June 20

こんばんは.ポスト遅れてごめんなさい！最近仕事はドンドン忙しくなったし、仕事の外に色々な用事をしないといけなかったが、今から日本の生活に慣れてきたと思う。佐世保に住んでる人はすごくやさしいで、友達にできやすい！

仕事は日本的な会社だから、本部はポンポン命令を下しているけど、僕はそんなことあんまり心配しない。僕の考え方は、仕事の合否がどのくらい毎日一生懸命するかよる。

Hey everyone, I'm sorry for the late post. Lately work has gotten really busy, and outside of work I had many things to do, but now I feel that I have become accustomed to living in Japan. The people who live in Sasebo are so kind; it is so easy to make friends. Because my my job is a typical Japanese company, I receive many orders from the head office but I don't worry about those things. My mindset is my success with my job depends on how hard I try everyday. 

So, the last time we left each other was after Golden week vacation. After returning to work that week things started to really get hectic. My assistant manager had been gone for about 3 weeks, and my head kids teacher just left for maternity leave. So from that point on it was 5 people's responsibilities being taken care of by 3 people; myself, my manager, and my head teacher. The head office started sending down emergency teachers to cover the classes we couldn't, and still have been because they can't seem to find a replacement for our kids head teacher [although people tend to know a year in advance that their employee will have a kid, just sayinnggg : ) ]. In short, tensions at work started to rise. 

If you know Mike, then you know Mike likes to eat. Mike likes to eat about 3 times at work with his nicely well-balanced meals packed neatly into his lunch containers. If Mike is delegated these mere 5-10min to enjoy his meals, then he is happy and is willing to do anything in return (for all you ladies, the key to my heart is quite simple, and in some circumstances, microwavable). However, due to the lack of assistance, Mike was using his eating time to conduct interviews, write advice sheets, do lobby talk with students, and so on. When Mike finally did start getting his time to eat, he met the horns of a bull on a fine afternoon. He had just finished a class at the time, and was making a quick switch of material for the next class in 10 minutes. At that moment as he entered the office, his manager, with smoke coming out of her ears, asked Mike to speak for a moment. She directed his attention to the small kitchen and made him look into the sink. She said in a cold tone, "Mike, is this your rice in the sink?" Mike thinking, who else eats in this school besides me, politely responded, " Why yes, what's the matter?" "Well," stated the manager as she inhaled deeply, "YOU CAN'T BE LEAVING YOU'RE RICE IN THE SINK, it's very dirty. You must collect your rice and put it in this little net here. All extra food goes in this net, then when there is enough collected, you must wrap it up then securely place it the garbage can. All that for a couple grains of rice, eh. thought Mike. 

So instead of doing such a tedious task, for the next few days he just threw his extra rice or whatever bits of leftover food into the garbage can. He was safe, so he thought. Until that day came one week later. This time it came at lunch hour. Mike was eating his vegetables and chicken quietly at the table when the manager asked for a moment to speak. Mike thought, she has nothing on me this time. She led him to the kitchen once again and opened the garbage can. "Mike, you can't be putting your extra crumbs in the garbage can like this! The garbage can will start to smell, and then it will start to smell in the entire school and the students will become very angry." "OK," said Mike, "I will never do it again." Although the garbage was changed every day, it's nearly impossible for a few grains of rice to make an entire school smell like a garbage dump within hours, he thought. But that's not a battle worth fighting. Mike didn't care for arguing with his manager, especially because he was still waiting for the approval of the time for his brother's wedding. In the meantime, Mike was reprimanded for being forgetful with his pens, putting the signs away, and for breaking the plug on the light outside because he apparently pulled too hard on the duct taped tattered plug that happened to take its finally unplugging by the hands of Mike. 

The day finally came when Mike received a response on his vacation time. This had been a well anticipated few months because it was always in the back of his mind if he'd ever be allowed to return for the wedding. The result was positive, but not what he fully requested. They approved 3 days; Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  He was not given a fourth day Wednesday (the day of the rehearsal dinner) because that was absolutely maniacal to ask for four days in a row. But regardless, the good thing is that he can return for the most important day, the wedding day.

After the accumulation of events, Mike started to feel pretty down about his job. The honeymoon was over, 3 months had passed, it was time to start seeing things in a new light. Life outside work was absolutely fantastic (this will be covered in Chapter 2 later this week), but going to work was just getting more and more frustrating. No matter how hard he smiled when he walked in those doors at noon, he left with sad and disheartened sentiments that night. He just wanted to feel appreciated at work. He was willing to do anything that was requested of him during that time in school, as long as it came with a thank you at the end. Seeing a lack of that was bringing down his motivation. 

Then the weekend of May 23rd finally came, he was ready to relax and get his mind off work. BUT WAIT, he had forgotten, his weekend was to be cut short because on Monday (his typical day off) he had to go to Fukuoka (city 2 hrs away by bus) for follow up training. The camel's back was already broken, it was limping with a cane at this point, ready for surgery.

At Honbu, Mike met with another teacher from Fukuoka for follow up training. He also saw his trainer, the well respected and very caring guy from the Philippines and California. The 3 of them talked about complaints and issues faced since coming to Japan. They vented stresses to one another because no matter how hard the recruiters back in the States painted the picture before coming to Japan, it was impossible to grasp until actually experiencing it. It's very easy to feel singled out, used, or taken advantage of when being "locked" under a contract and the only one capable of certain tasks at the school. This feeling could lead to self inflicted pain, or loneliness, which Mike strove to stay away from as much as possible. He had made a promise two years ago to never blame himself or take depression onto himself, because that would only lead to more, deeper suffering. He had seen that side of the world before, and it was not a place to return to. That moment in training Mike hit a new switch, and was prepared, no matter what, to not let this feeling continue. It was time to take positive and productive thoughts back home, back to school and no matter how hard others around him try to bring him down, his defense was going to be hard-work and a smile. A smile may perhaps be the strongest defense, it doesn't require any words, it's quite simple in fact. But as long as it's always on, others tend to feel less inclined to bring you down. 

He returned to school that week with a new energy, and has since been fighting everyday to bring out the best in everyone around him. There is only so much he can do, but as long as he knows he is doing his best, there can be no regrets whatsoever.

Stay tuned for Chapter 2, "Outside Living" to be released this week!

Thank you so much for reading. Talk to you soon.