June 18, 2007
Year 3 is the best...!
Konchi wa, hi it’s been a long time since I last wrote to the website. Since then a lot has changed in the school and also my own personal life. As this being my last school year at Seiritsu it is amazing to see the transformation in the school’s international center and the change from New Zealand country boy to Tokyo city boy.
Firstly the school’s international center and its prestige, from not really having a formal study room, we now have a private room fitted with a state of the art computer, air conditioner for those plus 40 degree days, and 2 teachers (Richard and Cathy) who teach at a maximum 3 students; myself, Ryosuke and Jason. This is almost unheard of as most classes have at least 30 students in other schools, so not only are we getting to play soccer everyday, but we are getting a top education as well. The number of students as I earlier mentioned has tripled this year (3) so the international center now has a place on the map in Seiritsu and I am sure it will only continue to strive forward and grow.
Personally so far this year I have found it a lot easier to communicate not just on a surface level, but I’m really being able to talk in Japanese to the teachers, coaches and even team mates and letting them know what I truly think. This of course is built on awesome relationships where I know that I can trust the guys and the teachers, plus I don’t have to worry about being wrong. That is why this year I have found that the rate I am learning Japanese and the respect gained from others has grown the most.
In saying this I have found my last year to be by far the most enjoyable and can see this by how quickly it seems to be passing me by, I’m sure that there is still a lot of character building to take place from here on in and that I will take it in my stride and ride this last year out with no regrets what so ever.
Michael