hey all,
As I'm sure you're all familiar with, when you have something you're looking forward to in the near future, time seems to slow down, making the anticipated event seem farther and farther away. For me, that event is what I've began thinking of as my "big weekend" with Michi. Appropriately, things have inexplicably slowed down a bit at work, so that I've recently only been teaching two classes per day (average used to be around 4), which leaves me 6 hours of free time....in which I have nothing to do except think about this weekend. I've taken to walking around the school grounds rather than sit at my desk.
Today I bought another 6 sets of flashcards (another 666 cards in total: 111 in each set), as I've filled up all my other ones: some 333 with kanji, 666 with words, and 222 with verb conjugations. Both the words and kanji actually over- and under-estimate how many I know: I might forget a couple kanji or words that I've written down, but there are still kanji that I can read that I haven't entered, and words that I know that I haven't written down yet.
Requests to The Company for information regarding possible positions next year have been disappointing. No, they probably don't have any office positions available. They might have part-time elementary school positions available in Tokyo, but that means getting at least 1 other job just to make the same amount of money as I do now: same pay for much more hassle. Boo.
In case anyone has been wondering, no, I most likely will not return to the US this year. Because Michi and I have extremely limited time together, we both have taken to making plans for long vacations several months in the future. For example, this weekend we're going to Yugawara, but we're already making plans for a 3 day holiday in late November (probably spending it at her family's second house near Ogawayama), and for Christmas break (probably spending part of it in Nikko, hiking, sightseeing, and relaxing in onsen). I booked Yugawara 2.5 weeks in advance, and there were only 3 rooms left at the hotel, so yes, I'm finding it is necessary to think ahead about these things.
The weekends in between those long holidays will probably be spent the same way as the last couple have: indoor rock climbing or local 1 day climbing trips, trips to parks with lunch and dinner, hiking trips, etc. Those kinds of things are relatively easy as we can make-up our minds (usually, I suggest something, then we do what she wants) the day of or the day before.
Although Michi has lived in Japan her whole life, there are still many places that she wants to see. Since I've just arrived, there are tons of places that I've never been, so we have a huge number of possibilities for trips, and have tentatively began suggesting places we could visit next year. We both have a bit of the traveling bug.
My last girlfriend happened to be Asian (Thai), and 5 years older than me. I mentioned before that Michi was born in the year of the dragon, but I don't think that really means anything to Westerners. This is a round-about way of saying that she is 33, although one of my friends has complimented me on dating someone who looks like a 14 year old. Why is it that I'm dating another Asian girl who is 6 years older than me? I can't be that much more mature than other 26 year olds. I'd probably argue for the opposite, in fact.
In any case, somehow we get along, despite coming from different countries, growing up speaking different languages, being raised in different cultures, and even being born 6 years apart. What does any of that even mean in the face of common interests, shared likes, and compatible personalities?
As something of an aside, should you ever come to Japan, or I'd bet any Asian country, you will see tons of foreign male-Asian female couples, but almost no Asian male-foreign female couples. In my couple watching (which as a long-term single person, is something like worrying at that one sore spot on the inside of your check with your tongue: it hurts but you can't seem to leave the thing alone) I've never seen a single one. Michi and I have even talked about it, and we can't quite find a good answer as to why. I'd like to find one of these couples and take a picture of them just to prove that it does happen. What is it about the first combination that makes it so common, while the second is never seen?
Cheers,
