Why, hello, blog I started four (?!) years ago.
Funny you should mention it: I'm in Japan again.
This time, I'm doing exactly what I wanted to do four years ago.
Four years later, I can't wait for it to end.
I have about a month left before my contract as an Assistant Language Teacher finishes. When I tell people about some of the things I've done, they tell me I should write it down somewhere. It just so happens that the stories I tell are the most interesting parts of my experience here; for the most part, I just sit at a desk and try to figure out what's going on, wander around and try to figure out where everyone's going, or be "genki" in a classroom and hope it's going well. It wears you down, and you stop wanting to do anything. I stopped doing the things I enjoyed because I thought I should concentrate on "doing better". I ended up doing, well, nothing.
The stories are few and far between, but they gave me a reason to keep trying. I kept hearing the phrase "take care of the ones you care about" (iterations of 「大切な＿を大切にする」) and came to the realization that I just need to find what's important to me and keep it close. There aren't so many people to meet in the countryside; you'd assume the scarcity would give you a better chance to know more people, but it just deepens your relationships with the few that open up to you. I spent most of my time with those people, not doing anything special but making memories nonetheless. Something as simple and unmemorable as going out to karaoke in the middle of the night gave me incomparable joy, and being able to go to a friend's house while she's busy with other things evaporated the loneliness if only for a while.
Some things just don't last, but that doesn't make them meaningless.
Case in point: I want to keep going forward with new ambitions. From now on, I'd like to introduce as much of the good as possible so that they can be enjoyed and my hardships will have been for good reason.
Lately I've come into contact with lots of interesting people here. Well, not here, exactly, but during my time as an ALT, and before I start my new adventure. With their help, I hope I can do something "super" enough to suit this blog.
I mean, I'm already pretty super, myself. (Just gotta keep telling myself that...!)
First off: I had the chance to publicize a social event called "Kawakom" to the community of English teachers here.
What's Kawakom, you ask? Well, it comes from "river" (川) and the kon of "goukon" (合コン), which varies in meaning from the innocuous "mixer" to "matchmaking party". In this case, it's a way to do an extreme water sport with a bunch of people who may or may not have romantic intentions. Then you bathe and melt your fatigue away in the hot spring, eat a feast, end up in a dance party and by the next morning, cozy in your cabin, you've probably made some friends. Apparently two couples have been formed so far, and this is their 8th round... which means there's no pressure if you're just there to make friends! (I guess.)
Seriously, it's fun, and the guides are a riot. This is the kind of thing you should be doing in Japan! Stop taking pictures of that crosswalk in Shibuya, it's just a bunch of concrete and wires! /endrant
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