Sunday, March 27th, 2016

Smog Level: All 3 Mountains

Turning Green

Slept in, hoping to kick the cold. I think it’s getting better. Either way, I’m going back to the gym on Tuesday. Despite walking 8-10km on average per day and generally avoided desserts, I’m fairly certain that I've gained weight since arriving. Great. Maybe it's just all the salt and oil making me bloated? Denial might just be the answer to everything!

I tutored one of my students, and have used Golf (card game) to motivate her. She wants to play that, and really doesn’t want to do any work other than just  basic conversation. That can only go so far when speaking with an 11 year old, so now we alternate rounds and learning/writing a vocabulary word. Upon reviewing at the end of the session, I don’t think she learned as much as she should, but at least her parents have a piece of paper with vocab work on it. Appeasement.

Saturday, March 26th, 2016

Smog Level: All 3 mountains

No plans today, and Shimou is occupied with teaching a class of middle schoolers in another part of town until noon. I try to sleep in, but can’t make it past 9:30. That’s good, but I wish I could catch up on sleep without having to go to bed earlier. Cry me a river.

I had put forward a creative writing challenge with some friends. You write a “day in the life of” whomever you want, real or otherwise, and give it to the other person. Their job is to change 1 detail of the story - character, scene, event - and play out the ripples from there. I had given a coworker a bleak one about a man who was trapped in a life sentence of sorts, which he returned much improved. He had given me one where he had a few drinks over a night and a day. I decided to up the alcohol content every time he mentioned having one, changing his interactions and perceptions of events. I found it funny. Hopefully he does, too.

Friday, March 25th, 2016

Smog Level: All 3 Mountains

We’re almost out of electricity. Josh took the recharge card to the bank to put money on it, but they accidentally broke it. He said they were all crowded around each other within view, looking in toward the circle and whispering. They returned the broken card and said "we broke it." We only have ¥25 left… and I don’t know how long that gives us. I think we had ¥40 two days ago, and the bank said it would take a week or two to get a new one.

The Student's Luggage

Fun Friday. The kids respect me enough to listen and know I can punish them, but I also joke around with them. I think we’ve struck a decent balance. I also think this job is good for me because I have a hard time knowing how to act around children, often being like… “so… what’s up? How about that... uh, toy. Is it fun?” We played hangman, then I taught them words that they would like, such as food items, desserts, and weapons (sword and shield, bow and arrow) because they’d probably find them useful for their composition stories.

Thursday, March 24th, 2016

Smog Level: All 3 Mountains

Early morning, I realize that I have no food in the fridge except eggs. I opt to not eat over eating eggs. Had enough eggs. Fingers crossed I can grab a yogurt from the shop on the first floor. 

No such luck; it’s still closed. I remind myself that I used to fast for the discipline of it, and that I can pretend today is one of those days. Sometimes it’s easier to continue not eating than it is to eat something small. Also, taking ownership of something is easier to cope with than taking the victim mindset (i.e.“oh no, this is happening to me” vs "I'm choosing this").

Wednesday, March 23rd

Smog Level: All 3 Mountains

While getting ready, my sister asks to call, which I didn’t really have time for because I slept in again. We ended up talking anyway. We caught up over things and I found out some rather infuriating/disappointing - and inaccurate - things were said about me back home. Things that no one needs to know, yet were said openly to family and friends in criticism of me. I also woke up to a message from a friend telling me my writing is boring. Good morning to you, too...