Officially a Second Year JET!

Today marks my last day as a first year JET, and we are adding a new ALT to our ranks in my city. That means I will go from teaching at five schools to four. I will have a lot more time with each school, and I will be less busy on a typical day because my class load will be split at elementary schools. I used to have six classes in a day, but now I will more often than not only teach those six over a two day period.

Having three classes and three free periods will mean I will have more energy to be the best teacher I can, and it means that I can plan my lessons while I'm at school instead of doing it all at home. I hope this means I will be a bit more chipper in the morning, but I am a night owl, so I usually have to rely on my morning tea to wake me up.

I'm trying to become a less judgmental person because I think it stems from insecurity, and I hate it when others judge me so I'm a hypocrite at times. It's easy to point fingers and but harder to look within, so I've been trying to do better.

I can already tell my second year will be one with less stress, and being able to take off for summer and Christmas vacation to go to Korea will be really nice. I am saving for grad school, so it gets lonely when your friends go on vacation and you sit at home over the breaks. But thankfully we get a raise as second year JETs, so I have a little bit more to work with each month.

I am going to a kyudo competition (or two) so I have to go to practice, but a typhoon is coming this weekend and it has been raining a lot this week already. I hope practice goes well, as it's for a long distance (60 meter) competition and we only get one session to test it out before the day of the competition, which is after I get back from Korea. 

I hope to blog a lot about my trip to Korea, but I am also starting my next grad school class on August 11th, so I can feel the things I need to do adding up.

I have been studying Korean every day with things like Memrise and Talk to Me in Korean. I also watch dramas and shows like Roommate to keep my listening skills up. It's really working. If any of you have never heard of Benny from Fluent in 3 Months, I draw a lot of my motivation from him. I have learned a second language fluently before, but it took many years to get where I am now with Japanese. Learning a third language is generally easier, and by telling myself I have already done it once before, I can push myself to do it again with Korean!

I hope to eventually go to the You Are Here cafe, but we might not have much time in Seoul this time around. Maybe when I go to Korea in winter I will be able to do Seoul again, but I am excited to see more of Southern and Western Korea next week. 

So happy first year JET anniversary to me and all the others out there! If you are a new JET, welcome to Japan and don't stress out too much! Come visit Fukuoka and enjoy your time in Japan. Korea, I will see you soon!!