Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

They say life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.  Just when you think you've got it worked out, you suddenly find your life heading in a different direction.

Can't argue with that.  About a month ago, I was 95% sure I'd be finishing my crazy, exciting adventure here in Japan in May 2013, and be going back home to Australia.  The plan was to then earn a Diploma of Laboratory Technology, and work my way up in the science industry.

However, I now have my eye on a different diploma.  The Postgraduate Diploma of Teaching (secondary) to be exact.  That's right; I want to be a Japanese teacher!

Now this all started as a "maybe" floating around in my head, spurred by the fact that I love my funny/shy/cheeky teenage students and have found this job as an ALT to be the most satisfying of any I have had.  I find language teaching to be very interesting, and now finding myself in the "real world" trying to apply the Japanese I learnt at school, I'm very excited to try and teach others in a way that is fun, practical and most importantly, productive.  Every day this "maybe idea" become a bit more real, and now the idea of doing anything else seems so strange.  And so, we have a change of plans.

Now at this point, I still assumed I'd be going home in May.  But when my company asked recently if there was anything they could do to convince me to stay, I decided to give it some serious thought.  I had played with the idea, but despite 'loving my job' there were still many frustrations that came with it, and the thought of enduring another year of it seemed unbearable.  But after discussing some possible changes which could lessen my frustrations, I really began to consider it.

I recognised that since my career objective has now changed, I have a greater priority to learn Japanese, and learn it well.  After the progress I have made (though still far from fluent), another whole year on top of that sounded wonderful, and got me feeling quite excited and relieved.  I asked and was granted the wish of finishing the next contract at the end of January 2014, instead of March, so I would be able to go home just in time to start university in February.  And seeing as I have to wait almost a year to begin my teaching studies anyway, I might as well spend the time in a relevant job as an English teacher, and in an environment where my Japanese skills, now important for my future job, can continue to improve greatly.  

With all these benefits, even my current job frustrations didn't seem so bad after all, and I recognised there was much more I could be doing to possibly resolve the problems, and was willing to take this on as my challenge for this year.

So, realising that there wasn't really much to come back home for just now (except for wonderful, glorious, normal food!!), my decision to stay became quite clear too.  And so I have now informed Interac that I will be accepting their offer to stay on until January 2014.  

To my delight I was told I could take some leave after January this year (as my permanent assignment at my schools goes from June - January each year), instead of working until the end of March.

And so the life plans of Maz have now become thus:

January 2013:

Finish teaching in Nerima for the school year, endure the cold winter, now made more fun with snow;

February 2013:

Escape the rest of winter and take a trip back to the land of Aus, catch the last month of summer and  eat copious amounts of mum's delicious home-cooked meals and many other foods I recognise and love;

March - April 2013:

Enjoy the beautiful cherry blossom season of Japan, do a bit of travel around the country;

June 2013:

Recommence the early mornings and frustrations fun!  Work on my proactive skills...


July 2013:

Take the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficency Test) level 3;

August 2013:

Head over to Estonia and meet up with mum for a 2 week summer holiday;

December 2013:

JLPT level 2?  Would probably fail that one but worth a shot, right? Also, enjoy Christmas and show mum the sights of Tokyo;

February 2014:

Tearfully bid fairwell to my friends and my second home of Tokyo, Japan, and move back to Australia to begin my Postgraduate studies (I'm hoping to get accepted at the University of Melbourne);

2015:

Begin teaching Japanese in Australian high schools!  And maybe do that additional work to make my diploma a Masters Degree.

So that's it, my new 3 year plan!

And now, a bit of David Bowie to celebrate the New Year and my new life plans!  Cheers, everyone!

My Brush With Royalty

It was reputed that on the second day of 2013, the inner grounds of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo would be open to the public, and the Emperor of Japan and his family members would be making a public appearance on the balcony several times that day.  I thought a royal glimpse sounded like a bit of fun, so I penciled it into my schedule and eagerly awaited the day.

I didn't really know how popular this event would be, although I was sure I would be standing in the middle of a crowd, probably catching a glimpse of the moving speck in the distance.  As I'm not a morning person, I decided to rock up to one of the later appearances.  

So off I went to Otemachi station, which is near Tokyo station, both in an area I had not yet been to.  "Not too many people here," I thought, "it's looking good!"  I exited the station on the Imperial Palace side, and started looking for the entrance.  Well, on my way, I came across hoards of people.  Most of them were leaving, thankfully.  Still, it took a little while to find where I could join the line of people down the block to be able to enter the palace grounds.

