JANUARY 19
Sunday is dance day! I arrived a little earlier than
usual today to find two strangers in our usual dance spot. Patiently, I waited
off to the side until Ken, our designated group leader, showed up. It turns out
that the couple that was practicing in our spot were actually acquaintances of
his. He also brought along another break dancer— quiet, serious, and super
strong. He was a power specialist, and power is the kind of breaking I aspire
to be able to do, which is why I was excited and reluctant to practice today.
Thankfully, Ken gave me a lot of good advice. We even had a small practice
battle: the first time was okay, the second time was just a mess. I keep
getting stuck between moves because I can’t decide what to do next. The music
is also a lot faster than the hip hop I am used to, so I’m terribly slow. I
should lay off the hip hop for a while and just practice break dancing I guess.
At 6pm I left dance practice to meet with Jessica in
Kanayama. We ate dinner at Yama-chan and just caught up, talked about the last
month’s events, and the near future. She will be going back to America soon,
which she’s really excited to do because she has this great plan for her
future; she wants to set-up a women’s safe house in New York one day, so she
hopes she can work up a network after she’s back in the States. If I were to go
back, I don’t know what I would do myself. I wouldn’t go back to school because
there’s nothing specific that I want to study, nor do I care to put out the
money for graduate school. There’s really no job I would like to do either. I
have my manga series, but I prefer to keep my art as a hobby. The stress
of a job only kills my creative inspiration.
I say there’s nothing I want to do, but over the last
few months I have been helping a lot of people study English. It’s something I
can honestly say I do enjoy: a personal challenge and accomplishment. I know
that many people choose to teach English just so they can stay in Japan. I
don’t know what other motives they have, but I know that I like teaching, and
I’d like to improve at it. If that opportunity is here for me in Japan, I want
it, and I will find it.
JANUARY 20
Curry, the lunch of champions, only 750 yen. Four
months in and it’s still one of the best meals I have found yet (that isn’t
made at home). That lunch was my amplifier for the day. I was going to have
another job-related meeting in the afternoon, this time, not with the group
from Toyohashi, but with a different school. The owner was actually an
acquaintance of the students who studied before me from my University. Through
their contact, I was able to meet with her. We’ve met a few times as I have visited
her school to volunteer on a couple occasions, but today it’s tea time. Of
course, we talked about how my job search was going, and to my surprise she
mentioned that her company might be interested in hiring me on.
Shock! That was
great news, if they could make it happen. I really love their school’s
atmosphere and staff. The place also seems more stable than the one in
Toyohashi, which is comforting for me. But, they have never hired a full-time
foreign staff member before so they have to look at the paperwork. I have my
fingers crossed. The excitement carried on even after tea-time so I spent a
good four hours searching for possible apartments between Okazaki and
Toyohashi.
JANUARY 21
Back to school for a moment, literally, today we had
one exam, and that was for the conversation class. None of us knew how to study
for it; we only reviewed the chapter points. I was the first of us four
students to take the exam. It started out with a paired conversation; Jason and
I were paired up, and we both were able to pull the conversation together once
we understood the exam’s format. After that it was one-on-one role play and
question time with the professor. I think it went well overall, but it wouldn’t
have hurt to study the conversations in the textbook a little more.
Two more exams to go! Kanji and Grammar, which may be
considerably more difficult than the conversation exam, but at least I know how
to study for those. I studied for tomorrow’s kanji exam in the library before
dance practice. This time I went a little earlier because I was hoping that I
could use the multi-purpose room, which was bigger than the studio. Now, I
understand there is a reservation process, so I reserved one of the rooms for
BPM and we were able to practice until 9:30pm. Really, it’s supposed to only go
until 9pm, but the guy at the front desk didn’t say anything. Thanks, but next
time, I’ll make sure to only reserve until 9pm~
JANUARY 22
The Kanji portion of the exam went really well. I had
no trouble remembering all the kanji for the two lessons that were compiled
into the exam. It was about eighty or so to write, and about the same number to
read. The problem came afterward during the composition part of the exam. The
subject was about ‘value’, but I misinterpreted the meaning as I was writing
it. I guess I messed that part up.
After that, it would have been a good idea to review
grammar, but none of us had any motivation for that. We went to Saizeriya for
lunch, and then watched the remainder of the Drama class presentations. I took
the day pretty slow until the evening, when I finally settled down and read
over all the grammar sections.
JANUARY 23
Test day? Okay, now it’s time to wish I studied more!
To be honest, the test questions themselves weren’t so
bad, but the test setting was rather strict. No water bottles on the table, on
a pencil and eraser. Mr. Yoshida monitored the first hour, and then Mrs.
Yamamoto came back for round two. That’s when we all died a little. The second
hour was about reading comprehension, something we had just barely practiced in
class a couple weeks ago. At this point, I can’t even say if my answers were on
point. I just wrote stuff. My brain was done.
And so, my fall semester’s courses came to an end.
What to do with all my new free time? First, celebrate with chocolate, and then
some more job research. Dance practice today was from 3-9pm in the gym’s arena,
so we played a little basketball too. I finally feel like I am making progress
with my freezes! Now I got to practice handstands some more, and I also started
to learn how to do a windmill!! So excited, can’t wait to dance even more over
spring break.
JANUARY 24
Okay, today was officially the last day of the
semester. We still had presentations in culture class, so even though I was done,
I still had to attend and participate. That was all fine and dandy because I
could just sit back and enjoy the presentations. After that, I paced myself and
did some cleaning around my apartment.
Off to Toyohashi for another day of “training”. Now, with
other possible jobs in the wind, I was all business. We talked about the visa
situation, since it would require that I be able to work full-time and receive
a certain amount of money. No matter which job I was looking at, it had to
satisfy the minimum requirements in order for the visa to be approved. I wish
that wasn’t the case because I’m starting to like the students in Toyohashi
also. They were very participatory today, which is an ego boost for me.
JANUARY 25
I woke up at
9am today for a breakfast meeting with the aforementioned Toyohashi school.
Though the owner was hopeful that we could gather enough students to somehow
make up the minimum salary and hour requirements for the visa, I think she is
starting to see the same problems I am. I want to help them, but if the hours
collide with another possible job, then it would be impossible. I have a sense
that it won’t work out, I just need them to understand that. I hope this issue
is settled sooner rather than later.
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