How is it February already?!

Is it really already February? Seems like New Year's Day was just yesterday. I guess time really does fly by when you're keeping busy. I meant to do this "A Year in Review" post right after we rang in the New Year but things got busy, and I was also never home long enough to sit down and write. 

Long story short: 2017 was clearly an eventful year for me. (I'm going to try and not to bore you with repetitive details). 

First half of 2017, I was working at the American Heart Association and at J.Crew. Two jobs that I found incredibly enjoyable especially the AHA. It was a great experience working for this organization that does incredible things to raise money and awareness for heart research and heart health awareness. No, I was not paid or bribed to say this, this is how I truly felt about working here. This was my first true office job. I never understood how someone could be so busy in an office job but work really just piles up...especially if you are told to cut and staple 3000 stickers to envelopes to be used for the next day. 

As most of you know that in the latter half of the 2017, I moved to Okinawa! My life in Oki is one that has truly been mine and on my own, despite some help from the parentals with start up costs. I won't bore you with those details since I wrote an entry back in October about my moving into my apartment and such things like that.

It's been six and a half months since moving to Okinawa and here's some life events that have happened thus far: 

I bought a car! Friends from home should know that I have terrible driving anxiety in Honolulu and I hardly ever drive on the freeway, but in October 2017, I bought a car! After three months of getting around via bus and catching rides with people, I caved and bought a car. The parental units were not very happy about that but a car in Okinawa is very much needed. Let's just say since having it, I haven't been home very often. Many friends back home know that I have a bit of driving anxiety and I hardly ever use the freeway since I live in town. Driving in Okinawa isn't so bad since the drivers are not very aggressive but that doesn't make them good drivers either. I think I have more road rage in Okinawa than I do in Hawaii. I don't claim to be a good driver but I think I am better than most drivers in Okinawa. 

Picked up my car, Sully on Halloween in my gumball costume and had a sinus infection in this photo as well. 

I guess I'm good at my job? After the first few days in Okinawa and somewhat settled in, I didn't realize that we don't have much of a summer vacation at all. I learned that if you don't want to be stuck in the English office for 7 hours, use your nenkyuu (vacation hours/days) and go someplace exciting. After a week of getting my "bearings" at my school, I learned that I had a summer class to teach made up of 3 to 6 students. Mind you, only 2 or 3 of these students actually showed up since it was an optional class. Aside from "teaching" this summer class, I also coached five students with their English speeches to get into university. Japan is notoriously known for having entrance exams instead of applications so for these five students, they had to give a 1 minute speech about why they wanted to the university they were applying to and why. I'll be honest with you, I had no idea what I was doing but after reading through a rough draft of their speeches, I could see that they really wanted to go to this specific university but didn't specify why or what motivated them to apply. Good news from this experience was that all five students had passed including a student who did not come to me until the week of the exam. 

I would continue to help students with their speeches for speech contest, and experienced a milestone I thought was even greater than helping kids get into university. One of my third year girls won second place at the All Okinawa Senior High School Speech Contest. She was entered in the advanced level which are made up of students who have a natural grasp of the English language. 

I'm not allowed to post my kids on social media so here is a photo of me holding her trophy lol. 

I rediscovered my love for DIY: The possibly came about because I was bored being trapped in my apartment and needed to keep busy by other means instead of watching Netflix or YouTube all day. Back in Hawaii, I used to bake regularly and used to try and make a new recipe each time, or at least try to perfect a recipe. Before I left, I was dabbling in vegan cheese making and also working on perfecting how to make madeleines. Because my kitchen and microwave / oven is much too small, I haven't been able to bake anything but also it's much cheaper to do DIY in Japan because stores like Daiso and Makeman exist. If you recall, I made a gumball costume for Halloween and for Christmas, I made a bow skirt (thanks Pinterest!) I think I'm going to get back into scrapbooking and I've even bought all the supplies for it, but there's just too many ideas in my head that I can't seem to start lol.  

I don't know if you can tell but Christmas is my favorite holiday. 

I'm not ready to come home. We were told when we started our contracts that we would be presented with the option to recontract in November. I had already decided before coming to Oki that I would want to be in this program for at least two years. The application process for getting into JET Program already felt like a journey that staying one year would just not be worth it in my opinion. At the moment, I mostly only teach first years / 10th graders in high school and I won't seem them at all when they move into their 2nd year of their high school career. The other day during one of my regular English classes, watching the kids play an activity that I made and having fun with it, I started to get a bit sad that I wouldn't be teaching them when they become 11th graders. In our school, 11th grade is like a limbo year. Most of them tend to act out and become the Yankee students they've always dreamed of becoming. I wouldn't be able to see them until they become 3rd years and take the eikaiwa class if it's still around then. It's because of this, that I'm debating if I want to stay a 3rd year or not (sorry parents if you are reading this). 

I had selfishly said before coming to Oki that I wanted to do three years in the JET Program because the third year would be during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and I would have easier access to that. But now my reasons for wanting to do a third year would be because I want to see my 1st years graduate. I've invested so much time into their classes and learning that it would be a shame not to see them graduate. 

Overall, 2017 was filled with big milestones and accomplishments. It's not the first time living on my own but it's been the first for me to learn what kind of adult I am and can be. 2018 has only just begun and its already proven to be quite eventful. I'm looking forward of what's to come, I only wish it would go much slower. 

That's all for now. See you in another three months....probably lol.