Tadaima (I'm back)!

So it has been nearly a year since my last post. I have an almost good reason for it!

First, last year, a couple of days after my last post, my laptop crashed! It was ... unexpected. I spent over a month without a computer, luckily I had picked up an iPhone the day before and was able to communicate with the world. By the time I got the new computer - a small, used notebook at the second hand store - and got an English OS installed (all thanks to my awesome homie Jason) I was in to 2nd semester at Minami Inukai Jr. High and Mutsumi elementary school so I was busy ... and forgot this existed.

I remembered about it during Winter Break but with Jason leaving and Nicki arriving I was busy. Then Nicki helped me to have more fun than I was already, so I forgot again.

Me and Nicki

I know, it's lame. But on the bright side, I decided to remain in Japan one more year! So I figured I would pick up the blog again!

I have a lot more I can say now. I've become much more accustomed to the overall culture and the pop culture in Japan along with picking up more and more Japanese. I am currently at Mibu Jr. High School and Mibuhigashi Elementary school, which have convinced me that all the kids in this tiny town are awesome. I really love my kids and my job.

Mibu Junior High School

The next few posts will cover some of my favorite things in Japan. Things that I've come to love over the past year that I didn't know existed before, things I've come to love more than I did to begin with or things that I'm learning more about! I'm looking forward to keeping this up again!

'Nuff Said,
Crysania

Online Classes Pretty Much Suck

I am really struggling with motivation for my TEFL course lately. It's not that I don't want to go to Japan ... it's this online format. Oh my, it is awful.

I will be the first to admit I have awful study habits - I have relied on my brain and ability to comprehend material in class for ... most of my life and gotten away without having to make time to study. I can b.s. my way through tests and have previously been able to do homework at the last minute without much trouble getting decent grades. But, alas, in an online course this strategy does not work well.

I have a solid 86% right now but this past week not wanting to go online and write out lesson plans or do the reading has killed me. I don't think my last assignment was very good and frankly the feedback from my online instructor has been minimal so it's difficult to know where I need to improve. I'm frustrated and, typically, when I get frustrated I become apathetic. How do I make that not happen?

The problem with apathy here is that if I am apathetic and get a bad grade in the course I cannot go to Japan ... and I really want to teach in Japan. I've been flying through the process of getting everything ready for the application process this past week but it will all be useless if I cannot find the motivation to complete the course.

Rock meet hard place.

I hope I can find a way to get more excited about my class. I'll admit it'd be easier if I actually saw or really talked to any of my classmates. Human interaction tends to make attending class more bearable but that cannot be done in an online course. I need to find more ways to stay motivated

Whatever will I do?

I have no idea. But I most definitely need to do something.

'Nuff said,
Crysania