Midnight ramblings.

So, it's midnight, now Monday morning. Tomorrow I have a Japanese test.

What better time to update the travel blog than now? I mean seriously, I'm a goddamn genius!

In anycase, I've had a fever for the past week: since last Monday to be exact. Fantastic news for me right? I missed all of Wednesday classes as a result, and also ended up missing the first half of Thursday classes. I got very close to not showing up on Friday as well, but found that I should probably make an appearance at some point.

I'm still in pain even now, but at least my temp has gone down and I feel less like I just got hit with a nuclear weapon.

I got a package from the folks yesterday which actually caused me to tear a bit, just because it made me feel so goddamn homesick.

I suppose this is that chunk of time they mention in the handbook where you start to get homesick, hate Japan, and want to go home. I don't hate Japan, but I would be lying to you if I didn't say that a part of me does want to go home and see my family again. Granted, everyone seems to be feeling the exact same way, so I wouldn't be surprised if this goes away in a little bit. In fact, I'm expecting it to.

I saw a ten year old girl with her father sitting on the train yesterday, and watching them giggle and laugh as they both cracked jokes made me feel good. I was led to believe fathers weren't very often seen with their kids, but I feel like I've seen it everywhere here: maybe even more so than I would normally see in Providence. It's nice to be wrong sometimes.

I also had an encounter with an older woman who accidentally bumped into me at the subway station, causing me to drop my ticket. She kept apologizing and asking if I was ok with a smile, and I told her that it wasn't a problem at all. We smiled and parted ways and I left feeling fairly good about the world.

I guess it's those small encounters that really shape a person's concept of the place they're in. Who knows how I'll feel about the world seven months from now.

And God, when I come home, Obama better fucking be the president or I will reign hell upon the Earth.

In other news, I picked up an M3 yesterday. Which means that I will no longer be buying games for my DS. Ever. Again.

You have no idea how much this frees my wallet from the chains of hell. I'm very excited about this. Believe me.

Saw 20th Century Boys last Tuesday in theaters. What a fuckin' fantastic movie. It adapted the manga nearly perfectly, and as a stand alone beginning of an epic movie series, it works as well as any Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings: it sets things up beautifully, introducing a new world, with new heroes, and never slows from there. I'm excited for the sequel in January.

And I suppose that's all for now. To the people reading this who don't live in Japan, I love you all, I miss you dearly, and feel free to send me a message on here. I'm getting ready to send some stuff out across the ocean soon, once I figure out how to, so stay on your toes!

-E.

GTE: Great Teacher Elliot? Wait...you mean it's possible?!

Today was a fairly generic day. Class, eating, hanging with friends. Generic doesn't equal bad mind you. It just means that I've settled into a comfortable pattern for school and the like.

It also means I've gotten much more used to being in a foreign country, a lot faster than I would have expected. I also haven't suffered from the immense homesickness others have. But I suppose that may have something to do with Skype. It truly is a handy tool.

So, as of today, I've been here for about a month. I can honestly say though, it has probably been one of the best months of my life. Fulfilling a long held dream, it took a little while for it to sing in that I was really here, and that I was doing something I've wanted to do since I was only a little kid.

Here I am. Living out my school life like normal. Man, it's still surreal when I think about it.

So, to address the current title of this entry, it looks like as of tonight, I have become an English teacher in Japan. I was called and informed that I got the gig (It's non-paying, which is fine with me), and I'll be teaching a class every Monday night from 6:30 to 8.

Holy snap son. I'm a fucking English teacher.

Last time I did any teaching was as the Kungfu Sensei at Summer school. And I'm not going to lie, there is something I absolutely love about teaching, and one of my secret goals is to become a teacher. Not for the long run, but for a short period of time.

Now here's my chance to do it for a whole goddamn year. Hoh shit. I seem to have a class to myself, so I need to come up with some kind of curriculum now. XD. Oh jeezus, my first class is Monday, and I have no idea how I want to do this, or what format to use, or what to start with, or where everyone's English stands. This is going to be insane.

But I'm so incredibly happy and excited about it. I get a rush from teaching, and I don't know why, but as long as I enjoy it I'm certainly not concerned.

Damn, this is crazy. I need to get my shit together. Maybe start off with self introductions, and then watching a movie clip or something? Thank God I have the internet.

We also met a group of crazy Japanese people Tuesday: Machiko, Bo, and Hiromi.

They're amazing, and Machiko drew this picture of us today.

http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v346/231/101/1269784577/n1269784577_30120052_622.jpg

She rocks our world.


PEACE


-E.