Kommute with Katie

 Want to see part of my train ride? Of course you do! This mid-week blog update is mostly so you can ride a train to work with me! Enjoy!

Train-Station Adventures.

Heading home after 9 Halloween Party Classes.

In the Train Station.

I wish you could see how crowded the train was in this picture.
Oddly enough, they gave me plenty of space.

Lunch. I made Potato Chowder and a pasta salad.

6 years, 3 years, 5 years, 4 years, 2 years.

4 year old and my 9 year olds.

A visitor

We started Halloween on Friday, and it will continue until this Thursday. Yay.

Ian came to visit me. He got in on Saturday afternoon and left Sunday evening. It was really good to get a hug and speak English normally.

I'm in shock that it's almost November.

I finally got paid, so I ate fruit and vegetables this week. That was exciting.

Planning a day trip to Nikko on Saturday and a down-town Tokyo day on Sunday. Saturday with a girl I met on the internet and Sunday with Rie, the secretary/teacher/we have private lessons together Japanese lady who works with our school.

Have I explained my school? Ok, there is my boss, Michiko, a 56 year old Japanese woman. She was married to an American guy and has 2 grown up daughters. She started this school by herself 25 years ago. Last year, she hired Rie, a 40 year old Japanese lady. Rie's main responsibilities are to be organized and paperwork. Michiko is great with the kids, but she forgets everything, so Rie does all that kind of stuff. She has a classroom like mine more in Tokyo, and Kerry teaches that. She is a 25 year old American. Then what I do here, in a more rural, outskirt of Tokyo. That's all of the employees. I see Michiko Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays when she has classes here. I see Rie on Thursday for our private lesson, and she teaches here on Fridays. I see Kerry on Wednesdays.

Pictures...

I like their anti smoking campaigns.

They just explain that it's not all about you.

You may be wondering, so I'll tell you. Yes, I did ride the train like that.

Sharing the bridge with Ian.

Friends!

He's better at taking pictures than the dinos are.

Testing out the liquor vending machines.

Sake!

We bought a pillow!

Typhoons

Turns out fall is Typhoon season in Japan. Who knew? Lots of rain and wind. Sometimes schools close. I still have work, but by the time the kids get to me they're full of unspent energy from a whole day off. So, that's fun. This weekend I met a language exchange guy in Tokyo. We went to a food festival and had some sake and food. Then we went to see the largest paper lantern in the world, but it was being repaired, so we just saw the second largest paper lantern in the world. Today I went to lunch and learned some more Japanese vocab. Pay day this week. We start Halloween festivities.

Two Observations: When people read on the trains, their books have covers on them. Like the covers that we had to make in school to protect our text books. These covers are flowery or just brown. Makes me wonder what they're hiding.  I saw the first graffiti that I've seen here. On the side of a bridge. It said "NIPPLE". I actually laughed out loud on the train.

Itty-bitty fantas.

Panda Pancake.

Dino and lanterns



What they were doing at the festival.

Tokyo-tourist district.

That's me!

End of the universe

Beginning of the universe.

Tokyo Sky Tree

A man who defeated dragons.

Tokyo Skytree: largest building in Japan.

Apparently that is a beer factory. It's meant to look like the foam on a beer.

Skytree and Beer.

Itty bitty Sprite

Lunch today. Some sort of famous, traditional something.

 

Epiphany?

I think I had an epiphany today. But first. Things are good. I have the job under control. The kids like me, I like them. Boss lady said I'm doing good. I've been practicing Japanese and I'm learning bits each day. I spend my weekends sight seeing, meeting Japanese people from a conversation exchange website, and reading books. The website has been a weird experience. I feel like I'm internet dating or something. I get about 4 messages a day from people in the Tokyo area who want to learn or practice English. I only respond to people between the ages of 24 and 32. That's the first criteria I have. Next, I look at their profile summary to see how horrible their English is. Basically I don't want to meet people who just want free lessons. I don't mind helping them out a bit and letting them practice, but I'm not going to teach them for free. I'm just not. I'm looking for friends and for people who can get me started with my Japanese. So after I assess their profile, and I feel like ok, I'll try, I send them a message back. In this message I try to figure out how far away they are from me and what the best meeting place would be. I say no if they are more than an hour away. I've met 4 or 5 people? We have food and chat. It's fine, but awkward. A few of them seem like we might be friends. I hope.

This morning, I met a guy at a coffee shop. It was fine. Weird, but fine. Then I came home and thought to myself, "Self, it's a beautiful, sunny, October Saturday. Let's be outside!" So I went for a walk around. Just wandering and taking pictures. Then, out of no where, BAM! EPIPHANY! There I am walking around, and I realized that I don't know what I've been thinking about. Like, I know that I was thinking about something, but I can't put my finger on what it was. Sort of like when you wake up from a dream and you can feel the memory of it fading. But at that point I was very aware of not knowing what I was thinking so then I was thinking about thinking and thinking about my life and thinking about my walk and I realized I was tired and getting bored of Katie Time. Right, so the epiphany was that this long, pointless walk was a metaphor(?) of my life. I've been wandering through it, enjoying it, learning from it, but with no purpose, no goals, no plan and while it's been good and I like, I'm getting fed up with it. On the walk, I reached that point where you're just ready to be home. No more walking. In life, I think I've almost reached the point where I want a plan. I want a passion. I want a goal. I think.

Pictures from Japan.

DINOSOCKS!!!

Spot the dino?

Fountain-door

Just killing time before class.

Gigglegiggle

A bell near my house.

Totem pole

Yeah, because telling time isn't hard enough.

Reflections.

Japan

I just like these guys.

The one that says Tree House English is my house.

Weird bench.

Me sitting on the weird bench.

That's just handy.

Easy Access to cigarettes.

Mom. Look how big that pot is.

Anti smoking--guilt

I like their anti-smoking campaigns.