So there's this 6 month gap between this post and the last. WTH!?!? Kinda wish I've been posting, but oh well.
Anyways, still in Japan. It's holiday season. Just spent my "Thanks Day" here sleeping in, a bit of minor shopping and a "nice" T-day dinner with Adam at Yoshinoya that consisted of a pork bowl, pork katsu bowl, and some miso soup. Guess it's pig for me this year instead of Turkey, well actually, instead of lobster. Our family no longer does the turkey thing for Thanksgiving, but now does lobster. Yes, I am missing out, and I'd rather be eating lobsters on this day, but it's the life I've chosen, so I must put up with it. Sadly, Christmas is celebrated here but it seems only as a commercial shopping holiday, not with the meaning we have being from a Christian faith. Another *sigh* I guess is due. Fortunately, I will be spending the New Year holiday in the Philippines. Yes, another trip to the motherland! That's 3 times in one year baby, hehehe. Can you tell I'm addicted? So woohoo, at least that's something to look forward to.
As for my life in Japan, my Japanese has gotten a bit better, but seeing that I speak English for most of the day anyways, it hasn't improved all that much. Oh well. Work is now just work. Can't complain much expect for the days when things go wrong or I get wrongfully blamed for something. Don't wanna go into detail or I'll get mad all over again. Things usually go ok, except sometimes, only sometimes, I feel like I'm running out of patience for this company and for this workplace. Am I that unhappy? It's hard to answer.
This weekend is our "Tokubetsu Kenshuu," or special training. Something we've "earned" for working hard each month and earning our branch's "spirits" or monthly goals. We ALWAYS earn them. We're one of the top 10 branches I think! So this weekend consists of a paid trip to Disneyland this Sunday, and training or a speech from our company's big cheese on Monday. I'm not quite sure what the actual dealy is since this is my first time, and no one seems to want to clue me in at work. On the plus side, the trip is paid for minus the food. On the down side, I don't get a replacement weekend and I have to roll with coworkers and the manager. Again, not gonna get into it. If you really wanna know, ask me.
I'm already looking for another job to extend my stay in Japan after my current contract ends. I'm considering entering the fast life and moving to maybe somewhere in the Tokyo area. Don't get me wrong, Utsunomiya is a nice place, but it's not really a fast paced city. I love it here and it would be a great place to settle IF I was planning on settling in Japan, but I'm not. I'm probably looking at another year, tops, so I might at well see what life is like in the Japanese fast lanes. It may be expensive and difficult, but I figure it's worth a shot. So that's one option. The alternative is to just pick up and leave the country and go home. At this point both options are plausible and possible. It's both exciting and scary to look into one's future, especially since I never had to think this far ahead before as a student. When in school, most likely you know that the next year you'll still be in school. Damn do I miss being a student. If it wasn't for the fiduciary mess I'm kinda in, I'd love to just be a student for a while. But again, that's what life is all about, it's about figuring it out, and making sure you have some answers, if not all, by the time life requires them from you. Tough shit man.
So in my last moments of Thanksgiving day, I guess right now, I'm thankful for of course the family I'm blessed with, the friends I have and the new ones I've made, for small things I take for granted on a daily basis, for being granted with some ability to speak Japanese, and for the knowledge that God must love me, because if he didn't, I wouldn't have all the above mentioned things. It's always hard to list what your thankful for, because more than half the time you don't know or are ignorant to those things you should really be thankful for. I may just be speaking for myself, but I'm happy that at least I'm owning up to my deficiencies as a person.
I'm already predicting, or I guess I already know, that it's gonna be during the holiday season when I'm gonna miss home the most. My family, my friends, the overall feeling. Nobody said it was going to be easy, but I already knew that.
Anyways, still in Japan. It's holiday season. Just spent my "Thanks Day" here sleeping in, a bit of minor shopping and a "nice" T-day dinner with Adam at Yoshinoya that consisted of a pork bowl, pork katsu bowl, and some miso soup. Guess it's pig for me this year instead of Turkey, well actually, instead of lobster. Our family no longer does the turkey thing for Thanksgiving, but now does lobster. Yes, I am missing out, and I'd rather be eating lobsters on this day, but it's the life I've chosen, so I must put up with it. Sadly, Christmas is celebrated here but it seems only as a commercial shopping holiday, not with the meaning we have being from a Christian faith. Another *sigh* I guess is due. Fortunately, I will be spending the New Year holiday in the Philippines. Yes, another trip to the motherland! That's 3 times in one year baby, hehehe. Can you tell I'm addicted? So woohoo, at least that's something to look forward to.
As for my life in Japan, my Japanese has gotten a bit better, but seeing that I speak English for most of the day anyways, it hasn't improved all that much. Oh well. Work is now just work. Can't complain much expect for the days when things go wrong or I get wrongfully blamed for something. Don't wanna go into detail or I'll get mad all over again. Things usually go ok, except sometimes, only sometimes, I feel like I'm running out of patience for this company and for this workplace. Am I that unhappy? It's hard to answer.
This weekend is our "Tokubetsu Kenshuu," or special training. Something we've "earned" for working hard each month and earning our branch's "spirits" or monthly goals. We ALWAYS earn them. We're one of the top 10 branches I think! So this weekend consists of a paid trip to Disneyland this Sunday, and training or a speech from our company's big cheese on Monday. I'm not quite sure what the actual dealy is since this is my first time, and no one seems to want to clue me in at work. On the plus side, the trip is paid for minus the food. On the down side, I don't get a replacement weekend and I have to roll with coworkers and the manager. Again, not gonna get into it. If you really wanna know, ask me.
I'm already looking for another job to extend my stay in Japan after my current contract ends. I'm considering entering the fast life and moving to maybe somewhere in the Tokyo area. Don't get me wrong, Utsunomiya is a nice place, but it's not really a fast paced city. I love it here and it would be a great place to settle IF I was planning on settling in Japan, but I'm not. I'm probably looking at another year, tops, so I might at well see what life is like in the Japanese fast lanes. It may be expensive and difficult, but I figure it's worth a shot. So that's one option. The alternative is to just pick up and leave the country and go home. At this point both options are plausible and possible. It's both exciting and scary to look into one's future, especially since I never had to think this far ahead before as a student. When in school, most likely you know that the next year you'll still be in school. Damn do I miss being a student. If it wasn't for the fiduciary mess I'm kinda in, I'd love to just be a student for a while. But again, that's what life is all about, it's about figuring it out, and making sure you have some answers, if not all, by the time life requires them from you. Tough shit man.
So in my last moments of Thanksgiving day, I guess right now, I'm thankful for of course the family I'm blessed with, the friends I have and the new ones I've made, for small things I take for granted on a daily basis, for being granted with some ability to speak Japanese, and for the knowledge that God must love me, because if he didn't, I wouldn't have all the above mentioned things. It's always hard to list what your thankful for, because more than half the time you don't know or are ignorant to those things you should really be thankful for. I may just be speaking for myself, but I'm happy that at least I'm owning up to my deficiencies as a person.
I'm already predicting, or I guess I already know, that it's gonna be during the holiday season when I'm gonna miss home the most. My family, my friends, the overall feeling. Nobody said it was going to be easy, but I already knew that.
