good day

despite the wet and cold weather, i:m having an unusually good day. yes, i:m typing from work. i have to retreat to the bat cave every friday afternoon, and since i have nothing to do, i thought i:d tell you about the good mood that i:m in.

first of all, i:d like to point out what a weird week i:m having. last week was my birthday, and that meant seeing a lot of my fellow foreingers. since they have to venture all the way down the island, they tend to stick around and hang out the following day. that meant seeing english-speakers all weekend.

i had work mon-wed and thanks to Labour Thanksgiving Day, i had thursday off. but here:s the funky thing: i had to go back to work on friday (now). so thursday felt like saturday, but all of a sudden the next day was work. and today feels like a thursday since i:m in such a good mood, but lo and behold, it:s suddenly the real weekend. yeah, i have no sense of what day of the week it is right now.

i had a really hard time motivating myself to come to work today, but i:m super glad i did. i went to my second largest elementary school today, and since i had the 1st, 2nd, and 6th graders on monday, today was the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. all of my students were so well behaved today.. it was awesome. i actually had a fun time teaching today. not that i never have fun, so much as it:s rare that i come out of a day of teaching and still feel good about all my classes. a good day indeed.

for lunch, i ate with the 4th graders, and it was the class with all the girls i hung out with at the school picnic i went to. those girls are hilarious. after lunch, they figured out how ticklish i am, so several of the girls in the class and i started dying as we ran at each other trying to out-tickle one another. wow, if i were a guy, that:d sound so wrong, but anyway, i was laughing like a maniac and so were they. good times. times like these make me really happy i decided to take a chance and come to japan to teach.

my good day comes with interesting timing too. last night i saw the majority of the ALTs on the island, and we all started talking about recontracting. up till now, i:ve been thinking that i:ll most likely stay for a second year, but after talking to alicia, for the first time, i started thinking, maybe it:s not a good idea to stay. at our mid-year conference, the pref. advisor was saying how not knowing what you:re doing the rest of your life is not a good reason to recontract. that and procrastinating from entering the real world back home is a bad reason.

honestly, i dont know waht i want to do with the rest of my life. i still tell people that i want to go into nursing, but i:m just not sure. i like the thought of helping people, and being able to translate for people on occasion. but the nightmare stories i hear of getting crappy work to do... that deters me. friends have suggested being a physical therapist or physician:s assistant before too. i definitely dont want to be a doctor, and thats about the only thing i know for sure. will staying here an extra year make a big difference in the grand scope of my life?

my main goal while being in japan is to learn japanese, and i feel like in the 3 months that i:ve been here, i haven:t learned much... yet. now that i:m settled in and getting my nerd on, i foresee myself really sitting down and starting to study again (my brain is hungry...). gut instinct says that two years of living here will improve my japanese tremendously. maybe even become fluent. i:m tired of packing up my life and moving every year. it:d be nice to know that all the work i:m putting into making my apartment my home has long term benefits. it:d also be nice to know what i:m doing next year as opposed to always starting my augusts/septembers at square one. decisions decisions.

sorry for the rant... i have until january to decide, so until then, i:m probably going to have this conversation with myself countless times. for those of you who know what you want to do with the rest of your life, i applaud you. one of the consequences of being the youngest of 3 kids: too much flexibility. necessary when one is younger and needs to niche pick, but only leads to indecision later.

...and now my brain feels like mush.

hope everyone back home is enjoying thanksgiving dinner! go to bed early and prepare yourselves for black friday. oh, how i miss getting up at 5am the day after thanksgiving to road trip with my siblings down to gilroy to shop. sorry i:m breaking tradition this year, guys. have fun! be thankful!

--Evelyn