Don your thinking caps and put on your reading bi-focals boys and girls; this post will be long and wordy.
As the title says, I'm writing this as a sort of 3-month review of my life in Japan so far, from personal to professional (yikes, did I just say that?). What prompted this? Well, at least 2 things, the first being an email sent by my good friend Christ (haha, no, I'm not Christian), inquiring as to my health and well-being the wake of the recent earthquake that hit Japan. Of course, that email was the first I had heard of this earthquake, but that point aside, I was asked when my next post would be. It occured to me that a) people, perhaps people in Canada, perhaps people in Canada that I know, actually read this, and b) I really haven't been keeping this blog as up-to-date as I should, a disservice to those people mentioned in a).
Ahh yes, I mentioned a second thing. Well, that is an issue that has yet to be resolved, and I am not in a position to disclose the details thereof. In fact, it really is an ears-only matter, so this is the last you will probably hear of it on this blog.
So on to the review. First, lets examine the personal. Those who know me know that I am a person who rarely, if ever, makes enemies. It's a point of personal pride, I think. So I'm happy to report that this is still the case here. I've made some good friends, some good aquaintances, and my social (if not my sex life...haha, so what else is new) life is alive and well. Ironically, I do more clubbing here than I did back in Toronto.
My home life is becoming pretty routine. I get back from school usually around 6:30 or so, with dinner and TV and movies and PC time all before I head off to bed (my real bed complete now with goose-down comforter) around midnight. I'm up at 7am, off to work at 7:50.
I find that I'm enjoying cooking, and really, living on my own. With the only real inconveniences being that I have to cook and do laundry, it's otherwise fairly close that what I was doing in TO. That said, I find new things about Japan, Japanese society, and the intersection with my own life/culture/upbringing etc. etc. everyday. Adventure truly does abound for me here.
So lets turn to professional life then. First and foremost is that I really, REALLY like working as an ALT. I can say that after 3 months, I'm starting to "get" the job. The formal teaching component truly is a smaller part of the job, while exposing the kids to foreign cultures, foreign language, and foreign ideas is truly the real purpose of my job. Today, I did a lesson on Halloween for one of my first-year classes. I'm not as vain as to believe that I was captivating, but enough of them were listening as to spawn a unprompted side discussion on that regrettable incident some years back involving the shooting death of a Japanese exchange student in Texas or somewhere, on Halloween. This in turn lead to a discussion on guns and gun violence, which in turn is the seed of a lesson further down the line. Opportunities abound for cultural exchange, if you are receptive enough to them.
The office environment is stable, I think. I chat up my neighbours, smile and bow my head to those I'm not too familiar with, and so overall I think the diagnosis is good. My supervisor is a great guy, albeit a busy one, and I think I've found something of a kindred spirit in my unofficial second supervisor. While it is probably too early to make this decision, I think a second year is definitely a go on my end. How that works out is course not truly up to me, but from all accounts it seems that should I desire it, a recontract isn't usually declined. That said, I'll not get overly excited or cocksure; I've been down that road before and almost got dumped on my ass.
I don't want to say that I'm getting into a routine, but that may be more and more the case. Lest you are lead to believe that this is a bad thing, let me say that some regularity in my life is a nice thing indeed. The important thing is that my job, this seemingly random collection of things that I do at work to "teach" kids, is ever changing and interesting. Of course, this is only a 3-month review. How will I feel in 6-months? In a year? In two? No one, least of all me, can say. But so far, thing are looking on the up and up.
