Time flies

I can't believe its already February! I have definitely not been following through with updating this blog as planned, but maybe thats a good sign anyway.

January brought my birthday, so now I'm another year older but I keep forgetting and telling kids I'm 25. Its confusing when they manage to communicate that question, I answer them, they are excited to understand, then I backpeddle and remember I'm older and try to explain that I'm actually 26. Then they look at me a little skeptically, maybe wondering if they're confused, I'm confused, or I'm just lying to them. Passing 25 just makes me feel pressured to have my future more in order, as always. More on that in a bit.

January also brought Jon to Japan. He has been here one week and two days now and its going well. Its crazy to have him around after six months apart, but its great and so exciting to take him to all the places I've told him about and introduce him to my friends here. I am adjusting to having someone else living in my tiny apartment with me, he is adjusting to living in a tiny apartment and in Japan. Due to working all week and not having much free time in the evenings, we didn't get out of the house much until this weekend.
Actually, last Wednesday, I had a Japanese lesson and brought him along. The idea was that he would wait and read a book while I did the lesson and then we could rush off to Kasuga Taisha (a large shrine in Nara Park and a World Heritage Site) where they were lighting thousands of lanterns for the the holiday called Setsubun that celebrates the beginning of spring. The Japanese lesson is strange, as its just for the six JETs that live here in Saidaiji and work in Nara and is taught by other foreigners who speak Japanese fluently and are studying to be teachers here in Nara. They are from all over, Romania, Vietnam, China, Korea, etc. and this is the third lesson we have had like this. Usually the six of us JETs in Saidaiji give night seminars on Wednesday every few weeks that elementary school teachers in Nara come to to learn about teaching English in Elementary school. That always feels ridiculous to me as I am just beginning to have an idea about how to teach and most of them have been teaching for years and trained to be a teacher before that. Its part of our job though. Anyway this is the third time that the tables have been turned and instead the JETs are taught a random Japanese lesson and the elementary school teachers get to come watch and are supposed to observe something about how people learn a second language and also it gives the people studying to be teachers a chance to practice on us. So after arriving, Jon was quickly invited to join us despite not knowing any Japanese at all. He survived the hour and a half or so lesson in Japanese, with much less anxiety than I thing I felt upon arriving and being put in such situation. I think the only time that was stressful was when he was surrounded by several Japanese women trying to teach him the names of body parts and quiz him on them and teach him the short dialogue. Its a little overwhelming to have your first Japanese lesson be in front of an audience.

Anyway, the lesson went too late for us to make it to Kasuga Taisha, so we just went home. This weekend we went to Osaka on Saturday for a masquerade ball put on by Nara, Mie, Hyogo, Osaka and Wakayama AJET (a JET association that puts on lots of events and has different groups in every prefecture). It was mainly to raise money for Haiti, and they never said how much was raised exactly, but we had a really good time dressing up and seeing everyone's masks. Sunday we went to Nara park and walked around up past Kasuga Taisha and past some smaller shrines. Jon got to see deer up close for the first time, though they weren't being very friendly so there was no petting happening. Hopefully next time.

Let's see...I also started taking a pottery class at the beginning of January. I have had 4 lessons so far and I am just learning the basics. I have made a bowl, a small cup, several plates...my teacher is teaching my the methods and then after we get through that in the next month or two I can make whatever I want. It is a really small shop with only a few students each night, but they produce really great work. They have a website but I can't find it right now so I'll post it later if I find it. I have class every Monday night and its a really nice time to go sit and relax for a couple hours, focus on clay, and attempt to talk to my teacher and the other students. I haven't finished anything yet, but I'll post pictures when I do.

And last but not least for today......I'm officially signed up for a second year in Japan! It seems so strange since I'm only halfway through my first year to be deciding this, but the paperwork was due February 5th so now I'm officially here until July 2011. Unless some thing completely unexpected happens, which I guess wouldn't be all that crazy, I will not extend for a third year and will come home at that time. Although I have absolutely no idea what I mean by come home because I still have no idea where I will be moving to and what I will be doing there. Actually, I have several ideas, but no real plans yet.

I'm still planning a visit back to the US this summer though. I should be there 3-4 weeks from late July through mid/late August. I'll be primarily visiting Chico, San Francisco/Bay Area, LA area, and Lander, Wyoming. I'll give you some dates when I have them settled and we can make dates.