I think I've been paralysed by my sister's words. Last week, she basically told me I needed to get a full-time job or face execution. I'm going to make her eat those words. The problem is, I've been sitting in front of the computer screen, but I was unsure how to get started finding a full-time job. I'm stuck at the point of writing a cover letter just to get an interview. The position is for Stanford University Press. I thought I'd get a publishing job for a start, because right now, I can't write a line in my novel.
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Hi friends!
It’s been over two weeks since I arrived in Japan. I’ve started a new life here, so I only want to record positive things in this blog. My last blog (Xanga) had its ups and downs, but when I went back to read it, it made me feel really sad and annoyed at my past self. I want this blog to spread happiness, so I’ll never look back at my life with regret. So here I am, in Japan. It’s finally happened. I guess I should start at the beginning with how I got here, huh? OK, so I got a job teaching English, that’s how most of us get here anyway. Why Japan, though? I just wanted to become independent, it didn’t really matter where the destination was, but I needed to go somewhere I could at least speak enough of the language to get around. That leaves just Japan and Taiwan. Does that satisfy your question? No? Oh I see, you wanted me to say I wanted to get a Japanese girlfriend. Um, that’s not even part of it. What, you don’t believe me? Ooook. Actually, that’s one of the first questions my students/people in general ask me: do you have a girlfriend? No, I don’t. I’m happily unattached, but I don’t blame you for asking. Next question.
How do I like Japan so far? That’s kind of a broad question, let’s condense it. I arrived at Narita Airport on March 27th. From there, I took a two hour bus northeast to Mito, Ibaraki. I was pretty tired after the two hour bus ride on top of my 14 hour flight. Once I checked into my hotel, I knocked out pretty much immediately. I lived in a hotel for a week after that, and after I checked out, I moved to a small apartment in Bando City, Ibaraki. Bando is kind of a small town with only about a population of 50,000 people. I started school last Monday. I teach four elementary schools, so I commute to a different elementary school pretty much every day. The kids are absolute beginners at English. So far the other teachers and students have been pretty nice to me, but the job is really hands-off. I’m supposed to follow the textbook’s lesson plan. I’m actually OK with that. Most of the teachers aren’t very good with English, so I don’t mind teaching each class.
OK, let’s be honest. I like Japan in general, or I wouldn’t have chosen to come here. I spent four years studying the language and I’ve studied abroad for half a year in Japan before this. This time around is more serious. I have to concentrate on my survival, so I haven’t had the chance to enjoy Japan yet. I don’t have a lot of money. I would like to find a part-time job so I could feel more stability, and then I can enjoy the experience of being here a bit more. I’m not well-established here yet, so I have to say that being here is not the romantic tourist vacation everyone seems to imagine it to be. So what do I like about Japan? There’s the obvious thing that I like anime and manga, but those types of media don’t reflect reality. My daily schedule is planned out for me, but life in general is a struggle. In this regard, Japan isn’t different from any other place on earth. I’m living independently away from home for the first time, and it’s kind of scary because I’m alone in a foreign country. I don’t have the support network of friends and family back home. I have to find a new network, and establish myself into my new community. In addition, I have to do everything in a foreign language. This is where a college education comes in handy as I don’t have that much trouble listening and reading. The problem is that I can’t be as expressive as I am in English.
Right now, I just want to survive. Enjoying Japan comes afterwards. Before I can do that, I have to find three things in Japan: a group of Japanese friends I can depend on, a Japanese conversation class to improve my speaking skills, and possibly a church, although I’m pretty dubious about the last one. I think I’d be lucky to find a church in such a small town as Bando, but I haven’t tried yet. I’ll keep you posted if I find anything.
-J.J. 4/13/2013
It’s been over two weeks since I arrived in Japan. I’ve started a new life here, so I only want to record positive things in this blog. My last blog (Xanga) had its ups and downs, but when I went back to read it, it made me feel really sad and annoyed at my past self. I want this blog to spread happiness, so I’ll never look back at my life with regret. So here I am, in Japan. It’s finally happened. I guess I should start at the beginning with how I got here, huh? OK, so I got a job teaching English, that’s how most of us get here anyway. Why Japan, though? I just wanted to become independent, it didn’t really matter where the destination was, but I needed to go somewhere I could at least speak enough of the language to get around. That leaves just Japan and Taiwan. Does that satisfy your question? No? Oh I see, you wanted me to say I wanted to get a Japanese girlfriend. Um, that’s not even part of it. What, you don’t believe me? Ooook. Actually, that’s one of the first questions my students/people in general ask me: do you have a girlfriend? No, I don’t. I’m happily unattached, but I don’t blame you for asking. Next question.
