you, you, you and you.

Konnichiwa こんにちは! *Good afternoon*
Genki desu ka 元気ですか?? *How are you??

It’s already finals week for the students over here, so it will be pretty quiet for Lisa-the teaching-assistant this couple days. Their first day of exam is on December 1st. Excuse me, DECEMBER FIRST? Whaaat??? That means I have passed my 2-month mark in Okinawa!! SAFE!! *clap clap clap*

This semester of school will be done on 12/28. Before school ends there will be some more prepping for class days, hanging out with the kids days or off to different adventures on weekend days. (Sad FYI: I am working on Christmas. But I am hoping to wear my 100yen Rudolph hairband to work. Ho ho ho)

After the 28th, Lisa is off to Tokyo, Yokohama, Kamakura, and Hakone!!!!!! I was happy to fight for the tickets on Skymark (Japanese priceline?) last month with Hannah. The tickets are about the price of flying to NYC from MN. And for accommodations, Hannah and I are staying about half the time in hotel, half the time at my friend Nozomi’s grandparents place! Dividing the average costs of hotels, it was a pretty good deal. :]

I am very excited to see Tokyo again in a MONTH and meeting up with some of my old friends. I met Nozomi when I studied in Tokyo 2 years ago, and we have kept a good relationship since. On the other hand, most of my friends are traveling out of Tokyo with their families to other prefectures up north or FRANCE for their Christmas/New Year trips. So I will have to go back. (haha) My family will also be off to China with Grandma for a couple days. So I won’t be seeing them for New Years. But! I am going home for Chinese New Year, which I have missed for five years now. I can’t wait for it, and I am grateful Okinawa is so close to home and the job I have is so kind about letting me taking days off without too much hassle.

I cannot believe Christmas is coming so soon! Graduation, traveling with mom, summer at home, started working in Okinawa and BAM, it is Christmas already! BAM! Becky’s BABIES will be here!!! Ahem, I have distracted myself here. Oh yes, I am excited to see Shibuya crossing, the romantic red brick warehouses again. Seeing the Japanese big Buddha first time, visiting the Little Prince museum, going to hot springs, and visiting national parks overlooking the Mt Fuji!!! It will be a blast.

Back to reality real quick, what I am trying to say in this blog was that I have been enjoying the simple and quiet schedule I have here. It might be boring to some, but I like my simple life – eat, pray, work, travel and love.

My days usually go like this: Get up, go to work, two or three hours of classes in the morning, co-workers will share treats they got from trips to everyone (and sometimes that’ll be my breakfast) then yes! Lunch time! Go to the “Bento street” across the street for my lunch box or eat out somewhere, sometimes walk to the “Kon-bi-ni”, the convenient store, “Lawson” for a snack, or browse around magazines. Then coming back with usually just one class in the afternoon, so I correct student’s homework or prep for class materials. I should consider bringing my laptop in to edit the pictures when I have down time. But I probably shouldn’t.

Life is good, work wise…I am not freaking out as much anymore, and I am getting better at being punctual. Also I have been eating (haha), occasionally I bring lunchboxes I made the night before. And maybe 80% the kids I teach like me and smile when I talk to them. (5 of them are my new BFFs…haha).

I consider that a big SUCCESS.

Living wise, I am also visiting different places each weekend, discovering new places to walk around and I have not seen other spider yesterday. (haha) Also, I am glad to use the down time as my study time this week. I am taking a Japanese Language Proficiency Test on Sunday. I am failing it, but I just might have the luck to pass it. If I really pass it, I would truly believe I can do whatever I want.

Remember that blog about me losing it during that monthly work meeting? I am still scared of it... because last month’s meeting I was able to skip it. 2 hours of listening to Japanese is not the worst, 2 hours of listening and sitting and doing nothing else make me nervous. I am too used multitasking since college and have million things going on. It’s hard to just sit and do one thing for me now. Hehehe.

love, Lisa

p.s. I will put up pictures soon. I was able to get some good ones because it stopped raining and it is not cloudy so much anymore. Yay. Lunch time!

it's golden

If you know how the bottom of a pool looks like when it’s sunny…maybe you will know what I am trying to say here. That beautiful reflection in gold color was on my office window today.

I looooooove the light around five to seven in the afternoon. It’s beautiful this second, and next second it’s gone. That’s why it’s even more precious, magical and beautiful.

Around five o'clock was the time to get home from school when I was in high school in Hong Kong. I remember trying to catch my favorite radio show every day after school after saying goodbye to my friends at the bus stop.

I have started to get used to life here in Okinawa, and the more time I have worked with the students, the more I thought about my own high school days. I miss hanging out with everybody and just be upset with simple things and then forgetting about it.

Life was so simple then. Well, it's really not that complicated for me these days either. It's great and I enjoy being simple. Anyways, that pretty golden light and shadows on the window I saw today encouraged me to write to you.

Hope all is well,
Lisa

p.s. I am loving the weather here in Okinawa... I can finally smell the crisp autumn breeze! It's getting chilly! p.p.s. Debate contest will be on this coming Wednesday, and that means there will be no more working until 9pm! Happy November!

new friend

It is the week of midterms (already!) for the junior high and senior high kids. (Here in Japan, they get done with the school year in Feb/March.) With midterm exams on the schedule, I didn't have to go to my classes for couple of days and I only have one class for tomorrow! Yay for Fridays! :) So, one of the teachers in my department who is just 2 years old than me will take the other TA Hannah and I to the bank and the immigration office in the morning. :)

Hannah who graduated from St. Bens with me, works in the same school also. It has been very fun and I'm glad that our personalities clicked pretty well right away. Hannah and Ryan (SJU grad) came to Okinawa around the end of August, exactly one month before I did. So it was nice that when I first got here, she was able to show me around and brought me to her favorite malls and restaurants. It definitely took a long time for me, Hannah and the school to know when I could arrive in Okinawa with a legitimate work visa..., but now that we found each other to go on adventures together, this year will be very fun and enjoyable.

