forced minimalism

24 01 2011

There is so much I’ve been meaning to blog about lately, but just not the time. As I mentioned a few months back, I’m on my final few months at this job, and consequently living in Japan. Which means I have to get rid of almost everything I managed to accumulate in the last 4 years and 3 months. ugh.

Which brings me to minimalism. I have had to (and still am) throw out so much stuff! So far I’ve managed to put together about 8 60L bags of rubbish to be collected, and just one of them was papers! Why oh why do we keep so much stuff?

And there are such hard decisions to make too. For example, should I keep my old computer or send it to PC heaven? So I’ve worked out a system of questions to ask myself about everything.

1) Will I use it in the next 3 months? If yes, keep for the moment, if no –> next question
2) Will I want it in Australia? If yes, send it home with my mother in February, if no –> bin.

And then repeat the process another 1 or 2 times with everything. That way I’m double or triple checking the importance of the item in my life. And to be honest, I’m surprised that my pile of things to return to Australia isn’t that big. (But is mostly made up of Starbucks mugs…)

I think maybe these minimalists have a good idea… I don’t want to ever have to do this again. Talk about stressful! And next, I need to sell/give away my furniture and appliances…. *sigh*


Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: ,
Categories : general

Wednesday *again*

7 03 2007

Found out something intresting from a student the other day – this is the first time since they started recording the weather in Tokyo that it hasn’t snowed all winter. 

The weekend was spent with Xina, she moved house so I helped drag some stuff over tokyo.  yuck, i hate getting on trains with suitcases…  But we also got out hair done on monday, and I had a straight perm, so all is well in my world.

i still have a few items I need to get before my parents arrive.  the most pressing are a copy of my key, a futon for them to sleep on, and a seat, becuase i imagine my dad is going to struggle with being on the floor all the time

Oh, and Im not writing a big group email this month, becuase not much has happened~


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : general

19 days

19 11 2006

well, tomorrow will be the 20th, and I will finally be moving into my apartment…  20 days of living out of a duffel….  you’d think i’ve joined the army???

This past week has been, on a whole, tiring.  Its been all well and good observing at my new school, but after a day or so it becomes really hard to hide the yawns in class.  By Thurs I was teaching all the adult classes on my schedule, so it hasn’t been so bad.  And its funny how you can see the improvement in yourself really really quickly… 

After finishing training, I was told that my aim should be to learn the steps to the lessons better.  and, well, after 2 days of work it seems I’ve pretty much got it down packed.  Now I think my personal aims are to in general improve my familiairty with what Im teaching, and work on my time management….  and I’m not even going to begin on what I need to do for kids classes…

Everyone I work with is lovely.  But its going to be really difficult replacing Stacee.  She’s been here for 2 years and 3 months, and is really loved and a great teacher…  I just hope my students will bear with me for the next few months til I get a handel on everything.

Last night we had the going away/welcome party at the school and I managed to mingle with some of the students.  It was a good night overall, with us finishing up at karaoke 🙂  oh-boy….  they really shouldn’t give me a microphone…..  and drinkies…..  (shakes head)

Since I’ll be moving into the apartment tomorrow I’ll be cut off from the internet, so no regular updates (not that they were to begin with).  Im hoping to get the net really soon, so it shouldn’t be too long…  I apoligise if im a bit slow replying to anyone, etc.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags:
Categories : general