A Fresh Start!

Hello everybody! I'm currently in my school right now, and there is a teacher's meeting going on. That means I have so much free time. Anyway, I'm sorry that I have failed to maintain this blog. It's quite out-dated and frankly sucks. However, I have decided to write a few things that have happened in the last 4 months.

I have decided to extend my stay here in Japan another year. I actually made that decision 2 months ago. I will begin my new contract from August 2010 to August 2011. It will be my 4th year in Japan. Something that I really never thought would happen. When I first came to Japan, my thought was to stay 1 year and get some experience. Since that time, I've grown accustomed to my life here, and enjoy it. My job is stable and the income is fine. Not to mention all the perks of living the 8th largest city in the world. :) I'm just not ready to give it up just yet. I want to make the most of my time that I have left in Japan.

January was a strange month actually. I came back from my trip back home in Texas with a "dude, Japan sucks" attitude and a larger waistline. Of course that usually happens when you come back from holiday. Life went on as usual though. My school situation was not so good. The students were great (most of the time), but other factors were holding my experience back. I chugged along through the rest of January and February by playing soccer and playing lots of video games.

In March, the Japanese school year ends and so did the high school careers of my 22 senior English students. It was sad to see them go. I taught them for almost 3 years and we had a very good relationship. I really liked them, even though they always slept in class. After a week of ceremonies and goodbyes, the school year ended. The beginning of my interesting work-free March began. In the middle of March I got a phone call from the Supervisor of all JET teachers in Osaka. He told me that the Board of Education was going to transfer me to another school. This is normal for regular teachers in Japan. They are regularly transferred to other school in March. However, this is extremely rare to see a JET teacher get transferred to another school. JET teachers usually spend their entire length of stay at the same school. So this came as a big surprise to me and and all my co-workers. A few days later I decided to start taking all my belongings out of my desk and back home. I was to report to my new school on April 7th for the first time. In between that time, I had a few days of holiday so I went to Tokyo to visit a some friends. I had such a good time and it made me forget about the nervous feelings I had in my stomach.

I reported to my school on April 7th with my suit and shiny shoes. I was led into a small conference room with 8 other people in suits and shiny shoes. They all looked at me quite bamboozled at the fact that a foreigner walked in. Anyway, it turns out that all these teachers were transfers as well. So basically they felt as bad as I did. That really made things easier to bear. After a short meeting with directions all in Japanese, we were led to a larger conference room. In this larger conference room was every teacher and staff member at my school. We were about to be introduced to every one. Wow, I was so nervous. Right before I entered the room, I was tapped on the shoulder by a teacher. He was speaking English! The first English I had heard in hours that day. He told me that after I was introduced, I could just leave because I didn't have to go through the entire meeting with the Japanese teacher. (the perks of being a foreign teacher) So I was introduced with a bow and I just left the room. And that was my first day at my new school! The next day was the opening ceremony for the school. The new teachers were introduced to all the students in the gymnasium. That was nerve wrecking but not as bad as the day before.

That Friday was the "Goodbye Ceremony" at my old school. I was invited to go. So I had to show up at the Principal's office at 8:30am. When I arrived, the Principal told me that I was to give a speech to the students in which I said goodbye. There were 7 teachers leaving the school, so the order in which we gave our speeches. Of course, I was the last one. Let me preface this by saying in the morning I didn't eat breakfast because I was too nervous. I also had this stupid idea to chug a Red Bull right before I arrived at my school. So there were at least 900 people inside the gym. The departing teachers, myself included, were led down the aisle and to the stage, where 7 seats sat lonely. Yes, we had to sit on these seats while we waited to give the speech. So, we were on this stage with every single student and teacher looking at us. One by one we gave our speeches to the students. Some long, some short, some sad, some I couldn't understand. The whole time I was shaking uncontrollably because I was nervous and that Red Bull was destroying my nerves. My time came and I attempted to give a speech in Japanese. I succeeded at talking for about 30 seconds until I somehow forgot how to speak Japanese. I had to ask one of the English teachers to come up to the stage with me and translate for me. Yeah, probably the first time that has happened at that school! haha Anyway, everything went ok I guess. And I said my final goodbyes to my students and fellow co-workers. As I pedaled away on my bicycle looking back at Matsubara High School, I was happy to leave that school but sad to leave my students behind.

That weekend I went did a lot of drinking, talking, dancing, cherry blossom viewing and other nonsense. Perhaps too much stress needed to be released! :) I decided that this new school year was going to be different. I want to make a greater effort to make my classes great. I'm going to get much more social! I'm going to reduce my gaming. I'm going to run a lot more! I'm going to write more BLOGS!!! hahah This is becoming a New Year's Resolution now! :) I might as well change a few things since I'm basically started a new chapter in my life here in Japan. I've got a new nephew coming in a few weeks. I cannot wait to see his face when I go back to America for my cousin's wedding in August. This is the end for now of my unnecessarily long blog post. Take care of yourself, where ever you are!

peace

vince

p.s. title...that's what she said.

View of Tokyo skyline from the Metropolitan building in Shinjuku.

Another view with Mt. Fuji in the background.

The most famous crossing and possibly the busiest crossing in the world in Shibuya Tokyo. World's busiest Starbuck's is right under the big screen.

Cherry Blossom viewing parties in Osaka's beautiful Castle Park.

The Moat of Osaka Castle with some Cherry Blossoms in view.