happy sad time

I am beginning to love my job. I've always had a sort of love-hate relationship with it. As one might do with any job. But this love-hate relationship feels especially volatile when one doesn't completely understand whats going on at the workplace! Anyways, with my new responsibility of having my own "writing class" and having the power to make and grade tests, thus transferring my effect on the students into data form, I feel heavy responsibility and motivation. I love this job autonomy. If only I had found it sooner. I did find it sooner in some cases, but I just didn't have the power that I have now. My students in the writing class call me Rebecca sensei and Rebecca Chan instead of Rebecca or Rebecca san, and I like it. I feel a closeness to the students approaching that of a Japanese teacher-student relationship. But, at the same time, I can still talk about taboo things with the students without feeling the parental (/Japanese teacher) burden. WOOHOOOO!!!
....and I leave in 2 months.
It really really saddens me. I purchased my tickets home today. August 10th=home. October 15=England, October 25=one way ticket to India, from there to Nepal.
It feels bittersweet to be leaving so soon. It feels a bit premature in some ways and I want to stay, but in other ways, I feel ready. A bit like graduating from college. However, when I search for jobs back home and read about the locations of those jobs and picture myself trying to get there during the morning commute, I find myself already longing for the rice fields and mountains, and lack of traffic. Biking to school. Peace in solitude. These things are found at home, yet in different forms. Am I ready for them???

Welcome to the Freaking club!!!!

Went hiking with Jam lady on one of the holidays Japan had a few weeks ago. It was awesome! As usual! We had to bushwhack through some pretty thick brush and scramble up this steep hill using roots to pull ourselves up and then we arrived at the top of the ridge. At the top we rested and Jam Lady (Yumi) asks me what I call this kind of hiking? "Mania" our friend (and guide) Shun chan suggests. Then I say, sure, mania is a good way of putting it. Then she says, no no no, more strong...."Freak!...Freaking!!" "This hike is freaking" "Welcome to the Freaking club!" I agree and say yes, i would say "freaking is one way of describing this mountain insanity". then she says "I have many freaking clubs!" I practically peed myself because of the way she said it. oh man, what an awesome day!
We hiked along the ridge and bushwhacked for a good 2 hours up then went up through snow for another couple hours. At the top we had a glorious lunch of mountain vegetables, eggs, sausages, beer, peanuts, Easter colored M&Ms and Rosemary bread. Then back down, I slid on my tarp down the snow. However sadly the wind took the tarp from me on my last journey :(. Also on the way down, Shun Chan said we would take the super express (i.e. some form of trail) but there actually wasn't a trail and we had to go down for 3 hours through thick brush, and it seemed like almost by accident that we eventually ended back at the car. We didn't leave without picking some nice mountain vegetables first. I'm now the newest member of the freaking club...yay!



Also, my friend Sarah came during Golden week and we did lots of fun things including driving through 12 prefectures in 2 days! I will more pictures up later!!!!