New Year's Eve

My family visited our grandparents' house this morning. We enjoyed talking and eating delicious food. In the evening, my American friend and I went to the airport to pick up another American friend. The airport was very busy. The parking lots were almost full and there were many people at the exit gate who are waiting for their family or friend getting outside. The American friend who came back today lost his luggage on the way to Japan because of the airline company's fault. I hope his luggage will be delivered soon. After leaving the airport, we went to a restaurant. Tomorrow, we are going to see the sunrise together.

Hanging Out

I fell better today, so I hang out with my American friend. First, we went to my high school classmate's house to see him and his families. His mother kindly served us delicious food and drinks. We enjoyed talking and eating. After that, he and I went to an onsen. Next, we went to an amusement place. We enjoyed bowling, karaoke, and screen game. Finally, we went to a restaurant he recommended. The atmosphere was cozy and yakitori was very good. I practiced English for many hours thanks to him.

Break

I don't feel well these days. I have a fever and cough, and also, I don't want to do anything. This experience makes me realized that if you are not in a good shape, you will feel tired for anything. While lying on the bed, I was blankly thinking about my new life in 2020. I like to study English with kids very much, but making money only from teaching is not enough to live. Programming jobs are very well-paying and promosing professions. Therefore, I'll focus on studying programming and make time for having fun with kids during my free time.

Taking a Rest

Although it was a day-off yesterday, I was at home all day long because of a fever. I was making my original website from scratch again, but I stopped it due to my poor health condition. Today, I have to go to school to prepare for the next term. However, it is the last day for me to go there this year. There is about a week break until January 5th. I will be meeting my friends and my grandparents in my hometown during the break. I hope this fever will go away soon to enjoy the long days off.

Job Searching

The winter vacation started in our school yesterday. Although I have to go to school this Friday to prepare for the next term, I now feel very relaxed for being released from pressure of conducting lessons every day. What I’m doing now is to looking for a job for the next fiscal year. I studied programming in an online school and the school provides its job introducing service. Users of the school can apply jobs through the school. Now I’m looking for jobs that suits my thought of being able to grow as an engineer. I hope to be hired in one of the companies in April, 2020.

Christmas

Second term was over yesterday in our school. The winter vacation lasts until February 7th, although I have to go to school this week to prepare for the next term. However, since I am released from the pressure of the necessity of having lessons every day, now I feel very relaxed. By the way, couples and families must have enjoyed Christmas Eve last night. In my case, I went to the gym as usual. I don’t have enough income to have confidence in me, so I will earn more and make a girlfriend within a few years. I hope to be able to spend the next Christmas day with partner.

Living Happily

A famous YouTuber introduced several steps to make it possible to earn money from your hobby or from what you like to do. He said that you need to immerse yourself in the thing you like to do. By doing so, you can develop your skills without realizing it. The next and the most important step is to share the information you have through SNS. If people recognize you as an expert at a certain genre, they come to ask you questions about it. Gradually, you will be getting money by helping people with your knowledge. That’s the process of how to live without being bounded by the job you don’t want to do. In my case, what I like to do is to talk with foreigners, to visit unfamiliar places, to play tennis, and to go to the gym. I thought that I need to find something new to be an expert at some field, because there are many experts in those genres. I hope to find a good one as soon as possible.

What I Have to Do

I studied how to make websites from scratch at an online school. As for the final assignment, I made my original website. Now, I am making a new website again to brush up my programming skills and to make my original website as I want. The concept of the website is to introduce Japanese books which were published more than five years ago for foreigners. What I need to do is to read books and to make the website. I want to finish making the website within this year and to focus on increasing my posts in the next month. The winter vacation will start on Wednesday. I will spend most of my time to make my website during the vacation.

Ordeal

I thought about what had been motivating me the most in my life. I was fully motivated while playing tennis to leave a good result in tennis matches for our team. I was captain of the tennis team at a university. When I was in my senior year, I spent most of my time on the tennis courts. I practiced tennis every day and I devoted my life to playing tennis at that time. After retiring from the team, I realized that living abroad is my next target to be achieved in my life. In reality, it costs a lot to start a life in a foreign country. I am studying programming now because the job allows me to work anywhere and it is a well-paying profession. I will become a freelance engineer with in a few years to achieve my goal of living abroad. For now, I need to spend most of my time for studying programming to get my ideal life.

