I’m still here in Japan and at the moment I’m glad I chose to stay. I have so many things to see, so many things to do. My new apartment makes me feel like I am actually living here, like I belong. I feel like I’m doing something with my life teaching kids. After discussing staying and my frustrations with work, I was told just to say what was ( Read more... )

I’ll give my resignation this week. They’ve been interviewing for positions because they are expanding the school, so I figured this would be the most convenient time to let them know. More children to improperly educate. Sad to hear, I feel sorry for quitting because the people here are nice, but I know I can’t stay here much longer ( Read more... )

Work becomes depressing. Every time you hear a student make sentences like: my favorite animal is cat or, I wear T-shirt. I hear my co-teacher say good job and in meetings I am ripped apart by our boss. Don’t correct students. We just want them to have fun. It doesn’t matter if they aren’t saying it right. It wears you down. I didn’t sign a ( Read more... )

                A few days ago I had the worst day at work. One of my Japanese coworkers is frustrating to work with. She treats me like a child and acts as if I’m a moron. Going over the lesson plan I’ve been using for two days already step by step asking if I know it, not bothering to listen to my answers. I was feeling homesick and after work I ( Read more... )

 It’s only my second day here and I feel lost, in every sense of the word. We went to a presentation that the school I work for puts on once a year. The students can show their parents how much they have learned. Child after child, red faced and stuttering, nervous that they may answer a question wrong or forget a word in a language that is not ( Read more... )

I'll have a full update later but I will be leaving for Japan in a few weeks. I was offered a job teaching last night and I couldn't refuse! 

So as a quick update. Recently I applied to be Queerty's (a queer online blog) music reviewer. Today they went live with their contest to find it. I made it into the top 10 out of 200 people. You can vote for me here: http://www.queerty.com/help-queerty-adopt-a-music-reviewer-plus-10-awesome-music-reviews-20090212/

 and it would be swell for some ( Read more... )

 So I've been writing here and there. Tiny fragments. Broken up rambling. Horray! Here's a snippity snippet of what it's like:

Last night we took 47 radios and lined them up one by one. We tuned them in to the sound of static. This is our voice, loudly in the night. Nothing. Can you hear it? It over takes you like a wall of sonic snow, and when it’s ( Read more... )

I’m out at my parent’s house. All dust and wind, rotting animal carcasses in the ditches. We still haven’t said why we are staying until Wednesday. It doesn’t need to be said, the calendar on the refrigerator says it all. Little black writings about hospital visits and testing. My parents bought a house out here and Annie and I found ourselves ( Read more... )

I'd like to go more in depth but I don't have the time or space to really do so. I managed to bring my grades to a B average for the term. Currently I'm in Portland where I will flight to New York tonight with my family. I'm not looking forward to it one bit. A week, with them, I think I'm going to go insane.