How do I like Japan so far? That’s kind of a broad question, let’s condense it. I arrived at Narita Airport on March 27th. From there, I took a two hour bus northeast to Mito, Ibaraki. I was pretty tired after the two hour bus ride on top of my 14 hour flight. Once I checked into my hotel, I knocked out pretty much immediately. I lived in a hotel for a week after that, and after I checked out, I moved to a small apartment in Bando City, Ibaraki. Bando is kind of a small town with only about a population of 50,000 people. I started school last Monday. I teach four elementary schools, so I commute to a different elementary school pretty much every day. The kids are absolute beginners at English. So far the other teachers and students have been pretty nice to me, but the job is really hands-off. I’m supposed to follow the textbook’s lesson plan. I’m actually OK with that. Most of the teachers aren’t very good with English, so I don’t mind teaching each class.
OK, let’s be honest. I like Japan in general, or I wouldn’t have chosen to come here. I spent four years studying the language and I’ve studied abroad for half a year in Japan before this. This time around is more serious. I have to concentrate on my survival, so I haven’t had the chance to enjoy Japan yet. I don’t have a lot of money. I would like to find a part-time job so I could feel more stability, and then I can enjoy the experience of being here a bit more. I’m not well-established here yet, so I have to say that being here is not the romantic tourist vacation everyone seems to imagine it to be. So what do I like about Japan? There’s the obvious thing that I like anime and manga, but those types of media don’t reflect reality. My daily schedule is planned out for me, but life in general is a struggle. In this regard, Japan isn’t different from any other place on earth. I’m living independently away from home for the first time, and it’s kind of scary because I’m alone in a foreign country. I don’t have the support network of friends and family back home. I have to find a new network, and establish myself into my new community. In addition, I have to do everything in a foreign language. This is where a college education comes in handy as I don’t have that much trouble listening and reading. The problem is that I can’t be as expressive as I am in English.
Right now, I just want to survive. Enjoying Japan comes afterwards. Before I can do that, I have to find three things in Japan: a group of Japanese friends I can depend on, a Japanese conversation class to improve my speaking skills, and possibly a church, although I’m pretty dubious about the last one. I think I’d be lucky to find a church in such a small town as Bando, but I haven’t tried yet. I’ll keep you posted if I find anything.
-J.J. 4/13/2013
There's something missing in my blood. That hot-bloodedness that would make me do bold and reckless things is gone. Ever since last Sunday's half marathon I haven't been able to walk properly. I promised my friends and family that I wouldn't be attempting a full marathon, that the half is my absolute limit, but at this point, I don't think I would even run another half marathon. I'll tell you the story of what happened.
So last Sunday I ran in the NorCal Half Marathon in Fremont, right? It cost me $75 smackeroos, but I got a commemorative medal engraved with my time for my efforts. So I ran the whole 13.1 miles (21 km) in 01:47:45 which is a pace of 8:13 per mile. I started off really strong; for the first 500 meters I was at the front of the pack, but I really had to go to the restroom at the 2 mile mark... hahaha. That was when the 1:30 pace-setter left me behind. I wanted to catch up to them, but my muscles wouldn't pick up the pace, because even my mind knew that I should pace myself. I hung around the 1:40 pack until the seventh mile when they left me in the dust. At that point, pain was creeping up from the sole of my left foot into my calf, so I adjust most of my body weight onto my right leg. For mile 8 and 9, I was running in pain. Not crippling pain, mind you, the type of pain that hangs precariously over you like a ominous shadow. At any point, I was a high risk to pull a muscle, but I had to keep moving. On miles 10 and 11, I shifted my center of balance back to the center and the pain had crawled up to my left hamstring and my right calf. Each step became a force of will to suppress the pain. After all, during my practice sessions at the gym, I had only ever gone up to seven miles.
One thing I thought about consistently during the race was my friend Becky. I had promised her I'd finish the race in under 2 hours because she'd crashed her car into a tree a week ago and broke several bones in her body. I told her I would run the whole thing in under 2 hours so she would heal twice as quickly. Well, I did, but I received some damage from that race as well. The 1:45 pace-setter passed me on the 11th mile. Not cool... On the turnaround, I saw the 1:30 pack and the 1:40 pack, people I had kept pace with however briefly, sprinting merrily in the other direction. Ugh, I knew I was 5+ minutes behind them at that point and it was unlikely that I would ever catch up. I told myself that I would settle for somewhere between 1:45 and 1:50. I hate to settle, but that was the limit of my physical fitness.