Year-End Party

Second term in our school is almost over. The end-term ceremony is going to be held next Tuesday. We have a two-week winter vacation until January 6th. Last night, our school teachers had a year-end party at a Japanese restaurant after school. Most of the teachers joined the party and we enjoyed eating delicious food and talking about topics other than work. After that, some of us went to karaoke. There were so many people in the downtown area yesterday, because these days are the peak time for year-end parties. The third term will last only two months or so. Also, there are several public holidays during the term. After refreshing during the winter vacation, I’ll continue doing my job as an assistant teacher.

Being at A Cafe

I like to be at Starbucks. Not only free Wi-Fi is available, there are also many customers who are likely to have different backgrounds. I study programming with a cup of steamed milk in the café. Sometimes, I hear conversations around me when I take a break. There are high school students, couples, families, and friends groups. Some talk about popular celebrities and others talk about their boyfriends or girlfriends, for example. It is interesting to know their ideas and thoughts for various topics. I don’t have any encounters, as long as I repeat going to my workplace and going back to my home only. However, I can see many people and learn new things from them. I want to be like a person who has interesting opinions on any topics the customers are talking about.

Future Plan

There are about three months left until the end of this school year. I am going to change my job from teaching to programming next April. That is because this job is on demand and I want to catch up to the trends of technology as an engineer. Also, the salary of the job is much better than my current job. There are many job openings in the programming industry, mainly in Tokyo. When I think about starting a new job at the beginning of April, I realize that I don’t have much time to prepare for that new journey. What I have to do is to get a job and decide where to live at in February. March would be allocated for cleaning up my current room and moving to a new room in Tokyo. In order to get a good job, I need to have an appealing portfolio. I have only one month to improve my portfolio because I have to work on my job hunting seriously in February. I’ll spend most of my time during the winter vacation for making an appealing website which can be an advantage for my job hunting.

Gain and Lose Weight

I go to the gym almost every day to lift weights and to run on a treadmill. Spending an hour at the gym is a good way of refreshing from work. In the gym, there are many buff guys who have big guns. It will take so many years for me to become bigger like them, but it is good that there are ideal people around me. Bodybuilders make their muscles bigger by combining weight-gain and weight-loss. For some time, they eat a lot and increase their muscles. Before contests, they go on a diet and lose additional fat. Now, I’m in the weight-loss period to prepare for a marathon event in January. Since I work at a school, it is difficult to control all of my diets because I eat school lunch on weekdays. I will be changing my job in April and will be working for a company. I will be in a weight-gain period starting April by controlling all of my diets.

Abuses in China

I read a newspaper article yesterday which was very scaring to me. The article was about women in Pakistan who are sold as bride to Chinese men. One of the women who had gone to China came back to Pakistan on a wheelchair because she was very weak. She died in her home country at the age of 37 because of the abuse when she was in China. There are brokers in Pakistan who are looking for women because China has about 34 million more men than women. Pakistani Women’s family members are likely to make a deal of selling their sisters without any consent of themselves. The women are forced to get married to Chinese men and the brides are highly abused in the foreign country. It is very sad that people are sold contrary to their hopes. I’m not sure about what I can do to improve the situation, but this article makes me think that you must not look down on each life.

Travel with My Friends

My American friend stayed overnight on Saturday and we visited several sightseeing spots in this prefecture yesterday. There were two female friends and their kids as well. First, we went to an udon-making school where we can learn how to make udon. We spread and cut the dough and boiled it. The taste seemed better because of our effort. Next, we went to a temple and roamed around the premises. There was an attraction where we need to get out without any lights touching walls all the way to the exit. The owner of the shrine said you can feel something special after getting out from the dark tunnel. It was scary but I learned that being in the dark and looking back myself are important to think again about my current situation. Finally, we went to a café near the beach. In the evening, my friend went back to his city by bus. It was a nice day with many new experiences. I hope to meet my friend again soon.

