ジェト・プログラムのジャスティン

2010年2月4日

In English: Laziness has hit me. burrrr… Also, it’s final!
The cold (though not as bad as New Jersey, USA) and the lack of insulation is making me lazy. Let me explain. I’m usually just sitting under my kotatsu, a table with a heating unit covered by a blanket to trap in the heat. Of course with the heat, I get tired more easily and I am incredibly lazy. There are even times I fall asleep while I’m under my kotatsu. After a few hours, I find myself waking up to sweaty hot legs.

When I’m not in my living room where the kotatsu is, I am mostly in my bed with my four blankets. Yes, four! It keeps me comfortably warm through the night, which doesn’t help me in the morning when I need to get out of bed to a wonderful indoor temperature of 3ºC (about 37ºF). You read correctly… it's the temperature inside! The other day it was so cold that when I was taking a shower, the steam built up so much that I couldn’t even see my shampoo. I was reaching around and I ended up knocking it down. Luckily, I hadn’t uncapped it yet. Generally, it’s not so bad getting out of the shower at first, but I find that if I don’t dress in a maximum of 5 minutes, the fast hands of the cold start to hug me. I assure you that this is not a hug anyone would want unless it was in a blazing summer.

In other news, it’s done. Today was the monthly JET Program AET (Assistant English Teacher) meeting in my prefecture of love and knowledge (愛知県 – characters are “love,” “knowledge,” and “prefecture”). As usual, the February meeting is when each Aichi AET submits his or her decision to re-contract. It was certainly not tough to decide this year as there hasn’t been anything too severe happening in the states nor has there been anything that compels me to stay in Japan. So yes, I will be going back to the US for good in late July or some time in August. As of now, I’m thinking about leaving Japan in the middle of August after the summer Comic Market convention in Tokyo.

Looking at my blog posting trend this year, I will probably only post a few more times before I’m back in the US. I’m amazed how fast the years in Japan have gone by, but overall, the pacing has been good. There are a lot of things that have entered my life since I graduated from university. I’m ready to go back fully charged to deal with the frightening unknown of the acting and drama world. I hope the states are ready for my return!

En français: Je suis allé à un concert de Green Day.
Il était super! Green Day est ma bande favorite. J’étais très content que je pouvais aller au concert. Est-ce que vous sachez que j’ai acheté un ticket d’un élève? C’est vrai! Il est un élève dans un autre lycée. J’ai fait la connaissance de lui une année dernière à un BBQ. Il aime Green Day aussi, et dans septembre, il a contacté moi au sujet du concert. Il a acheté deux paires.

Il est allé avec son frère et je suis allé avec une amie. C’était le mieux quand Green Day a chanté «Basket Case». Après le concert, j’ai acheté un t-shirt, une serviette, et un porte-clés. Je veux aller à un autre concert dans le futur.

日本語で: 英語を教えていることは一番大切と思う。
だから、最近日本語を勉強してない。日本に来て始めたときは日本語を勉強するべきと思った。この国で住んでいるから、日本語はきっと大切です。実は日本語を少しわかる。日本語を喋るときにとても遅く話す。世界の中で英語をしゃべることは要る。そして、生徒は英語をもっと喋ってみているの方がいいねぇ～　生徒と日本語ではダメです。僕は生徒達のチャンスだねぇ。外国人と英語を喋れる。

今週の聖書の詩: “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.”
- 2 Peter 1:3-7 (NIV)

My sister asked me recently how I can be so calm when I think about my future. Of course I am trying to be proactive and I am not just lazily sitting around in terms of handling the future, but ultimately, I am going with what God opens for me. I understand there will be times of difficulty, and there will even be some difficulties to the point that I would think it impossible to get out of them. However, I put my faith in the Lord. I believe He will lead me in a manner that is best for me.

今週の写真: I went to Hong Kong with my family in the end of December for about ten days. I met them at the HK airport. It was great! Instead of typing at great length, I’ll let the pictures speak for our time there, but you can check the file names for more information on the pictures.