mock enkai

Dinner tonight was fabulous. I went to a restaurant called Natsunoya Tea House with the other Hawaii JETs and it was fantastic. The food was really good, the games were silly and fun, and I ended up winning the only game with a prize. :) I also made a few new friends along the way. After dinner a group of us went to a bar called, I kid you not, 8 fat fat 8. $3 IPAs, so I was a happy camper, although ultimately it didn't matter since another ALT ended up covering the round. We sang a little karaoke, ate some edamame, and all around had a good time. We made plans to go out to a place called Tiki's next weekend (one of the other JETs works there and gets 50% off). Tiki's is a restaurant in Waikiki that is decorated with tiki torches, but apparently its pretty good.

To make a long story short (and stop the rambling), I had fun tonight.

vocabulary list of doooom

After considering the benefits of teaching abroad in Japan, I realized that I'm extremely lucky to be going back to Japan. Last time, I may have squandered much of the opportunities I had to really expand my language skills. Yes, I talked to my host family in Japanese (some of the time), and I tried to talk to Japanese people (except when I was hanging out with my English speaking friends), but I didnt improve as much as I could have.

I realized I didn't really have any motivation to improve my language skills. Personal gain and pride in myself is great, but it helps to have a tangible goal. So I made a goal. I will pass the nikyu (second level) Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). At some point. As a result I've started studying with help from what I've termed the vocabulary list of doom. There are 4966 words on this list. Out of the first 178 words, I know 82. 56.395% !!! If this trend continues, I will have a pile of 2287 little flashcards. woohoo!

Kindergarten thoughts

On Thursday afternoon, I ventured across campus to Wilcox Hall, home of Punahou's Kindergarten. I have fond memories of this building and the year I spent with Mr. Yorck and Ms. Tanabe. Yesterday I walked the 10 minutes uphill simply to drop off some paperwork from the office. I dreaded this trip all morning, but was pleasantly surprised to find one of my Kindergarten teachers there. We chatted about what I was planning on doing with my life; she phrased it as "so, you're never leaving Punahou again, right?" When I told her I was leaving the country, she said that was okay, as long as I came back next summer (which I'm not). Another Kindergarten teacher overheard our conversation, and, I'm not kidding, introduced herself as "you're Krystle? Oh my goodness, its so nice to meet you! You're my angel! Like, I started hearing about you earlier this week, then more today! I promise, we were just talking about you! You can't ever leave us!"

I promise this has a point. Today, I talked with Mrs. Tyau, a middle-school supervisor at Punahou. In contrast to yesterday, we discussed the benefit of leaving Punahou. Students at Punahou are extremely privileged with high-tech electronics (they're moving toward a system in which every student over 4th grade gets a computer to borrow every year), a brand-new 65 million dollar middle school, and other such extravagant features. She said that when Punahou grads go out in the world and share the skills they learned in school it almost makes everything seem worth the huge amounts of money that is spent on a Punahou education. (Just for fun, here's a bit of trivia. Currently, a year of Kindergarten costs $15,800. When I was in Kindergarten, the cost was about $5,000. If the current price remains constant, which it won't, a child who spends 13 years at Punahou will cost $205,400.)

So, where does this leave me? I'm totally conflicted about what to do with my life. My mom recently said, "If nothing else, you'll always have a job at Punahou." This is probably true. I could probably teach at Punahou with children who were most likely born into money and will most likely succeed. Or, I could go elsewhere and work with people who are not so lucky.

In the meantime, I'll go to Japan.

Punahou Summer School

"Punahou Summer School Office, this is Krystle."

So begins day one of the monotonous phone responses. Technically I started working on Monday, but stuffing envelopes, as thrilling as it is, is hardly the repetitive action that causes joy when parents call for the billionth time with the exact same question that they would find the answer to if they simply opened their catalog or looked on the website.

Finally back in Hawaii

After two weeks of traveling, I'm finally back in Hawaii. Since I last posted, I saw two amazing musicals (more about that later), wandered around New York City on my own, traveled halfway around the world, and unpacked 5 bags that weigh an average of 50lbs. Although I will admit that "unpacking" consists of dumping the contents of these bags on to the floor of my room.

While in New York, I saw Spring Awakening and Avenue Q, two musicals that represent angst and confusion in teenagers and young adults. As expected, Avenue Q was hilarious, fun, and puppet-filled, so I had a great time. My sister and I decided to see Spring Awakening on a whim since tickets were 50% off at the TKTS booth. The show was simply amazing (see below). Its rare for my sister to enjoy things, and she liked it.