I wake up early, work out, eat healthy, study and go to work.

I havent been writing much lately. I feel guilty. Things are going pretty well in my daily life. And I haven’t been writing them down but I take time to write down sad and painful stories. I keep telling myself that I will write about them but never really been taking time to do so because……

Mostly routinely but still full of lovely surprises in it.

Just like…

how my dad got to speak to my friends via video call while we were having dinner.

being able to run in Aoshima beach 3 times last week (supposedly only on Tuesdays)

Tita G meeting my Jap friends for a morning run

getting to know a new girl in town (we will search for a bike this Sunday)

constant digital communications from people around the world.

random funny conversations about my Japan life with my online students

zoom conference with my former co-fellows last night! (from Australia, Japan, France and Philippines) the eight of us had gone around the world.

The conversations with them last night stirs emotions in me again and again.

C and G left the Philippines both under scholarship grants.

C is in Australia with Ed-Tech being his main focus with the promise of coming back to the Philippines to share whatever he had learned over the course of two years. Next month, he will be flying to Washington DC, to speak in front of a World Bank-sponsored conference to talk about how the umbrella NGO where we all used to work for has been making impact and how it can be sustained. The week after that, he will fly to Finland to interview the Finnish Minister of Education about their world-renowned education policies and practices. Then, he will be touring Estonia and Germany for the same purpose.

                                         

G left under an MBA scholarship in France and looks like he doesn’t have any plans of moving back but still would love to incorporate his newly-acquired business acumen in a more sustainable business platform. His college boyfriend also finished this year, PhD and has landed a job in France. Thus, the decision to go back to the Philippines is most likely not considered.

J works for a small software development company and she has been making great self-realization write ups and travel stories.

Ch is still with CHED, and had recently completed her Comprehensive Exam, the hardest step before getting approval for thesis writing in a Masters’ degree program.

N is still working for an NGO geared towards designing teacher-training programs and materials. And she has a very cute dog named Baka.

Je is working for a private firm for now, promising to go back to teaching, saying that she is just taking a short break for now. She is also enjoying her time as a pop-fiction author under a local publishing house. Being able to promote her support for the LGBT sector through a novel she wrote.

S is having a wonderful time working as a curator in one of the most famous museums in Makati under a big business conglomerate. Also being an art teacher on the side, conducting art workshops and trainings.

Me, I chose to be an OFW, studying on the side, with unclear paths ahead. Well, not really unclear paths, but it’s just not as guaranteed and as solid as theirs. I think? Oh well, this is just me taking for self-pity and that hidden envy I have for all of them.

All seven of them had gone to prestigious universities namely: Ateneo De Manila University, University of Sto. Tomas and University of the Philippines. Among us 8, I am the only one who had gone from a regional state university.

As to how do my dreams for Second Language Teaching in Japan, I still have no idea! For now, I wake up early, work out, eat healthy, study and go to work. Of course, keep myself inspired by these amazing set of 7 people I have in my life.

As I work in Japan and get to know its people, learn its culture and its struggles, alongside with my current MA degree program with UP Open University, a part of me wants to stay long and help and be more deeply-involved in the change in the education system of Japan. However, the current circle where I am right now, I am but with very limited access and influence. I really want to be able to conduct a study about SLT in Japan and design a teacher-training program for language teaching for local teachers, so that in the near future, they don’t need to depend to “native”/”almost native” English speakers, whom, a large percentage, aren’t really qualified teachers but merely people who can speak the language and don’t have enough knowledge about the teaching, what more for  a language. On top of it all, a part of me wants to be as equally-competent or even more knowledgeable than those native-speakers who claim to have the solution for the language and literacy issues of Japan. I really want to understand and help in whatever ways I could. Also, salary-wise, be paid equally. Then, hopefully, be able to do projects as well in the Philippines