In the final stretch, I was thinking sexist thoughts; that I didn't want more than seven girls beating me. Well, girls number 8, 9, and 10 passed me, and I couldn't up my pace due to the pain in both my legs. Self-preservation was more important than arrogant pride. Of course, it shouldn't matter the gender of the people beating me, but I challenge any man not to have any chauvinistic thoughts about losing a physical competition to a girl. I knew I had the speed, but my endurance was broken. I was running precariously as not to pull a muscle. I wasn't mortified or anything at the time, but there's always the awww, man! moment after you check the results online and you find that you were 104th place out of 500+. OK, maybe I shouldn't push the envelope. My friends all congratulated me on my amazing feat, that's why I keep this blog as a private record of my more cynical thoughts. 104th place though. Had I not gone to the restroom, I might have ended up as exactly 100th. People were passing me left and right on the final stretch, but I had no choice but to let them pass.
Fast forward to today, and the sole of my left foot has been bothering me for the past five days. Each day, my foot is able to support a little more weight, but it has been a little painful to walk. Still, it shouldn't be long before it returns to normal. Today is Thursday, and I have low blood sugar. Not in nutrition, it's more like I'm longing to win something competitive. Words with Friends just doesn't cut it. I have to win at Magic. I'm going to Channel Fireball with Daniel Low tonight so I'll have the chance to redeem myself a little bit. I've been sucking at Gatecrash drafts, but today I'm going to turn it around. Wish me luck. I gotta go now, though, I have to write a cover letter to Formosa Foundation to get a summer internship in DC where I can see June, a girl I had a strange crush on in 2009.
So last Sunday I ran in the NorCal Half Marathon in Fremont, right? It cost me $75 smackeroos, but I got a commemorative medal engraved with my time for my efforts. So I ran the whole 13.1 miles (21 km) in 01:47:45 which is a pace of 8:13 per mile. I started off really strong; for the first 500 meters I was at the front of the pack, but I really had to go to the restroom at the 2 mile mark... hahaha. That was when the 1:30 pace-setter left me behind. I wanted to catch up to them, but my muscles wouldn't pick up the pace, because even my mind knew that I should pace myself. I hung around the 1:40 pack until the seventh mile when they left me in the dust. At that point, pain was creeping up from the sole of my left foot into my calf, so I adjust most of my body weight onto my right leg. For mile 8 and 9, I was running in pain. Not crippling pain, mind you, the type of pain that hangs precariously over you like a ominous shadow. At any point, I was a high risk to pull a muscle, but I had to keep moving. On miles 10 and 11, I shifted my center of balance back to the center and the pain had crawled up to my left hamstring and my right calf. Each step became a force of will to suppress the pain. After all, during my practice sessions at the gym, I had only ever gone up to seven miles.
One thing I thought about consistently during the race was my friend Becky. I had promised her I'd finish the race in under 2 hours because she'd crashed her car into a tree a week ago and broke several bones in her body. I told her I would run the whole thing in under 2 hours so she would heal twice as quickly. Well, I did, but I received some damage from that race as well. The 1:45 pace-setter passed me on the 11th mile. Not cool... On the turnaround, I saw the 1:30 pack and the 1:40 pack, people I had kept pace with however briefly, sprinting merrily in the other direction. Ugh, I knew I was 5+ minutes behind them at that point and it was unlikely that I would ever catch up. I told myself that I would settle for somewhere between 1:45 and 1:50. I hate to settle, but that was the limit of my physical fitness.
In the final stretch, I was thinking sexist thoughts; that I didn't want more than seven girls beating me. Well, girls number 8, 9, and 10 passed me, and I couldn't up my pace due to the pain in both my legs. Self-preservation was more important than arrogant pride. Of course, it shouldn't matter the gender of the people beating me, but I challenge any man not to have any chauvinistic thoughts about losing a physical competition to a girl. I knew I had the speed, but my endurance was broken. I was running precariously as not to pull a muscle. I wasn't mortified or anything at the time, but there's always the awww, man! moment after you check the results online and you find that you were 104th place out of 500+. OK, maybe I shouldn't push the envelope. My friends all congratulated me on my amazing feat, that's why I keep this blog as a private record of my more cynical thoughts. 104th place though. Had I not gone to the restroom, I might have ended up as exactly 100th. People were passing me left and right on the final stretch, but I had no choice but to let them pass.
Fast forward to today, and the sole of my left foot has been bothering me for the past five days. Each day, my foot is able to support a little more weight, but it has been a little painful to walk. Still, it shouldn't be long before it returns to normal. Today is Thursday, and I have low blood sugar. Not in nutrition, it's more like I'm longing to win something competitive. Words with Friends just doesn't cut it. I have to win at Magic. I'm going to Channel Fireball with Daniel Low tonight so I'll have the chance to redeem myself a little bit. I've been sucking at Gatecrash drafts, but today I'm going to turn it around. Wish me luck. I gotta go now, though, I have to write a cover letter to Formosa Foundation to get a summer internship in DC where I can see June, a girl I had a strange crush on in 2009.