possibly signing off?

Not sure how to title this because I am not sure I am ready to leave this project. I mean, I already abandoned it before, but I was always thinking to myself that I would come back to fill in people that want to know about the company that I used to (yes, used to) work for.

I am not a complete full on informative person of the company Amity. I was simply writing about the company from my perspective. And what do I have to say about my company and experience in Japan?

I absolutely loved every second of it.

I am back home and looking for a job and am realizing more and more that I miss it terribly. It was an experience unlike any other. I had my share of experiences throughout my life, but I don't remember anything being as happy and fun and living as that one.

I will say getting the job was not difficult and maintaining it was not difficult either. I had complaints about the hours, but other than that everything was easy as pie. I loved being there and having fun and joking with students and playing with them as well. I couldn't get enough.

If I have no success with my findings back in America, I'll hop back to Japan. A place where I am comfortable, happy and always in search of adventure. I will enjoy having my time on hold in America to spend a few more years in my favorite place.

I always felt that Japan was my second home. I didn't know how true that was until I went.

But now that I am back, I have this to say:

If you are looking for a new experience and like working with children (or know how to work with children) I recommend using Amity as a stepping stone to working at an eikaiwa school. Once you have gained enough experience, change schools and move on to another one, because if there was something, it was schools looking for other teachers that had the experience.

But like I said, that life is over. I have pictures, memories and a ton of toys to prove that it was not a dream. It was real and I lived for two years in a country I have wanted to live when I was about 8 years old.

Japan, I will return. I don't know how long it will take me to return, but I will. I promise.

As for this blog, I don't think I can make the same promise. I don't have the need to type as much about my life because it is a bit boring. Unless something amazing happens I don't see me coming back for much. So if anyone has any questions about amity or the process for the future teachers out there here is my email

kathyz89@gmail.com

Drop me a line. I'll be sure to answer you there.

Until then、
まったね〜 　
キャシーちゃん

I decided that today, after I woke up and got ready really early, that I decided to experience a little bit of the outside world. And what a fun day. I don't have much to say that won't be better said than a picture. So, I guess I will save a thousand words and show what I did this afternoon with a very good friend. I will give some background information of this festival though, then I will allow you to enjoy it. This festival is called tezutsu hanabi in Toyohashi. It's basically a bunch of fireworks going on with people holding onto the fireworks as they are showered by the little sparks of the flame. Then they bring in big firework cannons and shoot off a ton of fireworks. Overall, it's an interesting festival that they have. Now, enjoy the rest of the pictures.

I leave and come back and leave again...

ひさしぶりね。

It certainly has been a while since I last posted on this blog. I am a bad writer. Bad. Like someone should hit me on the nose with a newspaper.

I still don't have that same satiation for writing like I used to. But I am slowly regenerating myself to want to drive that energy towards writing.

I still do the whole vegging out after work, but I do write at least a page about my day or about a thought that crossed my mind. It has been interesting to get back on that horse. But, it feels like I am picking up a bicycle and riding a bit again. With no training wheels.

That's not to say I have not stopped living in Japan. I still am living on the other side of the world, with nothing to do but eat Ramen noodles and day dream about Mexican food drenched in salsa verde that my mom makes.

Since the last time that I posted, I found out I have not updated what has been going on with my life. I guess I should update something of what I have been up to.

Summers in Japan are in a word HORRIBLE. It makes cold showers and big ice refrigerators seem like a paradise! All I did was create new pit stains on some of my favorite shirts! It has not been pretty.

But fall is here, so the sweat pools have dwindled down nicely. Now I only worry about getting my cardigans dirty and what not. Otherwise, it is only going to get better now.

I have done a few more things on the bucket list that I made back in May. I did see a Kabuki show at an old retirement home. There was this cute little old lady that kept singing alongside the show. Speaking of little old ladies, one time when I was walking home to lunch, I got hugged by a random one on the street. It made me happy for a while.

Also, I have switched apartments. It's bigger, more spacious and has a little bit of a bug problem. But that was my fault. I let trash fester in the summer and must now reap the consequences. But I will say in my defense, the time I had to take out the trash, a typhoon came and would have made it very difficult to take the trash out.

I don't know what else I have yet to mention to make it sound like I am having a good time versus I am just complaining about the time I have spent in Japan. Because I don't like to complaining about this place. I love it here. I don't have much of a choice, I mean, I'm still planted here for another full year.

I wonder what to do for my one year anniversary. Probably nothing but a wine bottle for me. Raising a glass, October 13.

My inspiration is drained!