Hannah works in the junior high English department, while I work in the PR office and help with senior high school students. My office is on the 1st floor and hers is on the 2nd floor. The whole school has 6th floors and it's quite big because the junior high and senior high school buildings are connected.

Anyways, the big spacious office she works in has a lot more teachers there and she is surrounded by fun and nice English/Math teachers. It's pretty much the main staff room so sometimes they will have meetings there.

Fun fact: instead of signing in somewhere to the network when we arrive the school, or getting time card stamped by a machine...I sign in with my own wooden Inkan stamp (印鑑) in that same staff room.

My office the PR department has a quieter atmosphere, but I am slowly realizing that most of teachers are very funny and enjoy each others company very much. The PR office takes care of all the exchange and visiting groups that go out to America, Taiwan, Canada..etc...and helps preparing cultural exchange activities for the students. A group of German student group came last week, and there will be a another group of Vietnamese students coming in around November.

A week after I left home,

mom came to visit. She told me because each time we talked on the phone, she felt my voice was less genki than the day before and to the point that she was worried about the living situation. "I found cheap tickets." she said. <3 

She stayed at my apartment for a week and helped me moved in (with new frying pan, cooker, hangers, food,  and LOTS of cleaning supplies and a suitcase full of winter clothes that I couldn't bring with because of the limit with my air ticket.)

Mom, Hannah and I tried to go out as much as we could after work, but mostly we were trying to clean the apartment. It is a nice and spacious apartment, however because my arrival was postponed...during the hot summer days, many big but thin, long legs spiders came to live in my closet. And hid under the drawers.

I did not touch any of the closets the first week because I was too tired and didn't have time or mainly the motivation to do it... When mom and I have pull all the drawers out and after she had killed 10+ spiders while I was at work, there was 10+ more spiders waiting for us to vacuum. (I am starting to itch as I type this.)

Mom bought me a small vacuum to get the dirty job done, we got wipes for the tatami mats, did hardcore cleaning that week. I didn't remember having many hours of sleep. But it's all clean now...thanks to Mom!

dinner with co-workers, vice principal & his wife

the second week...

of work was a little more intensive, but still I would be team teaching classes with another teacher and I was not as nervous. For a while I felt like I was being watched everywhere I go, and that's normal because I was the new teacher that came when school has already started for a month. And I do not look like a teacher, you know that. ;p

I prepared class materials couple times, help correct students' homework...and continued to fight with the internet. (repairing is the correct Window phrase. How I wish I am a Mac). It always cut me off when I am too fast and furious. Literally.

The work is not difficult , but it requires a huge amount of patient and energy that I am learning to have for the high school students. And the first week of work, I worked for 7 days non-stop because the school was having an open campus on Sunday for interested parents and students to visit.

I was able to get to work and home on time, learned to go to places for my bento (lunch box), got my prepaid Japanese cell phone from Softbank, got my foreigner ID and insurance set up, and learned what's like to be in high school again.

But most importantly to learn to speak in English 24/7 again.

For 4 months, I was at home comfortably just hanging out, later anxious and frustrated hoping to start working asap. Looking back I had too much fun playing, did not have a healthy sleeping schedule and spoke too little English.

But I look very genki (healthy/happy)

So the first week here I was trying to cook, eat, and go to bed on time. AND learned to walk in high heels, and eventually stopped wearing the ones that gave my feet bloody blisters. 

i was losing it

when I was at the all staff work meeting last Friday. It was all in Japanese for two hours and I got really uncomfortable and wanted to cry.

I tend to feel like that when I am very exhausted. So it wasn't anyone's fault, it was all me..

I knew it wasn't about the language too, because it is not the first time for me to be in a meeting like that. On the first day of work, other than I was being introduced in front of 70, 80 teachers that morning, I did about the same thing - I sat there trying to guess what was going on. It was a shorter one, but that Monday morning I was very excited and didn't feel dizzy at all.

Last Friday was my three-week mark. I was very exhausted and have been having too little sleep or food to be honest.

My first week of work has an easy schedule, I went around to meet teachers and tried to remember kids' name when they are being introduced to the new Risa Sensei (teacher). I fought with the wireless at school and in the apartment. My dell was not picking up any signals while my co-workers with light and pretty Fujitsu laptops were just cruising away on the internet anywhere at school.

I somehow found a hot spot near the window in my tatami bedroom. But because I sat there with a bad posture and blood circulation, and constantly being freaked out by the gecko outside my window... going on to the internet wasn't really a fun experience anymore.

photobook

Prelude | BOOK INFO

under water

I have been swimming under water for a while now. Missed me?

The work for internship has been going great, but I was surprised that there isn't any copies of sports illustrated at the st. johns library. the graphic director I am working with said they have the best ideas for shooting sports pictures. To be honest, I can't wait for a session where I can take pictures of dancers. It would be a lot of fun!! And I can have many fun ideas to put into them. But it's still fun and work at the same time for now. Anyhow, this project definitely opened up many windows for me.

As for nutrition, dance, and guitar - they are making me a healthy and happy kid. I definitely pay more attention about eating and I can do sit ups easily than ever, haha....working out twice a week though = I should eat more than I normally eat. (note to self) Plastic guitar strings also are easier than the steel guitar strings, even my guy friend said the 6th string hurt his finger.

And for club activities, new year is on the 14th, but the school festival will be on the week after. This year I am part of the decoration team. And I made a bunch of test paper cranes strings yesterday. They were quite dreamy. I better take some pictures of them to show you for next time.

Here are some places I have been to....last two weeks.