I'm glad that not only do I know my boss, but I see him on an almost-daily basis and he gets to know me. He's not just a manager, he's the big fish of the whole shebang. THE Guy Healy of Guy Healy Japan inc. So it makes me proud. Sort of. He's given me a lot of opportunities, not only in interning here/teaching English but in music as well.
I kind of wish I could stay here six months and do two terms here. It would deepen everything. I could actually form a concrete network and care about them. But I'd need an income source. Without an income source, the 5000yen/week stipend is pretty measly.
So this is really sad, but I'd rather forego another weekend trip in Japan and go to Vegas when I get back. Like, I'd rather not spend that money here and have it to spend in Vegas when I get back. I really REALLY want to go to Vegas. It's been too long. I also REALLY want to go dancing/clubbing. My body is itching for it. When I don't dance (or barely dance) for a period of time, I just feel STUCK. My body just feels so stressed and uptight. I need to dance. And sing. It's definitely therapy for me. Stress relief. Bodily comfort. I think it is for all humans? But some have just tapped into it more.
I'm gonna miss my kids SO much. I always do this. I get really attached. I don't even want to think about how next week's the last week. Waaaay too short. (My time here is only a little more than half done, though.) I'm excited to take pictures and post them and show you my babies! :)
Tonight after class we went to Atsuko's (our English Club lead teacher's) house for okanomiyaki. It was so good! Her children are the cutest beings that exist. Kaname (2) and Narumi (6 mos.) SO perfect. We watched Totoro and played with trains with them. Atsuko is fluent in English because she went to college for 5 years in the states, but sometimes she does little things that make me laugh. Like she asked if we wanted "corns" with our okanomiyaki, and she said she "teached" a class, and she didn't know what teething was. It's cute. :)
I made kanji for my name. 麗紅花。Re-be-kka. It kind of means pretty red flower. I really like it. The "red flower" part is the exact same kanji as the restaurant "Benihana" but just with different pronunciation. (I know, Japanese is weird, right.)
TODAY'S CULTURE TIDBIT
Japanese apartments and houses are really small and that's just how it is. And some, maybe most, have sliding doors (not Western doors.) Atsuko's apartment has sliding doors and tatami mats. There is one parking lot for all the apartments and it takes them up to 10 minutes to walk to their communal parking lot.
The view from Atsuko's parking lot at night.
In Japan, you're either in a big city or boonie countryside. There's no in between. There's no suburbs. Like literally, you either live IN the city or you live out in nature. It's a really weird concept that I just recently noticed and wrapped my head around. That's why Japan's highways are absolutely nothing like America's freeways (especially SoCal's.) You don't need to use the freeway for ANYTHING unless you're going out of town. None of this linking-towns-by-freeway. Back at school we go to Garden Grove, Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, etc. on a daily/weekly basis and we always take the freeway to get there. Every day. But in Japan there's just the city (and in the city you can drive on the streets or use public transportation), and the only time you would use the highway is if you are road-tripping to an entirely different area.
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