Month Three in Japan

For those who want to see it bigger http://youtu.be/oK1xESsphUM

For those who want to see this bigger  http://youtu.be/uWi06VsmMLU

I've already been here for three months!  It is going by so fast! 

I'm definitely hitting the hardest part personally, while things are slowly improving at my job.    I am exactly where I expected to be at three months!  It is so funny how well I know myself.  It really helps for me to realize that it is a process rather than depending on my emotions to tell me how I'm doing. 

My job:  I made it through parent observations.  I received good comments on all but 4 or 5 of my students. (They weren't even bad, just suggestions).  It really surprised me, because I am so new and the students still really miss the guy I replaced.   For the most part, students are adapting to me and are starting to respond more.     A lot of the older students (ages 8-12) still wish that the guy I replaced would come back, but the younger ones are doing great.  I still have a lot of work to do in my teaching!  This experience and everything that I am learning about teaching children is going to be so useful when I go back to the states. 

Personally:  Heather came and it was so wonderful to have her here.  I forgot how necessary it is for me to process out loud. In my job, I'm doing everything I can to stop processing out loud (for a number of reasons I wish I could vent about, but I'd better not).    I think I talked for three days straight! lol.  Poor Heather, thankfully, she is such a good listener.   I said goodbye to her today and cried right in the middle of the train station.    The silence in my apartment is deafening and loneliness is the worst I have felt since I got here.  I suppose I'll mope for a day or two and then try to get out and see more to keep my mind occupied!  :)