Remaining Positive!

First published on November 17, 2009.

Catching up on my life.

On Saturday we had a play meeting. Every year, the JET community puts on a bilingual play in the city's International Center. Last year, we did Jack and the Beanstalk in English, but Monica played the Japanese narrator. This year we are mixing a lot of different languages, English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and some Portuguese. It's basically about a group of people who work at the International Center and they have to put on a talent show. However, the language barrier causes a lot of misunderstandings and funny scenarios. It's supposed to be mostly physical comedy . Kim and Matt were inspired by the play we watched in Korea, Nanta, and that's how they came up with this idea. I hope we can pull it off.

Anyway during the meeting, we found out that it was the birthday of one of the new ALTs. We all celebrated it at the Mexican restaurant. We were also surprised to learn that the restaurant was hosting a salsa night, so after dinner, we danced some salsa. It was so much fun. Wow Miyazaki has salsa nights. We might not be a well known prefecture and our city might be small, but we still have a lot of cool things happening here. lol.

I've also reduced my stress a bit this week.

The mid-year seminar is on Friday, but I think that Valerie, my presentation partner, and I will do fine. Valerie is awesome and made the worksheet. After seeing it written down, it doesn't look as scary as I first thought it was. I think we can pull it off. At least I remain positive.

I've been studying for the JLPT. That test is still worrying me because the more I study, the more I realize how much I don't know. Whenever I do practice tests, my high percentage of errors brings me down. However, I know that the only way to solve this is to just study harder. Can I pull this off? Probably not, but I will try. Time is ticking away and I still have to cram my brain with lots of vocabulary, kanji & grammar points. I usually have Japanese lessons on Mondays (1 hour a week) but next Monday is a holiday here, so I'm paying for an extra lesson, which will be held tomorrow. I NEED IT! lol.

Tomorrow is also the annual teacher's volleyball game at our school. Last year my team came in last, but it was a lot of fun. (^_^)

Today is Matt's birthday. We surprised him by sending him balloons to his school and the biggest one even played the birthday song when he tapped it. He seemed to enjoy his present. Yay!

This weekend, we are celebrating Matt and Yoshi's birthday on Friday, after the mid-year seminar. Then, Saturday morning, Kim, Asha, and I have to take a 7 AM bus to Fukuoka, which is the biggest city in the island of Kyushu. We are going there to watch a Sumo Tournament. I haven't seen sumo live, so I'm really excited. We also have really good seats. I think it will be a really interesting experience. I hope everything goes well. (^_-)

Music Listening to at the Moment: "Wedding Dress" by Taeyang