Happy new year! / あけましておめでとうございます

Happy new year to all...

I am now safely re-ensconced in my little room in Okazaki after 2 weeks back in the UK visiting the fam, hence am feeling generally very jetlagged and uprooted at present. I didn't manage to sleep at all on the overnight 12hr return flight from London-Tokyo, and as a result my sleep cycle is completely shot...woke up at about 5am this morning. Hopefully I can realign it soon.

Anyway, except for the travelling and the tiredness caused thereby, I have had a very nice 2 weeks...very glad to have had the opportunity to see friends and family and to remind myself what life in the UK was like. I also had a good chance to relax. However, it being Christmas and all, I feel like I may have over-indulged on the food and beer fronts, and I worry that all the weight people kept telling me I'd lost is slowly returning to me...

My 2 weeks back have also, as I say, left me with a strange feeling of uprooted-ness, kind of like I don't know where home is any more...add to that the directionlessness and worry of not really knowing what I'll be doing in 3 months time (it looks like I'll be here for another 3 months unless I find a job or something by then) and we get a kind of feeling of discombobulation (now there's a word I should use more often).

So, nose goes well and truly back to the grindstone soon...I am a little worried (there's that word again) since all last term I felt like I was at the bottom of the class, was generally behind all my peers and was constantly playing catch-up...and now I have barely spoken, written or read a word of Japanese in the last 2 weeks (it just didn't seem...possible to even think about that stuff for most of the time I was away in a non-Japanese speaking country, if that makes any sense at all), so I'm afraid I'll be even further behind...

Oh yeah, and it's totally cold here and is actually snowing outside as I type! Criminy!!

Read more...

バイバイ。。。

明後日、クリスマスのために帰国の予定があります。　実は、今年の４月から日本にいましたから、すこし気にしています。　どうして気にしているかというと、日本の生活に慣れたとか、イギリスが外国になったのを感じているとかからだ。　ですから、私はイギリスに多くの時間を過ごしたのに、最近「どうだろうと思いますか」と考えることがあります。　それに、長い飛行機のせいで、イギリスに着くと、すごく疲れるになります。　しかし、家族と友達に会うことやゴロゴロすることなどを本当に楽しみにしています。　

じゃ、今学期がもう終わったな。。。皆さんと会うことをできなくなるのは悲しくて寂しく感じています。　先生達に感謝していて、Ｋクラスの皆さんのご活躍を祈りしています。　私のＹＡＭＡＳＡで勉強していた時間で、今学期は上位にランクされる。

Read more...

今学期の打ち切りに近づいていると、私はやはり段々悲しくなっています。　今学期は、難題が多くても、大体とても楽しくて、まだ終わりたくなかったです。

それに、学期の最後の日に休むことになったのは大変ものです。。。どうして休まなければならないかというと、２３日の朝、帰国の飛行機の予定があるからです。

じゃ、来学期を楽しみにします。　来学期の後は。。。ぜひ、ＹＡＭＡＳＡで続けたいと思うですけど。。。続けることができるかどうか、まだわからない。

Read more...

先週の間、期待していたほど大体元気になりました。　やる気も上がったし、好奇心の程度も上がったし。。。よかったね！　理由がなんとなく分からないけど、「頑張るぞ！」の感じを得た。　その気持ちに刺激されて、　来学期もより頑張りたい。

しかし、まだ勉強しすぎにより疲れることがある。　上に、冬が近づいているので、冬篭りをしたいです。

さぁぁ。。。今学期は２週間あとしかありませんね。　しかし、休みは本当に必要になったとおもいます。　休みに楽しみにしているのは、今学期がこれから本当に楽しかったのによく難しかったからだ。

よし、次の２週間、大切にしましょう！

Read more...

Sorry, once again, for not writing in such a long time. I know there are people who check this blog often (thank you!) and it feels slightly like I'm letting you down. It just hasn't really felt like I've had much to write about recently. Which is wrong, I've probably just not particularly felt like writing...

So...what have I been up to? School...seem to have managed to fight off the general feeling of burnt-outed-ness (sic) that I've been feeling over the last month or so, and this week has felt generally more enjoyable and productive.

Despite how it may seem on occasion, I am enjoying my time here and finding it very valuable...I can just get a little overly introspective at times I suppose. I've been thinking a lot about next term (Jan-Apr)...I'm pretty much at the bottom of my class right now, but I think I'd like to progress to the next level if at all possible...this term has been something of a baptism by fire

Other than school...I've been playing with my neighbor's Wii (innuendo ahoy!). I've also been reading (i.e. trying to read) lots of manga, primarily the very confusing Bushizawa Receive (大屋先生、　ありがとう ^_^) which is lots of fun, in a batshit-insane Japanese way. ひとみさんへ。。。僕、おたくじゃないぞ！！　本当に！！！　(・_・;)

My teaching work is kinda sparse at the moment...I do maybe 1 or 2 lessons a week if I'm lucky, but as long as the people I see find them useful, I enjoy giving them. In fact, one of my students (I'm sorry, I'm very hesitant to use terms like "lesson" and "student" since I don't feel even remotely like a teacher) is visiting the UK over new year's, which will be cool (that's when I'll bee there, see?).

The weather is getting cold...slowly descending into winter...きゃぁぁ、　寒い。。。Back in the U.S.S.K in a little under 2 weeks...scary...

Read more...