Last Two Weeks: New Faces, New Enthusiasm

Since Fuji Rock, two new ALT's have come to Tokamachi. The first one I met was Russ. He's Aimee's replacement from South Carolina, America. I first met him when we went to see the fireworks in Nagaoka. He's a nice feller who realy interested in seeing everything about Japan. At teh moment he's amazed by all the things near his apartment; the rice fields, the roads, the neighbours. It seems so long ago when I felt like that. I mentioned to him that one of my regrets was not taking anough photos of teh things around me while they were still interesting to me. The next time I saw Russ he said he'd spent an hour or so riding around and taking photos.

The other new ALT is Lopaka, from Hawaii. He's Brian's replacement and lives out in Nakasato (a village on the way to Tsunan) and I met him in Daikichi before Debs and I took him to our Japanese class. The Japanese used in class was difficult for him since he is still learning the Kana, but he gave everthing a try and even showed teh rest of the class a traditional Hawaiian dance (we were learning about Japanese dancing for the Tokamachi Festival).

They're both really nice blokes, interesting and easy to get on with so I think the next year with them will be a great one. They're also eager to try news things and really enthusiastic so I'm sure they'll have a great time here. Conversations with them are full of amazing things they have seen, optomisitic travelling plans and curious questions about Japanese language and culture which is great but, after a while, gets a little annoying. But then, I'm sure I was the same when I first arrived, and enthusiasm for a new country is a good thing so surely I should welcome such an attitude? Maybe their enthusiasm is annoying because it reminds me of how much my own enthusiasm has dampened over the last year. But this need not be a bad thing. Instead of becoming frustrated, I should take this as a kick-up-the-arse to break some of the routines I've established and make Japan interesting again. I should look back over my year, as Erik has recently, see what I've done and what I've achieved and, more importantly, try to remember what I wanted from Japan a year ago. Then, I should take inspriation from Russ and Lopaka and actually look forward to getting the most out of Japan over the next year.