Kat's Japanese Adventure

Hello everyone! I know it’s been a long time since I’ve put theoretical pen to paper on here, and felt bad that I was neglecting my duties on the communication front. I’ve done a ton of things that I can’t figure out where to begin.  I guess I lost  a bunch of steam when  I started looking about on the internet to various blogs done by other JETs and English-teacher-types in Japan. I came to find out that everyone (other years, ethnicities etc) seems to have had/ be currently experiencing everything I’m going through – which is to be expected of course. Although my initial feelings of camaraderie and collective experience were great – I mean, it’s quite awesome to find some common experiences that everyone is facing on their trips over here, the nagging feeling of how cliché and unoriginal this whole thing is kept sneaking up on me.  I’m not one to think that I’m a “unique starfish” or snowflake or what have you, but the universality of this whole experience made me think twice about my own personal revelations I’ve had here, as though they were some sort of prefab deal that came with a package tour; the inaka special.  I suppose a lot of this also comes from the generally depressing / sarcastic natures and personas which bloggette types tend to portray while doing their thing.  I’m going to take it all with a grain of salt and continue to ponder away.

Fortunately for me, the pondering is going to become a lot easier to do, as I’ve finished grading all my exams, my third-years have shipped-off to uni, and I’ve nary a task to do at work. The upside of the thumb-twiddling days here is that I’ve become much MUCH better at my Japanese reading and writing, and I’ve had quite a lot of time to study and keep my life sorta-in line.  The bad news is that I’ve developed a bit of a tic that makes me flinch whenever someone walks behind me – the guilty-tic,  as I’m not actually working, and have no real work possible, yet I’m still being somewhat productive…… meh.  I’ll get over it soon enough. I’ve also become quite a tea-black-hole. I’m going through my top-notch reserves with the speed of  a certain Mexican mouse.

I’m sure this is all quite grammatically incorrect, and stream-of consciousness, but I guess even if it is, that’s pretty much where my head is at anyway. I’m not in stage 2, or culture-shock, or cultural fatigue (what have you). I’m just working through some things.  Cheers for now,  Kat.