Whoooaaah! We're Halfway There!

Tuesday, August 14th marked our sixth month anniversary in Japan. Six more to go before we return to America. I'm not eager to leave, but it will be nice to return home to our cats and to native English and to Taco Bell. What can I say, it's the classy things I miss, like 89 cent bean burritos and sugar free Red Bulls.

So what, if anything, have I learned during my six month stay here in Japan? What do I see differently now? Let's take a look, shall we?

Then: "The Japanese use three different systems of characters: Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji. I'm trying to learn Hiragana because apparently that is where Japanese language students are supposed to start and because many train station signs are printed in Hiragana" (January 6th, 2007)

Now: Hirgana is basically useless because the characters spell out Japanese words and my Japanese vocabulary is non-existent. Also, train station signs are printed in English as well as Hiragana. At one point I had all of the Hiragana characters memorized, but forgot them before I came to Japan.

Then: "My husband and I will spend the next year of our lives in Iruma, Japan, a smallish city on the far outskirts of Tokyo. My guess is that Tokyo is close enough for day trips, but too far to travel for dinner or bar hopping." (January 25th, 2007)

Now: I have no idea what Iruma is, even though it's part of our lengthy mailing address. Is it a district? A neighborhood? The name of our city is Miyoshi-Machi town, but when people ask where we live we always tell them the name of our home train station. Distance wise, Tokyo is close enough for both day trips and late night bar hopping, but thanks to that pesky thing known as last train, we are forced to leave Tokyo rather early.

Then: "In my opinion, Japanese people are overly concerned with germs. Many businesses have a little tray for customers to put money in so the clerk doesn't have to take it directly from the customer." (March 6th, 2007)

Now: The tray has nothing to do with a fear of germs, but rather a fear of being impolite. Apparently, it was/is considered rude to hand money directly to someone, although many cashiers directly hand me change, so I really (still) have no idea what the tray is for.

Then: "Yesterday I taught my first children's class and it was more than slightly terrifying. The eight mothers were hovered around the observation windows eager to see how their little darlings would perform. I'm sure the moms were there for moral support, but I felt as if they were judging my performance." (April 2, 2007)

Now: The above mentioned class is now one of my favorites. The children are eerily well behaved for 3-5 year-olds, although their moms still hover around the windows. I now teach a total of eight kids' classes, and despite having some of the same children since April, many still do not understand that I don't speak Japanese.

Then: "In my experience, 80-90% of English language school teachers are raving drunks. If we wanted to, my husband and I could go out drinking every night as there is always a group of teachers boozing it up somewhere." (May 29, 2007)

Now: I would like to increase that percentage to 90-95%. Also, I now believe that the bigger boozer you are, the better your chances of promotion.

Then: Psychic Prediction: There will be a big earthquake in our area of Japan in the next month or so." (June 3, 2007)

Now: I have learned that I am not psychic. Also, after experiencing five earthquakes in six months, they have begun to lose their novelty. A 5.3 woke me up last night and I wasn't motivated enough to get out of bed.