Hello Family and Friends, The Lord has provided for us another year. I call that a good year. My family is doing great. I think Naomi is having the most fun. I’ll let each one tell their story. My elevator work was getting slow so I recently went back to fixing aeroplanes. The most interesting thing for me this year was filing and receiving my first patent. From design to build to patent took most of 2014. It is for a split hard top convertible for motorized vehicle. It would have been soo much easier to start off with designing a paper clip. After doing this myself, I now know why people hire patent attorneys to do this work. I don’t know where this will lead, but it was an educational experience. May you have a blessed Christmas and may the Lord’s face shine upon you in 2015 Kurt Megumi Our yard was bare no matter how I gave gray water, but now it is greenest because of rain. I enjoy doing laundry with rain water using twelve 5 gallon buckets Kurt bought for moving dirt and rocks. I took some classes at Mesa Community College. I enjoy playing piano at home. Naomi 503 days. That’s a little shy of a year and a half abroad living alone in a Prefecture that currently looks like the North Pole. Not to mention the first snowfall was in late-October and that this will last until early-April. That’s snow 6 months out of the year. I must be crazy for deciding to stay in Akita for a third year just to experience this again; but anyhow, it’s not as bad as it sounds. The year started off pretty good, having taken a month vacation to Hiroshima, the place where I spent most of my elementary school years. It was definitely nice to see family, friends and old teachers/classmates. I kept myself busy during the first half of the year with at-home workouts, playing the bass and making colorful bentos. That all changed with the start of English Camps. English Camps are my life. Now, I’m not saying that with an upbeat “Yay, it’s so fun I live for it” (though it is a lot of fun)... I mean I’m literally a slave to English Camps from the months of May to November. May was when everything came to a stop but work. No more time for hobbies, church on Sundays and TGIF. This was when I started working overtime and overnights Friday to Sunday. That’s my job-and that is why they called me. Alright, with all the negatives aside let me tell you about how great my job is. This year, I coordinated 16 camps at 11 different venues for over 750 students, grades 5 through 12. I basically travel all over the Prefecture for free; something other JETs (ALT + CIR) don’t have the opportunity to do (with this comes the perks of learning all about the Prefecture). I know nearly most of all 121 JETs in the Prefecture since I work with 6-11 ALTs per camp. Because of this I’ve found the joy in managing and working with people from different backgrounds (ALTs come from all over the word to teach English here in Japan). I run meetings, emcee and give presentations at camps and in other events. Surprisingly, although I used to dread public speaking, I actually enjoy it now. One of the biggest highlights of the year was: Global Summer School. This was a four day overnight all English seminar program in August for the 42 elite high school students in the Prefecture. As the program coordinator I was free to do anything. And when I say anything, I mean seven interactive college seminars, line dance, a Skype cultural exchange with CA, FL and India, student conducted tours of a samurai estate, mentoring by ALTs and college students, foreign music/dance performances, traditional Japanese dance, inspirational presentations by college students and a talent show. The prep for GSS was work, but GSS itself was the most exciting experience for both the participating staff and students. So why am I staying here for a third year? As I’ve significantly improved the information system here from fax/email registration to online registration and sending out paper homework to posting them electronically online with established logic, my next project is to create a website for all three of my programs: English Camp, Super English Camp and Global Summer School. The website itself is already done, which isn’t too difficult since I used a web builder (though some alterations with coding were a pain). Working with information technology and systems really made me love and appreciate a technology integrated work environment. Many thanks to these poor souls who helped me realize this and forced me to increase my human capital. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Thailand and Cambodia! PS. From Naomi’s father: Naomi is on vacation with her girlfriend in Thailand and Cambodia from Dec.13th to Jan 12th. Pray that she survives! An “ALT” is an assistant language teacher. “JET” is Japanese exchange and teaching program. See us.emb-japan.go.jp/JET/ Ariel The most exciting thing that happened this year was that I went back to Japan for 3 months during the summer. I mostly stayed in Hiroshima with my relatives but I also visited Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, and Yamaguchi Prefecture. I enjoyed spending time with my relatives as well as my friends. I was surprised on how energetic my great grandmother was despite being 96 years old. I wish I could have done more for my grandparents and great grandmother while I was there. I had a great time in Tokyo going to Akihabara going around many otaku, Anime (Japanese cartoon) and Manga (Japanese comic book) geeks, shops. It is otaku heaven in Akihabara and I wish I could have stayed longer and had more spending money. Besides my trip to Japan, I am still going to college studying film trying to do 3D Animation. I am still working at a Japanese store called Marukai. I’ve been working there for 4 1/2 years now. I enjoy interacting with customers and fellow employees using both Japanese and English. Besides school and work, I assist and occasionally teach martial arts 3 times a week. I also teach Japanese as well. In the Church, I am taking care of the kids during children’s ministry. However, I do not take place in organizing the children’s ministry as much as I would like to, not even close to other ladies, so at times I do feel a little guilty. Overall, it’s been a busy and eventful year and I am looking forward to the years that follow. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Shirah I graduated from high school this year, and I am currently going to a community college and thinking about my future. I still work part time at a chiropractic office and tutor. I also started working at a cafe. I had the opportunity to work in retail for a few months and that was a good experience but also learned that I’m not cut out for it.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 18:20:48 +0000
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