I had planned to edit a nano novel this month. Instead, I've been playing tour guide to real and imagined visitors to Tohoku, the latter of which through my travel blog. My coverage of the Tanabata Festival tied for first place in the Summer Blogging Campaign. Yay!
I am using the winnings to buy a tortilla press. And a bunch of other stuff.
As I struggle to find more truly useful things to blog about and review, I'm also seeking out Engrish for a new Patreon I launched on the 13th. I prepare small lots of Engrish things and send them to people who pay me money. Then I go out on the hunt again. Shipping is included in the price. I've severely limited the number of patrons for each level because this isn't a big company. It's one woman with a baby putting together Engrish packages in the free time between blogging, teaching, and tending to the toddler. So yeah, 9 people.
So far it's already beating my Sock Monkey Patreon, but I am keeping both going because I like both. Creating something and sharing it every month is actually really good for my psyche, as is getting the creation into the world and out of my house (I am a hoarder after all). Remembering the fun parts of living in Japan and sharing that with others is a big deal, too, and also vital to my continued comfort in this inherently foreign place.
Speaking of inherently foreign, this week we officially started looking into kindergartens in Shiogama and the one I liked a lot is just about full. It's a Buddhist school that teaches tea ceremony and calligraphy to 5 year-olds, which I thought would be a cool way for Julia to start embracing parts of her Japanese culture before anyone has a chance to tell her she's not Japanese enough to enjoy them. Officially, applications will not even be accepted until next month, but priority goes to younger siblings of graduates and those enrolled in the pre-pre-k for 2 year-olds.
So we're basically screwed out of that school. That said, a very kind friend/student offered to get us in for a tour, which we took, and it was a very nice place, very close to where we live. That's where we learned that there are already kids wait-listed for the 3 spots open and they will have the list full be the end of the week. That's tomorrow. My husband and I haven't even been able to sit down and have a conversation over how we're paying for school (around $4,000 a year for 3-5 year-olds) much less which specific school we need to tour or how we're making the decision.
There are a number of kindergartens in Shiogama, most of them Buddhist. We'll see if there are any other options, or any at all we might be able to do without me having to go back into the world of full-time eikaiwa work.
I enjoyed teaching at conversational schools and they paid well enough, especially for a single woman in her 20s, but a lot of the energy I used for those classes came from a mostly-ignored maternal sense which now has a place to go. I do teach eikaiwa classes part-time even now, but doing this for a few hours a week has totally different requirements than doing so for 5-7 classes per day.
And I like writing and blogging and exploring. I like my Patreons and teaching Julia when I can and having adventures. I like what I do now...
But am I really just Homer Simpson in that episode of the Simpsons where he gets a job at the bowling alley before they realize Marge is pregnant with Maggie? Am I really just being a selfish jackass, letting my kid's intellect and options get squandered because I would rather make sock monkeys than pull frustrating old men through a complex language they are unlikely to ever use?
(This is a gross oversimplification. Most eikaiwa students are wonderful, and I do more at home than just making sock monkeys.)
I'm also feeling rather helpless, not just for the financial things but because I'm frustrated with not being completely fluent in Japanese. I can't just call up and tour kindergartens on my own. I can't just read all the paperwork and fill it out for us. I can't even just go with my mother-in-law as I'll never know what's going on. While my extraordinarily kind student/friend walked with us through the tour, I merely kept up with Julia, trying to keep her out of trouble without any idea what anyone was saying or why.
So in conclusion, I have no idea what we're doing for Julia's schooling or how we will pay for it or even how we will determine such a thing based on a significant lack of time. I want to write and make sock monkeys and send people boxes of Engrish. I don't know how I'll have time for all the writing and Patreons and Julia stuff if I go back to full-time eikaiwa work.
Yup. That's about it.
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