You know when you have one of those good days? Friday was a good day for me. Not only did it follow a holiday on Thursday while preceding another on Saturday but it was the first day since the end of my College of Law course. I don’t know if I’ve actually passed everything yet [...]
I wrote up this entry on paper first but I can’t get it to sound right so I’m just going to blurt it out and put it up for you all to read. Don’t say I don’t care. So my time on the JET Programme is over but I’m still working to improve the English [...]
Well it didn’t take me long. I’m not yet out of a job with JET and I think I’ve got myself another full-time teaching gig. It’s not definite yet but the two interviews I’ve had so far have been really positive and they’re even willing to work around my College of Law schedule (which surprised [...]
I’ve resisted calculating exactly how many days I have left at Ichiko but I know it’s not many. Why not prepare a countdown like most of my other colleagues? To me that feels like an admission of defeat. One of the things I really wanted to ensure was that Ichiko didn’t break my spirit. While [...]
Every year the JET Programme runs an essay contest and, because I had nothing better to do, I entered it. I found out today that mine was not among the winning entries but that’s OK. When you read it I think you’ll understand why this was probably not what they were looking for. I thought [...]
I really should have come up with a more interesting title, I realise, but when you’re onto a good thing keep on gooding it is, I think, the expression. Either way, week 2 has come to an end and not without the same lingering concerns as last week. I still find myself reacting negatively towards [...]
The end of my first week back teaching has come and it hasn’t been without some lessons for me either. God, that’s tortured. That’s what happens when I try to use ‘I’ less in my writing. Suffice to say, I had a few classes, learnt some stuff and am looking forward to week 2. The [...]
I suppose I’m showing my age here. In retrospect ‘Mikunigaoka Beach’ probably would have been more up to date. Oh well. I still love you, Luke Perry. The Real Catch indeed! Anyway, the reason I picked the soap opera theme is because big news has broken at Ichiko. Indeed, two things occurred while I was [...]
I went to Gaba, an English conversation college, today to attend an information seminar. The information seminar is ostensibly about providing information about the company and the way it operates but is in effect a precursor to a formal interview for a job. I should probably back up a bit. As you may recall, when [...]
I sent off the letter to the Sakai City Board of Education today saying I did not intend to re-contract. I hadn’t ever really meant to stay longer than a year but even still it felt kind of momentous. I’m a bit sad that my entire time will be spent at the one school. One [...]