Summer Is Coming to a Close and JET Season Is Approaching

Two weeks ago, I went to a party for my friend Staci, who has now been in Japan for a few days with JET!!! Then I went to spend two weeks in Pennsylvania at Pennsic 41, living in the middle ages ^_^ I had tons of fun and wish Staci the best of luck!

Being at Pennsic, I finished three kosode. One is a white under-layer and then I have two outer layers or layering layers, one blue and one orange. The layers looked pretty good together and I look forward to getting some pictures of them. The next step for my medieval Japanese garb is to make some patterns on the kosode I've made. Traditional Japanese patterns are typically larger than modern prints in Japan and elsewhere, so it's easiest to dye your own or use fabric paint to accomplish your goal. I have a fall-ish orange that I want to do maple leaves (or something like that) for a fall event, since that seems most accurate. But, I will try to get pictures up soon ^_^

And most importantly, it is now mid-August! This means that it is truly almost time for the JET application XD I am going to start asking again about my letters of reference and getting myself together. After finishing my TESOL certification course, I really want to do more work with the IEI and hopefully get a reference there. The course really got my back into the game as far as JET is concerned. As I met some of the kids and talked about the TESOL process, I realized that I definitely want to do this. The man that runs the IEI taught in Japan for years, so his comments helped me see some of the reality of what I want to do and in doing so, brought the fire back.

Other things on my to-do list: get my new ME license, get my new-to-me car registered, get my passport done, make more kosode, and take a new look at my SoP ^_^

Any ideas on what I should talk about here would be awesome. I know that I have covered my own experiences fairly completely, but I can look for other advice or repost some of the things that have been more useful. I just want to get back to being helpful, especially since it is now time for the help to be more needed. I am going to try to post at least once a week, maybe more, but I will definitely try to get things that are useful up here each time ^_^ (or things that are at least interesting, maybe, if you like Japan).