saying everything and it wouldn’t be very nice to my poor, dear reader to make you read volumes of my often uneventful life, which I’m very much enjoying. This past year, 2011, was a year full of amazing things, saying goodbye to wonderful people, saying hello to friendly people, a year divided but that is really two halves of a whole lot of great things that happened to me. I’ve grown, I’ve changed, I’ve laughed, I’ve cried, I’ve eaten like a pig and drunk like I’m more than thirsty. I’ve learned even more about myself, my friends, teaching, learning, Japan, and Japanese than I could have imagined I would. And as 2012 begins, as we mark this new cycle of our planet around the nice warm star God gave us, I’m thankful for what has been, for all I have, and especially for what’s to come. I’m just gonna stand atop this clearing and stare into the bright, blank horizon of the coming year, try and brace for the bad stuff, remember to enjoy the good stuff and really appreciate and be thankful for the great stuff.


2012, here we go!