Christmas Party

I joined a Christmas party last night with my American friend. He kindly invited me to the party. There were two foreign guys including him and ten Japanese people. The party was held at his friend's friend's apartment. Some of the members cooked for us. I brought snacks and beverage for kids in the party. I especially enjoyed playing with the kids and talking with the two foreign guys. Today, he and I going to meet some of them again and visit some places in this prefecture. I hope we can make good memories with a lot of new experiences.

Aftermath of the Typhoons

Typhoon No. 19 and 21 brought heavy rain and caused strong winds in many parts of Japan this year. According to a newspaper article, 23,518 houses were confirmed destroyed as of December 2nd. 746 people still live in evacuation centers such as gyms at public schools and community centers in those areas. Inside a gym in Fukushima Prefecture, people live in partitioned spaces, but it cannot be said that they don't get any privacy. This is because the temporary partitions are not tall enough to prevent other people from seeing inside the private space. I feel sorry for the evacuated families because I now live without worrying about my living place and food. Two days ago, a big earthquake occurred in Hokkaido. I think that it is important to prepare beforehand in case of emergencies. Also, having an online job is important so I can work anywhere without being stuck in a fixed place, which lets me to evacuate easily in case of emergencies.

New Style of Family

I read a newspaper article that the number of single Chinese women is increasing and they come to get sperm from overseas to have a baby without a husband. Last year, only 7.2 out of 1,000 people got married in China. It's banned to provide sperm to a woman in the country, and single women reach out to foreign sperm banks especially in the U.S. Also, Chinese women opt to choose sperm from Caucasian donors to have a mixed-race baby.
I think a number of men also hope to have a baby without a wife. If we come to support single parents in a community, such an option will be more common in the future, although law revisions are necessary. I hope that a day comes when people have wider options on having a baby without getting married.

Massage

I felt tired after work, so I went to a massage shop yesterday. Three years ago, I visited such a shop in Bangkok for the first time. Since then, I sometimes take a massage to loosen my muscles. Simply, it’s very relaxing. I always fell asleep during the massage. Blood circulation will be better after taking a massage. I always drink water to enhance the benefit of massage. Stress and fatigue will be released as well. It costs about 35 dollars for the one-hour session, so it’s impossible for me to go there so often. However, caring my body is also important. I want to be rich enough to get massage once a week without being worried about the expenses.

Changing of Christmas

Eating chicken and drinking alcohol were typical images for the Christmas dinner. However, this is changing now. Since the increase of the number of vegan and the number of people who don’t drink alcohol, chicken is being replaced by nuts and vegetables, and alcohol is being replaced by non-alcohol beverage. Also, cutting trees is also being less common because of the concern for environmental issues. People tend to celebrate Christmas in a non-luxurious way these days. I don’t say this trend is good or bad, but I want to earn more, enough to enjoy the day in a gorgeous way. I hope to spend the day with a partner on the Christmas Day in 2020.

Cold Season

I’ve never caught a cold as many as I had this year. I went to a clinic at most twice in a year to get medicines for my  colds. However, I already went to the clinic twice only during the autumn season. These days, the number of the teachers and students who have colds are increasing. Some students suffered from flu. We need to take enough rest, eat and drink lots of fruits and liquids, drink Vitamin C tablets daily, wear the proper outfit for the weather to protect ourselves from illnesses like colds, cough, flu and pneumonia. In Japan, people who has a flu don’t have to come to school for at least a week to prevent the spreading of the virus around the school. I hope no pandemic will happen in our school.

Japan and the Philippines

Nowadays, 84% Filipinos have positive images for Japan, according to a survey introduced on a website. I am personally relieved to know the result because Japan used to colonize the country in mid-20th century. Thankfully, a lot of Filipino workers come to Japan. I know it’s hard to adjust their lifestyle to this country in terms of language and relationship, because most of the Japanese still hesitate to communicate with non-Japanese people. I feel relaxed while talking with foreigners. This is why I want to leave this country and live in another country. Also, I want to know what being a foreigner is and to know how hard to survive in different circumstances. Based on my experiences, I want to make this country friendlier for foreigners in the future.

