Still Training

Ohayoo gozaimasu!

Training continues unabated 8 hours per day, and my emotions are rocketing around. It's just too weird to see myself as a real adult; wearing business attire every day and talking about my future as if I am responsible for it.

Viewing myself as an adult is made all the harder by the fact that our training sessions are reminiscent of the scene in "Hook" when one of the lost boys bounces a ball off Robin Williams's head and demands, "Play!" All we've done so far is learn how to clown around and draw kids into playing games. It's fun and deceptively simple, and I really like this attitude towards teaching; it's all about helping the students love the language, and nevermind their pronunciation or grammar. Our trainer is Cedric-sensei, an Indian from South Africa who is fluent in 5 languages. If I could make learning as enjoyable as he does, I doubt I'd need any other life goals to keep me satisfied.

The other teachers are a wide mix of nationalities, but most are from the U.S. or the U.K. We definitely stand out here, wandering around the hotel like a school of wide-eyed guppies (it's interesting how fast I've adjusted to seeing myself as part of a minority, and a funny-looking one at that).

Tonight the jetlag finally waned enough that I felt brave enough to go out into the city with my roomie. She and her friends settled down into a bar and started drinking and talking about bands that I'd never heard of. They were all so friendly, especially considering how quiet I was being...but I've just never been able to get into those kinds of discussions. I left after only an hour and did some minor shopping (I stand by my original assessment of Japanese chocolate) and had my very first conversation in Japanese with a woman on the bus! It was the best part of the night.