First one?

Right, so I guess I should write something for everyone to read when they first come here. As of now, I have little idea where this blog will go but I intend to simply type in the things that I'm thinking about at the time. If you have any responses please, please write to me about it. I'd love to hear from all of you and it would be closer to having a conversation than normal e-mail has been.

So, I find myself in Japan teaching English to all ages. Although I speak Japanese all the time, I still get in plenty of English time. At school, I usually speak English to the other English teachers since it is more comfortable to me and they honestly need the practice. There are three English teachers and the best of them can not understand English when it is spoken at normal speed so I am trying to break them in. Other than that I try using English with the students and while a few of them like it and try to converse with me, I usually end up reverting to Japanese. Then there's English Club. One of my 2nd grade JHS student's (8th grade in America) mother is a private English teacher and she wanted to have me over from time to time to practice her English skills. So, on Saturdays I get together with her and two other private English teachers from the area for a couple hours to discuss whatever in English. This is fun since it's the only time I get to talk about things like politics and religion with Japanese people in English. Afterwards she tutors me in Japanese for about an hour and a half. which is good because I can ask her actual grammatical questions in English.
Then, I typically head into Sendai on the weekends. Sendai is the 10th biggest city in Japan and it's only about an hour from here by train. Usually other JETs (Japan Exchange Teaching) are there ready to go drinking and whatnot. This is great because I get to not only speak English, but these people actually understand my humor. They might not think it's funny, but at least they understand it.

So, I'm getting a great deal of practice in Japanese but at the same time I am still getting to use my native language plenty. I love my job because the students are great. I'm at the Junior High Monday-Thursday and then on Fridays I go to the Elementary and Kindergarten. That's pretty much just fun and games so it's a nice break. The teachers are all super nice and they make me feel like a real member of the staff. The students make me feel both like a real teacher and a friend which is fun. In fact, just today six of my 2nd graders (8th graders) came over to watch a movie and play video games. Great fun.

So, that's my introductory blog entry. From now on it will probably be a lot of just whatever I'm thinking at the time. So be prepared.

Later ya'll.