It's so nice when things start to settle down. Too much routine is boring, but a little is necessary to maintain sanity. I have a GREAT job teaching English at some elementary schools in Neyagawa city. I went in for an interview Monday and started working on Wednesday. Even though I've only been to 3 schools so far, I already know I love it. I'm free to teach what I want, and it seems that no one knows English at the schools, so I'm forced to practice the Japanese I know. I also am taking advanced Japanese classes twice a week. They're at Kawara Juku in Kyoto and if anyone's looking for great private lessons in Kyoto, it's definitely the place to go. The teacher is amazing with a capital A. He even helped me during my little incident with the psychopath from the English conversation school! And I'm continuing to meet with my conversation partner twice a week. Those are fairly routine things that make my life smooth and interesting. I have time to read a ton during my hour-long commute to and from school each day, which I actually enjoy a lot. Although, I do now understand why they have women-only train cars during rush hour (thank you JR, boo to Keihan). It really sucks being crammed into a train with about 1 female to every 20 men. Besides, the women-only cars tend to smell better and the colors are more interesting. The ones crowded with men seem stinky and black because of all the suits (sorry to you men...I don't mean to say that your stinky, but it sure is a noticable difference between the two cars!).
Besides the routine, I also have some things I'm working on. The photography is going well... I hope to take an early morning before work to capture some rising sun shots. It's hard when there are buildings blocking EVERYTHING though. I also need to finish up my law school applications. My personal statement is extremely daunting, and I need to get the move on because those applications can go in as of October first. I just can't think of the one wonderful thing that makes me unique and will convince the admissions committes to let me into their school. And of course, there's daily fun with kitty too!! Shisa's now about 5 times bigger than when I found her - looking more like a cat now than a kitty. I have a feeling she's gonna get huge! Craig and I have a lot of fun doing various activities around here and we are looking forward to the momiji season which starts this month. (For those of you who don't know, momiji is when all the leaves turn flaming red here - great photo ops). The weather is beautiful, and I wish my friends and family could be here. Wow, the count down is starting I guess - 8 more months till we come back to the good ol' US of A.
Posted by Kristen at October 4, 2003 07:47 PM
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