Japan Meets Andrew Marston

(Upon rereading this post, I’ve bolded the important topics for those not wanting to wade through my complete discourse)

Since my excursion to Yokohama, I have been unable to leave camp as we are now in the throes of our international camps (basically for native English speakers). What does this mean? Lack of material to post. However, as I go about my day interacting with these “second culture” kids, more and more do I notice small discrepancies between them and their American equivalents. Little things such as attitude toward new foods, perspectives on doing chores, and preference of free time games are slightly different. More on this in another post however as I feel it could easily run dry the waters of this blog. (I’m not sure what that means, but I meant “it would be boring”).

Kotani-san and Me

I had the most amazing grilled rice ball with fish flakes of my life. So good, the whole world gets to read about it. I’ve posted a picture of half of it in my hands. I’m next to a man named Kotani Masa. He is the father of one of the staff here and comes about twice a week to volunteer at the camp. His English is very good and we’ve become fast friends as he likes teaching me Japanese. There are many stories already revolving around horrible sentences I’ve constructed in Japanese. But unlike most Japanese, he corrects me and I’ve learned an enormous amount from him in a short amount of time.

Job Search: Today I have officially applied to 15 jobs at www.gainjinpot.com a great online resource for foreigners trying to establish themselves in Nippon (that is, Japan). Also, I just wrote an essay and took an English proficiency test for a program called OWLS. If my GEOS job in Matsumoto doesn’t come through hopefully I’ll be able to assist in the public schools as an Assist Language Teacher (ALT).

On a personal sidenote: this week has been fairly intense on an emotional level. Words to the wise who are planning on leaving everything and everyone they ever knew: it’s rough, but if you want it bad enough, it’s worth it. I want it, so all this separation pain seems collateral damage for the payoff of residing in Japan. It would be nice if my family and friends from home and college could live here with me. Somehow, though, I suspect most of them wouldn’t like the constant intake of rice and fish flavored everything.