Two Steps Forward And A Half Step Back

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

That’s quite a bit of progress my friend!

I began my language swap class this evening. It began at 6 in the café underneath my apartment. I had never been there because…well…I’m a little intimidated. I didn’t want to look the fool in front of my landlady and she always speaks so much Japanese to me! But when I was in there tonight I realized that it’s going to be one of my favorite cafes…well, the only café really. It had beautiful music which was just my speed and pretty good coffee. I’m not a big coffee drinker but it was such a nice atmosphere! I might go there to study a lot! Though I don’t think it’s like a regular café where I can just loiter…I need a Starbucks for that…but they’re all in Tokyo. Damn.

So the class is rapidly turning into a full blown English class. I got a call this evening to confirm the time and I told that another friend would be attending. After I got there, I learned that not only was another person was joining but a third person would be coming the following class! Hmmmm….

So I whipped out a Japanese language text book that I barrowed from Adam and started where I wanted. I talked about what I wanted to study and I learned what the other women wanted. Nothing too difficult really. But it all comes down to dedication. I can do this as long as I study mostly outside of the conversation time and they need to get a book and start studying vocabulary and I can work on grammar with them during the…class…*sigh*

I turned down their money because I said that it was an equal exchange but I really think that if I’m going to actually have some students then I need to rethink this. I didn’t really want one English conversation let alone two!!! Though this class should be significantly easier because I just review the material in the book instead of actually writing lessons and conversation topics. It’s really up to how much effort my students want to put into it…and I could always use the extra cash….I have a lot of traveling to do! In fact, if I could, I would be all over Japan!

I want to go to Hiroshima, Nagoya, Osaka and Okinawa! If I could, I’d never be in Kochi! It’s not that I don’t like it here, it’s just that my friends are scattered all over Japan! If they were here, I’d never want to leave! No tourist attraction compares to good friends!

And back to the extra cash note, I have never been in such a constant state of want! I want to buy everything! I want to eat everything and do everything! All these things take cash and that adds up! Thank god I got paid Friday! I need to make a budget and start cutting down on spending…so I can spend more ;)