Changing Seasons

The fall is officially here. It arrived in a rush with a dusting of orange and red and a whole lot of cold. My school has become an ice box already, and in Japan the heat is not put on until December 1st. No matter the shivering and shaking that occurs. Sigh.
In other news I am beginning to plan my future(warm)  travels! At the end of JET I am planning to travel South East Asia with a friend here. We are thinking about Thailand and...that is as far as we have gotten. I guess that means I need to focus on saving $$ but now it feels so far off. I can't believe that as November draws nearer so does the eventual end of this whole experience loom. There is a part of me that is ecstatic to be returning home, and also a small feeling deep down telling me that I am really, really go to miss this. The comfort and security of a great job with good pay and subsidized housing. The fantastic cultural experiences. The opportunity to be immersed in the Japanese language...I will not be staying another year here, for any reason, but I am trying to take advantage of everything that comes my way this next year. I want to look back on these two years and see a beautiful chapter that will help me transition between recent college grad to working woman. 

In other news our school has the fall excursion recently. We were supposed to be headed to Uradame beach for a boat ride but due to a typhoon (as usual) we had to re locate to the Sand Dunes. I am a fan of the Dunes, but they get boring. The students really enjoyed themselves though and the teachers were able to relax and chat. It was kind of odd for me. Since I can't speak enough Japanese to have a proper conversation it left me standing around sort of awkwardly  I love talking, a lot. I also consider myself to be a friendly person, so having to stand on the outside of a conversation feels lonely and unfortunate. I wish I could contribute to conversations because I think it only perpetuates the whole stigma here of the untouchable foreigner. I think some of the staff might be a little...afraid of foreigners. Not in an actual afraid of me way, but in the kind of way where they are not sure what to make of us. I want to break the ice but I just can't. I regret not pushing my Japanese studies more last year, but as I continue cramming for N5 I have begun to make small improvements and that is the best I can hope for. 

The School Excursion 

Enjoying the walk