My Target

My target in the near future is to become a freelance engineer. It’s a well-paying job and working as a freelance matches my ideal that I don’t want to be bound by a certain group. Fortunately, there are several online agents that introduce us freelance jobs. I hope to get a job by using such websites by the end of this school year. After becoming a freelancer, I want to save money. Once I have the money, I want to enroll in an online graduation school to get a Ph.D. degree in literature. By studying American literature, I want to tell how interesting literature is and how fun using English is. To achieve my targets, I now need to study programming to get a freelance job.

Cebu

I read a newspaper article titled “This Philippine city is the most typical place in the world.” The author says Cebu is the most typical place in the world in terms of income, business, language, population, and growth as a city. Also, he notes that “Manila is a little too big and too central for the governance of the Philippines.” As for business, Cebu is a major center for business outsourcing, such as call centers and has close relationships with popular global companies. I hope to visit the city in the near future to feel what a typical city in the world is.

Cultural Differences

Every time I talk with my friend from America, who lives in Japan now, I come to think that I also want to live in another country and to experience cultural differences. My friend can speak Japanese but I think he is facing many challenges in this country. This is because Japanese people tend not to express their opinions clearly and to tell opinions which is different from what they have in their minds. My short term target is to get a job as a programmer next year and the next target is to live abroad. I want to achieve these two dreams by the age of 34.

Health Conscious

In Japan, more and more gyms are opening these days because of the rise of people’s consciousness to be physically healthy by doing exercises. Even teenagers and elderlies use gyms to get to their ideal body shapes. Additionally, many products for the health conscious are lined up in convenience stores. For example, boiled and seasoned chicken breast and compact eating bars rich in protein sell well because consumers mind what they must have to be healthy. I really appreciate such progress in our society because I can keep myself well by using those facility and shop. When I move next time, I’ll look for an apartment which is located very close to a gym and convenience store.

Hot Springs

One of the appealing points to show for foreigners is hot springs in Japan. I’ve talked to many foreigner friends so far and most of them were satisfied after visiting such a facility. It may be embarrassing to use public baths for them, but bathing in warm water is very relaxing. There are many volcanoes in Japan including non-active ones. Thanks to the natural environment, hot springs are available in many places around this country. In winter, it’s very soothing to put yourself in warm water. There is a bath tub in my apartment, but I come to visit public baths to enjoy large and different kinds of bath tubs. I hope to visit one this weekend.

Working as A Freelancer

I started to study programming this August in an online school and I completed all the curriculum two days ago. My next target is to get a freelance engineering job starting April 2020. I need to hone my skills more to get the job. Fortunately, there are many job openings of programming. I want to increase my knowledge and experiences by working at many different environments in a short span, six months at most. I never like to work at a same place because it’s difficult to adopt to something new. I’ll spend more time for studying programming this month to get my ideal job.

Tennis Competition

I joined a tennis competition yesterday and I was 3rd place among the 25 players. I got a racket-shaped small bag as a prize. Ideally, I want to practice tennis every day to improve my skills, but its priority is not high because of my work and programming study. One of the reasons why I hope to become a freelance engineer is to make more time to play tennis. If you become a freelancer, you can manage the time for work by yourself. As long as you work for a company, it’s difficult to play tennis on weekdays. I’ll study programming more to get the ideal life which allows me to play tennis even on weekdays.

End of the Curriculum

Finally, I finished making my original website yesterday. I’m glad that I got a passing grade from my mentor by the due date, December 3rd. From now on, I’ll increase posts on my website and I want to make it monetize. I started to study programming at the beginning of August. Since then, I’ve always thought about the curriculum and sometimes got frustrated because the assignments were very difficult for me. What I need to do next is to get a job for the next year. I hope to get a good job that allows me to display my ability of programming.