Waiting for Spring

Hello friends!! Hopefully everyone is doing well and keeping warm. I hear it has been getting a little warmer back home, so that should make everyone a little more happy! The weather here has been really weird. Some days it is gorgeous and very spring like. I can wear my spring coat and still be a little hot. Then there are other days when I have my winter coat and gloves on and I'm still struggling to stay warm. The weird thing is that such days can be back-to-back. So irratic.

Anyway, at this point, I am just ready for it to be spring! Spring time in Japan means cherry blossoms!!!! This will be the first time in my life that I am in Japan for cherry blossom season, so I'm very, VERY excited!!! Spring time in Japan also means the end and the beginning. Things in Japan all end in March, and start in April. So two of my cousins in Chiba just graduated (one graduated from middle school, and another from high school), and they will both be embarking on new journeys in high school and college, respectively, beginning in April.

Currently for law school, I am on spring break. Although, it doesn't really feel like it, because I am still working at the firm and teaching English (I'm taking a REAL spring break when Gary comes in a little over a week!) I think it will feel more like spring break when I am in Chiba with the family for the rest of the weekend. On Saturday, I'm going snowboarding with some of my relatives, so that should be an adventure! I have no clue where we are going, but I think they mentioned something about maybe Niigata perfecture. Who knows, we shall see!

As for other updates in my life, I now have 5 regular English students! I have no clue how I have time to do all this, but somehow I am managing. (I'm probably able to manage this because I don't ever spend time studying...lol). They are all very interesting people with interesting backgrounds.

Student #1
Korean man who is temporarily in Japan working for an IT company. He is learning English for fun, even though he is still learning Japanese at the same time. He is a trooper.

Student #2
Buddhist monk from Chiba. This guy commutes out to Tokyo from Chiba every week to have an English lesson with me. He is a graduate of Keio university, and is a very intelligent man. His English conversational skills are a little lacking, but his reading ability is pretty amazing. He likes to read about the law, so I find legal news articles for him to read and we discuss, and I'm always so impressed how he understands everything (even procedural jargon that most Americans probably wouldn't understand).

Student #3
Tokyo University graduate (for those of you who don't know, this is the Harvard of Japan), who currently works for some IT company owned by Mitsubishi. He works a RIDICULOUS amount of time. Lately he has been very busy, so he has been going into work at 8am (he works in Tokyo but commutes from Yokohama), and he goes home by taxi at 2 or 3 am. His cab fare is apparently around $150 (paid by company of course). He is probably my favorite student. Even though he's a Tokyo University grad and you think he would be really stuck up, he is really down to earth and a very chill person. He sort of looks like a Japanese gangster.

Student #4
My youngest student, although he is still a year older than me. He is originally from Kagoshima, where he went to school, and currently lives in Saitama and commutes to his job in Tokyo (Ikebukuro area). He is interested in learning English so he can study abroad in the near future. He is thinking about going to either Toronto or Vancouver. He is fun to talk with because he is very fearless in his English speaking. He may be the best English speaker I have among my students.

Student #5
My newest addition. He is a CPA who started his own accounting firm, which now employs about 80 people. I didn't know this until maybe a month ago, but apparently it's a big deal to be a CPA in Japan. Supposedly the 3 most respected professions in Japan are doctor, lawyer, and CPA. Who would have known. So anyway, this guy used to work for KPMG, hated it, so he left and started his own firm. At first it didn't go well, but obviously, he is quite successful now. He is also a graduate of Keio University, and despite his credentials as one of the Japanese elite, is a pleasant person to have conversation with.