This city

Hello all, it's been awhile, yes?

Things have changed quite a bit since May.  I'm back in the USA.  I have a puppy.  I am waiting to hear back from my dream job.  I would be sewing but the sewing machine I've ordered has mysteriously disappeared and Beans tries to eat my embroidery.  I'm starting up indoor gardening.  What, you want more detail?

It was very difficult to leave my island, and to leave Japan.  I miss my students, my coworkers, and my friends all the time.  Sometimes I dream that I'm at Matsue Station walking to SATY Department Store, or that I have a class and I can see every kid's face clearly.  It's usually very difficult to wake up and realize that that part of my life is over.  Because, you see, it is over.  As much as I miss my life in Japan I am so happy to be back here.  I'm able to move on with my life in a way I wasn't in Japan.

In Japan every major decision was something to put off, if you get my drift.  JET isn't a career, and for me teaching English in Japan isn't a career either.  I knew I was going to go back to the US and make a life there, and that put everything else into a kind of stasis.  Now that I'm back home (because the US is home for me) I can move forward again and take charge of my life without worrying about how to transfer it back home.  Case in point:

This is my little puppy, Beans.

It's so rewarding having her.  She's as sharp as a tack and an absolute joy to train.  I've managed to teach her sit, shake, and down, and she's doing pretty well at leash training and house training.  She's adorable and steals the hearts of everyone she meets.  Dachshunds, especially miniature dachshunds like Beans, have pretty nasty reputations for being barking, biting, obnoxious, and overprotective, but she's an absolute sweetheart who cuddles, begs for tummy rubs, and plays well with others.  Well, she barks sometimes, usually when she wants to play with my cat.  Cat's stone deaf though, so she doesn't mind.  In any case, Beans is one of the main reasons I'm happy to be home.

I won't say much about my dream job because I don't have it yet, but suffice it to say that it is wonderful.  One of those perfect companies that has all the right stuff personally and professionally.  I interviewed on location with them, and it was unbelievable how comfortable they made me feel.  The job itself is challenging in the way that inspires you to try harder.  In preparation I've been studying up on Microsoft Excel and business Japanese (let me just recommend this book for business kanji and vocab, and this one for vocab and some of the best set up phrase explanation I've ever seen in a textbook) and it's so rewarding.  I'm really enjoying using Excel now.  I had no idea how versatile and useful it was before this!

Finally, I'm delving deeper and deeper into feminist and social issues, which is making my blood pressure shoot up more than usual.  I'm still keeping an eye on Japan and Japanese news, of course, but feminist issues are hitting closer to home lately.  I'm planning on blogging about that in the near future, but I wanted to bring everyone up to speed after the brief hiatus.

(PS the kotatsu made it home in one piece with all its accoutrements and looks lovely.)