I have been trying to get back up on this horse of writing. But I have noticed that as soon as I get home, I will get on my laptop and instead of opening a writing application, which I have paid some decent money to say to myself well I bought it I might as well use it, but instead I go on tumblr, look up an episode I have not seen yet, pig out, and rest my eyes for the following day.

My inspiration has been slowly sapped from my skin. It has left no trace of hunger to continue this passion that I majored in.

And I find it ironic that while I Have no more inspiration to write, I keep looking at writing seminars, and universities that offer a master of fine arts in writing. I figure that if I want to get into these prestigious schools, I should be writing on a regular basis.

And yet, here I still sit, doing nothing.

But I have been giving some thought about a bucket list.

A bucket list of Japan, because, although I don't want to be pessimistic, I will probably not return to Japan. So, I have to do everything I want to do in Japan before I leave October of next year. So here is a bucket list with things I have already done and plan to do in Jaapan before leaving in October 2014.

1. Go to every Pokemon Center in Japan (7 total, 2 completed)
2. Climb Mount Fuji (To the top of the mountain. Go big or go home)
3. See a sumo match
4. See a Kabuki play (even though I understand no lick of Japanese)
5. Go to an Onsen (with monkeys or no monkeys; just as long as its an onsen)
6. Go to Tokyo Disney and Tokyo Disney Sea
7. Visit all the beautiful shrines and areas in Kyoto (Fushimi Inari shrine done, around 8 more to go)
8. Visit all the islands of Japan.
9. Stay in a capsule hotel
10. Buy a Kimono and a Yukata
11. Ring a shrine bell and pray
12. Do a Tea ceremony
13. Go to Universal Studios Japan


And heres the finished or completed parts of the bucket list:
14. See the cherry blossoms bloom
15. Go to Tokyo Tower
16. Visit the Winter Illumination in Nabano no Saito
17. Cross Shibuya Crossing
18. Visit Akihabara
19. Play UFO Catcher games in Akihabara
20. Visit a maid cafe
21. Visit Osaka and Dotunbori


And I know I have done a whole lot more, but I think due to the lack of sleep I am feeling, I am forgetting. But that's all for now. I will update as I think about more things I want to do while in Japan.

I love Fridays.

Normally, I have a very hectic schedule. I have late and afternoonish classes and don't arrive home until after nightfall. And not to mention I have to pedal all the way home, sometimes, like tonight, in rainy situations, where a pink umbrella is fighting with the wind.

But when I see that my calendar is marked as Friday, I love it. I think if I had to pick a day of the week, it is Friday. Even more so than my weekends, sometimes.

It's because I actually have work. I normally have work days which I feel I am dragging my feet through the damn doors. It's not because of the students. Well, sometimes because of some of the students. But mostly because those classes are not my favorites. And neither are the ones that I have on Friday.

It's just something about the day. Friday. The day when you are getting closer to the weekend. The beauty that the weekend is just around the corner. I don't know what is the beauty of Friday. I just look forward to it every weekend. I still have to drag myself into work tomorrow, but the fact that it was Friday. Just like it is still Friday now.

I love it.

Dreams

When I was a little girl, I often had dreams of becoming someone, or doing something with my life. More often I would imagine I was a superhero, like many other young ones and was impenetrable and impervious to anything and everything.

I also remember that when I was a little girl I found my fascination for anime and manga. I fell in love with Sailor Moon, Dragonball, and everything that came from Japan.

But I did not know that those fascinating cartoons of big eyes and colorful imagination began in the Asian islands. So I dedicated a promise that one day, any day, I would visit the birthing place of anime.

Some very many years later, I have achieved that dream. And even though I have been here for half a year, it seems like a unachievable dream.

I guess, what I am trying to get to in this submission, is that dreams are actually coming true. And now, that I have had this dream come true, I must venture out to achieving a new dream.

But none still comes to mind.

I would say come up with my own anime, but that would require that I possess drawing skills. sadly I lack that. But maybe a novel in itself.

A novel idea... yes, pun was intended.

Once, I had a great schedule planned out for me. I would wake up and read a bit while enjoying a ham and egg Muffin sandwhich with powder style tea. Or I would watch a few Youtube videos to get my fill of news from back home.

Then I invested in a Playstation, and it all went to hell.

Damn you Playstation, for being so god damn awesome. For filling my nights with multiplayer sessions, and for pointing out how bad I have become at shooting games. To point out my rustyness and fill me with nostalgia from all the ps one classics I purchased.

And also, thanks for being able to let my External Hard Drive work on you so that I can watch television shows and movies on a much bigger screen than the one on my computer.

I need to get off that thing. And start hopping on here more often.

I do have something written, so hopefully, the next time I log on it will be with more time.