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The title is my week in weather speak.
The weekend was great. Spent Friday with the girls, enjoyed my weekend, and busted my ass on the Impending Speech of Doom (but in a pleasant way). Batman showed up at my door at 4 PM on Saturday because he'd spent 6 hours rewriting my speech for me and wanted to get it to me as early as possible. This just melted my heart! He works so hard for me, he'll help me with anything, and he always tells things like they are (which is a refreshing break from Japanese fascades). Sunday was passed pleasantly absorbed in the holgram of my American life, via friends and photos and powerpoint projects. Though life is usually pretty great here, things like that feel almost like rapture. I know a little homesickness is good for a person in the long run, and it means it'll all be that much sweeter when I get back.
Then Monday morning struck. I woke up sick (terrible timing) and my computer wouldn't start again (terrible, terrible, terrible timing!). It couldn't have waited two days?? I ended up having to waste most of the day freaking out and rewriting my lesson plans instead of practicing my speech. I could've used another week! I canceled my English conversation class for Tuesday, which was a welcome stress relief and something I ought to do more often, but I was pretty pissed to think I'd lost the powerpoint I'd worked so hard on.
Fortunately at the end of the day, glowing with fever, I got the computer started and was able to back up all my work. My new plan is just not to shut down the computer. Ever. At least until I decide whether to buy a mac or to just send it in and borrow a computer (I've had several offers from people with extra computers this time around, so thank god!). I was further shocked to find, after practicing my speech, it's an hour and fifteen minutes too long! Whhhaaat?? I thought I'd be stretching it at 20 minutes and now it's almost 2 hours! That's without taking powerpoint breaks!
I had to cut a ton out. I also ended up having to read the speech from the page because it was just too difficult, but in the end the computer held out. Today I woke up early, I suited up, I taught 2 classes, I pounded cold meds, I walked across town, I ate an awkward lunch with a room full of 50 year old men, I gave the powerpoint, they gave me presents, and I came back. All that work and now it's over. I'm kind of glad I wasn't able to put any more time into it, they were formal and gracious but not overly rewarding. It didn't feel as good as giving a new lesson to my students, or talking to a room full of parents about how to practice English with their kids, or teaching other JETs how to teach pronunciation. It felt like a bunch of rich people with nothing else to do but create their own rules and traditions. Still, I'd do it again, for all the other good that came from it.
Here I sit, in the rainbow after the storm. I learned a lot from writing and reading so much Japanese, and Batman is that much closer to adopting me into his family because of all the QT it gave us lol
The winds will pick up again, since there's a lot coming, but most of it is pure fun stuff. There's a few festivals this weekend, as well as some more traveling and Jonno's visit at the end of the month. It'll take some energy, but all the good kind. I've survived the most ominous thing I've had to do all year, and I was hardly nervous at all. This is the girl that got nervous having to call acquaintances on the phone. This is the girl that wrote a script when scheduling appointments. Can you believe I just walked into a room of rich old men under the motto, "I'm me. My Japanese is so-so, but I'm trying my best so no matter what happens - deal with it." I can't believe how much I've grown as a person since coming to Japan. It's a process that started in my last 2 years at UW, and for as long as I live, I'm going to keep it going.
Melodrama aside, I should have been a business woman. I love wearing suits. I love wearing suits almost as much as I love men who wear suits. If I had one weakness, it would be a man in a well-fitted suit. None of that, "this looks like I borrowed it from my dad" crap. You should wear your suit, it shouldn't wear you. And people OUGHT to wear suits, because there's no excuse not to look so awesome.
On another light topic, this morning I saw a most adorable cartoon on the news. It was of Kim Jong Il blowing up the U.S. and Japan, but he kind of resembled a cabbage patch doll. Only in Japan, ne.
The weekend was great. Spent Friday with the girls, enjoyed my weekend, and busted my ass on the Impending Speech of Doom (but in a pleasant way). Batman showed up at my door at 4 PM on Saturday because he'd spent 6 hours rewriting my speech for me and wanted to get it to me as early as possible. This just melted my heart! He works so hard for me, he'll help me with anything, and he always tells things like they are (which is a refreshing break from Japanese fascades). Sunday was passed pleasantly absorbed in the holgram of my American life, via friends and photos and powerpoint projects. Though life is usually pretty great here, things like that feel almost like rapture. I know a little homesickness is good for a person in the long run, and it means it'll all be that much sweeter when I get back.
Then Monday morning struck. I woke up sick (terrible timing) and my computer wouldn't start again (terrible, terrible, terrible timing!). It couldn't have waited two days?? I ended up having to waste most of the day freaking out and rewriting my lesson plans instead of practicing my speech. I could've used another week! I canceled my English conversation class for Tuesday, which was a welcome stress relief and something I ought to do more often, but I was pretty pissed to think I'd lost the powerpoint I'd worked so hard on.
Fortunately at the end of the day, glowing with fever, I got the computer started and was able to back up all my work. My new plan is just not to shut down the computer. Ever. At least until I decide whether to buy a mac or to just send it in and borrow a computer (I've had several offers from people with extra computers this time around, so thank god!). I was further shocked to find, after practicing my speech, it's an hour and fifteen minutes too long! Whhhaaat?? I thought I'd be stretching it at 20 minutes and now it's almost 2 hours! That's without taking powerpoint breaks!
I had to cut a ton out. I also ended up having to read the speech from the page because it was just too difficult, but in the end the computer held out. Today I woke up early, I suited up, I taught 2 classes, I pounded cold meds, I walked across town, I ate an awkward lunch with a room full of 50 year old men, I gave the powerpoint, they gave me presents, and I came back. All that work and now it's over. I'm kind of glad I wasn't able to put any more time into it, they were formal and gracious but not overly rewarding. It didn't feel as good as giving a new lesson to my students, or talking to a room full of parents about how to practice English with their kids, or teaching other JETs how to teach pronunciation. It felt like a bunch of rich people with nothing else to do but create their own rules and traditions. Still, I'd do it again, for all the other good that came from it.
Here I sit, in the rainbow after the storm. I learned a lot from writing and reading so much Japanese, and Batman is that much closer to adopting me into his family because of all the QT it gave us lol
The winds will pick up again, since there's a lot coming, but most of it is pure fun stuff. There's a few festivals this weekend, as well as some more traveling and Jonno's visit at the end of the month. It'll take some energy, but all the good kind. I've survived the most ominous thing I've had to do all year, and I was hardly nervous at all. This is the girl that got nervous having to call acquaintances on the phone. This is the girl that wrote a script when scheduling appointments. Can you believe I just walked into a room of rich old men under the motto, "I'm me. My Japanese is so-so, but I'm trying my best so no matter what happens - deal with it." I can't believe how much I've grown as a person since coming to Japan. It's a process that started in my last 2 years at UW, and for as long as I live, I'm going to keep it going.
Melodrama aside, I should have been a business woman. I love wearing suits. I love wearing suits almost as much as I love men who wear suits. If I had one weakness, it would be a man in a well-fitted suit. None of that, "this looks like I borrowed it from my dad" crap. You should wear your suit, it shouldn't wear you. And people OUGHT to wear suits, because there's no excuse not to look so awesome.
On another light topic, this morning I saw a most adorable cartoon on the news. It was of Kim Jong Il blowing up the U.S. and Japan, but he kind of resembled a cabbage patch doll. Only in Japan, ne.
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