Nekosan

Hi! if anyone is still reading this, I'm back in Japan ! I got a job teaching at a university and its really fun. ill upload some pictures and stuff later. see ya!
JD

Just wrapping things up here, only two more weeks. I will really miss my students and friends here. I'll be back (hopefully) in August though so it won't be too long. I feel like I've learned so much about myself during this past year, many of my strengths and weaknesses. I'm going to try and do a homestay when I come back also, so i think that'll really be a great
experience. We'll see though, I still haven't really found much. Lots of
Sakura parties going on recently, its great! I've never been in Japan
during the Sakura blooming so its really a first.

Me and some of the little tykes! I think I'll miss them the most...

JD-sensei!

Sakura park in Gifu

Gifu

Sakura park in Meijyo Koen, Nagoya

Me playing guitar at the Japanese school barbeque

Hi! Right now i've changed my mind... i'm going to Nagoya Gakuin Daigaku to study Japanese in September. More updates to come soon. My email is neko819@hotmail.com if you want to keep in touch with me. More later...

"If I'd lived in Roman times, I'd have lived in Rome. Where else? Today America is the Roman Empire and New York is Rome itself." -John Lennon

Well, I've never been to New York, but during my job interview in Tokyo this weekend this quote kept going through my mind. Tokyo is the largest city on Earth. Just to give a comparison:

1. Tokyo-Yokohama, Japan - 33,200,000
2. New York, United States - 17,800,000
3. Sao Paulo, Brazil - 17,700,000
4. Seoul-Incheon, South Korea - 17,500,000
5. Mexico City, Mexico - 17,400,000
(source: Ask.com)

As you can see Tokyo and Yokohama are grouped together, it is because it is basically the same city. Its impossible to tell where Tokyo ends and Yokohama begins. As for my interview, I'm sure I got the job. Its at teaching at High Schools in Yokohama. I'm not 100% sure I'll take it though, I still have a lot of time and options. But here in Nagoya I receive lots of envy for the possiblity of going to Yokohama. Its a very beautiful city. Talk about being packt like sardines though! The subway going to Shibuya from Yokohama was so full, I had trouble breathing at times. Its THAT packed. Station attendants will literally push people on board so the doors will close. Incredible.

Look familiar? You've probably seen it in "Lost in Translation" (there is a big brontosaurus on the building screen in the movie).

Well, I can't believe its been 8 months. Right now I am home in Denver, spending the holidays with my family. It feels really great to just stretch and take a breather so I can really see how i've been doing in Japan so far. Its been a lot of fun but I can't continue with Aeon anymore (they have this policy that you can't drive and I refuse to admit its a fair rule). Plus I want to look for something easier so I can actually have a life here outside of work.

I'm still deciding though, should I stay in Nagoya? Should I stay in Japan? Should I go back to America? Should I try to go to China? Although this week has been relaxing, I still am faced with making these decisions, and I worry I won't have the time to think about it when I get back to Japan. I'm pretty sure I'll stay in Japan somewhere though. I still feel like there is a lot I want to accomplish there.

After moving so many times, I know how difficult it is to adjust to a new place. After I moved from Tennessee to Colorado, I really wanted to move back during my first year here. I thought all the time that I did not belong here and that I was making a mistake. But after a while, after the shock of leaving my friends and life of 7 years, I started to love my new life. And after making a summer-long trip back to Tennessee, I decided that I had accomplished all I wanted to there, and that to move forward I needed to go back to Colorado. That Fall I moved back to Colorado and started school at MSCD.

Now I face such a similar situation, but my feelings are the same. There is a lot in Japan I am dissapointed with how little I've done (like studying Japanese), but I still have at least 4 months to make up for it.

Nagoya Station

Oosu Shopping

Santa with Miku and Anna!

Rie, Me, Hiro