Midway thru the Final Semester

So, the end of this week marks the end of the first half of the semester, and the second half will begin.  Interestingly, I do not have any mid terms until the end of October.  Go figure.  Anyway,  I can hardly believe that the end is actually coming.  It doesn't seem real right now.  I have been hunting for jobs in Japan, and have been preparing applications to a couple of different places, (each requiring their own essay BTW) and am now just waiting for all my importan documents to arrive in the mail.  I still have to work on the essays, but since I will be riding a train for 6 hours on Friday to visit my new nephew and sister, I have planned to work on this essay then.  I have a basic idea of what I want to say, I just have to organize all those thoughts into one glorious essay.  It's really a big deal, and I am kind of freaking out about it.

I have a new job working for AECP (American English and Culture Program).  I am a "Language facilitator."  Which basically means that I teach conversational English as an extra curricular activity.  They don't get graded or even have to show up.  It's just only for those that want to learn conversation.  So far, I have only had 4 students that have never shown up, which is a really good thing.  Most people have only 4 students that DO show up.  There are a total of 15 studetns I have been assigned to and this next session coming up after fall break, there will be more students added to my list, but there will also be those that are moving up and will not be able to take classes from me.  I also assist in reading classes throughout the week.  The assisting has given me a lot of insight into teaching English.  I find that I quite enjoy my job and cannot wait to be doing this full time as my carreer.

Today was new student registration for AECP.  Most of the students were from Kuwait and the rest were from other countries around the globe.  There were about 500 students that signed up, maybe more.  I was helping them pick electives and and choose classes based on their visa type.  Apparently there are soooo many different types of student visas.  I had no idea.  It was funny to watch some of the ones who knew no English and were trying their best to understand me or trying to fill out their papers.  There was a lot of dictionary use today.  Most of the studetns that knew no English had a translator with them, but some did not.

When I first arrived this morning, the lady explaing to me what I will be doing kept emphasizing how difficult and confusing the job was.  She was concerned that I would have no idea what I was doing and would do a terrible job.  She was freaking out for no reason.  She called in a special person just to help me, because she didn't believe I would be able to handl the job.  I don't know why she said that.  After working today, I have no idea what the big issue was.  The job was so easy.  The students had label stickers that stated what the visa type was, I had a list of the rules were for each type.  All I had to do was put their stickers on my paper, choose the classes for the number of hours listed on their visa, then tell them when their placement test was.  How was that going to be too difficult?  I actaully felt rather insulted.  I think she treated me this way because I was called a "student worker."  Most people think I look 18 years old, so she must have been thinking that I was just a lazy teenager or something.  Anyway, the job was really fun and the time went by so fast.  I couldn't believe it.

If you guys are thinking about it this week at all, please be praying for us.  We are planning on making a huge change in our lives by permanantly moving to Japan, and there are a lot of things we have to be talking about and figure out in the next few months.  We really need guidance and we also need to be staying focused on God and hearing His voice.  I really want to be in Japan, but I also don't want to missinterpret what God is really telling me to do.  So just keep that in mind whenever you think of us this week.