Along the way I found there were people giving out free paper Japanese flags - score!  Including a couple of cute children who took their job quite seriously.  

I also passed this  kid, who clearly loved his new flags and was dancing around with them.

After entering the grounds we were subject to a bag check.  A good reminder that this wasn't just your average tourist destination.  After getting through the bag check I continued on, and came to another check-point.  "They're going to check our bags again...?"  I thought.  Then I saw people getting the old "pat-down".  Except it turned out to be more of a "rub-down", which was certainly an interesting experience.  But kindly, they had female officers to check the ladies and she was polite enough to ask "touch okay?" before quickly checking me for explosives or weapons.  

Having made it through that check-point, it was just a nice walk up the hill to the inner palace grounds. By this point the crowd was comfortably dispersed, so I thought even though it's pretty crowded, it doesn't feel too crowded.  When I got to the top of the hill and saw a building there I was surprised to be there already - and to be so close!  "Wow, I'm gonna have an awesome view," I thought, as I joined the crowd already waiting outside the balcony.  Then I looked at my watch.  The next appearance would be at 1:30pm....it was now 12:10pm....this is gonna be a long wait!  Luckily I brought my iPod touch and used the time to study some Japanese vocab (as I've been very slack lately).  It was like being on a crowded train, except you don't need anything to hang on to.  So sardined nicely into the crowd I stood there for the next hour and twenty minutes, with my backpack and my iPod touch, wishing I could somehow reach my shoes to loosen them a little, as my feet has already gotten a few blisters from the new shoes I was wearing.  But I endured.  

Fast forward to 1:30, and the crowd starts to get excited.  Some people walk to the windows and line up, and there they are, the Imperial Family.  The flags start to wave like crazy, and I realise the autofocus on my camera is not going to be effective with all these waving flags at various distances.  So glad for manual focus on the Canon!  




After everyone waved to the crowd, and they waved the flags back, the Emperor stepped forward to the microphone to give his New Years speech, and the flags disappeared, allowing for some good photos (minus all the other cameras and arms in the way).

I probably should have paid more attention to his speech, but I caught something along the lines of "Let's make this year a good one also."  After the short speech, there was more waving from everyone again, and the flags when crazy for another minute or too.  I made sure to put down the camera and wave my flag around crazily, because after all, I love Japan and wanted to be part of the cheering crowd.  And then, the Imperial Family disappeared through the doors behind them.  I'll confess, I was hoping they'd be decked out in some traditional gear, but I guess that stuff is not all that comfortable to wear.  Also, those windows are deceptively big, so when the people appeared there they looked a lot smaller than I was expecting!  

Upon their disappearance it was time to go, and we began the penguin shuffle down the other side of the hill and out of the grounds.  

Overall it was a good experience, and I was glad I went.  Despite all the waiting, it was still shorter than the time I waited for that super popular ride at Disney Sea, and I new exactly how long I'd be waiting so it didn't drag on and on.  So tips for anyone planning to next year - bring some entertainment, or even a book, and maybe even some snacks (I hadn't had breakfast and brought no snacks...oops).  And don't forget your camera :)

When you're bored late at night...

...you learn fascinating things about the science and history of...GLITTER!  One of my favouritest things.

Taken from Wikepedia (the source of all knowledge):

Glitter describes an assortment of very small, flat, and reflective particles. When these particles are applied to surfaces, they each reflect light in different angles causing the surface to sparkle or glitter. Glitter is similar to, but smaller than, confetti or sequins. Glitter has been produced and used decoratively since prehistoric times from many different materials including mica, insects, glass, and now plastic.

Today over 20,000 varieties of glitter are manufactured in a vast number of different colors, sizes, and materials. Commercial glitter ranges in size from 0.002"² (50 microns) to 0.25"² (6250 microns). First, flat multi-layered sheets are produced combining plastic, coloring, and reflective material such as aluminium, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, and bismuth oxychloride. These sheets are then cut into tiny particles of many shapes including squares, rectangles, and hexagons.

The first production of modern glitter has been sometimes been credited to American cattle farmer and machinist, Henry Ruschmann, shortly after the start of WWII. With German glass glitter unavailable due to the war, Ruschmann found a market for scrap material ground into glitter made of plastics. He founded Meadowbrook Inventions, Inc. in Bernardsville New Jersey, and the company is still a major producer of industrial glitter today.

Isn't it fascinating what we can learn?