Summer update

It's hot and humid... summer is finally here, after a pretty long and boring rainy season during which it really rained a lot. I can't remember last year being as rainy....

Life is busy, as usual. I am so lucky to have now over 10 students. I am now also doing more regularly proofreading of French texts. And I started doing a few translations from Japanese to French.

On the studies front, I am now considering options for translation studies. And I just registered to the German Fernuni Hagen, for a B.S. Wirtschaftswissenschaft (business). The program is all in German, of course. The math level of German high schools being pretty high, I need to first catch up on math before starting my studies. Even the business introduction courses have very high level math components...

I received the second module of the DAEFLE French teacher training. I will need to send the homeworks for the first module by the end of September.

I am of course still studying with Kumon, at a slower pace though (it is getting more challenging). We now have a special summer session, every morning for two weeks...

Busy, busy...

I will finally be able to graduate and get my BA in French

I was just informed that I will be able to graduate this year from London University, External System with a Bachelor of Arts in French, no matter the outcome of this year’s final examination.

I am very happy to finally be able to graduate.

It took me over 10 years to get there and do it...

Now, I am considering my options for a MA, also by distance learning.

New classroom's homepage

I finally worked on an improved version of my classroom site.

Check it out here... (mostly in Japanese)

Looking back at 2009

I wrote the following for AFWJ February 2010 Journal. It is a good summary of all what happened in 2009:

(…)

It is probably an understatement to say that, for me, 2009 was a really very busy year, with many changes.

In fact, within a few months, our life changed upside-down: begin January, I was living alone during the week in Saitama, almost never cooking, working in Tokyo assisting foreigners with their new life in Japan; on week-ends, DH and I were enjoying Saitama and Tokyo bookstores, restaurants, etc. We had no car. I was mainly speaking English.

Fast forward end of December: DH and I are living together in Fukushima, sharing a 3-floor-house with DH's parents. I cook 3 times a day (very simple breakfast and lunch), make sure that my mother in law takes her medicine, teach at home during the week, do some proofreading and go grocery shopping with DH by car on week-ends. During the week, I walk to the nearby supermarket or order online. Books and special items are ordered online. Most of the time, I speak Japanese. I update my school's blog and Internet listings in Japanese. I knit some warm accessories (our house is NOT done for cold winters).

Very busy 2009 saw:

• 2 big moves within a few months (one planned within Saitama, one originally unplanned to Fukushima)
• 3 overseas trips and many trips between Saitama and Fukushima
• 2 long hospital stays for my mother-in-law (total: almost 6 months spent in hospital, with heavy family help, including at meals and during hospital transfers); many doctor's visits
• a lot of cooking (3 times a day) and grocery shopping
• a lot of cleaning, sorting out and throwing away literally tons of stuff in Saitama and Fukushima (including the entire 3rd floor of the Fukushima house)
• a lot of Japanese language study for me (formally with a nearby Kumon school and informally with hours of conversations that include hospital and medical matters)
• creating a classroom in our house and French, German and English lessons from scratch; advertising it heavily in Japanese on the Internet (annerose-no-heya.blogspot.com)
• restarting slowly my freelance activities as a French proofreader
• creating 6 AFWJ Journals and updating the association homepage
• sitting a few exams in Tokyo, London and Fukushima
• all kinds of reading, knitting, studying

We had a few sad losses: our 16-year-old cat Maxu (on January 1st, 2009), a Swiss uncle, Michael Jackson (I was a big fan). We also had to let go of our house and lifestyle in Saitama (including bookstores in Tokyo), not to mention my job, work colleagues and nearby friends.

We gained more time together, an unplanned opportunity to learn a lot, countryside lifestyle (no more stressful commuting to Tokyo), more space (our Fukushima house is pretty large, even for countryside standards).

Also, we learned that life really is unpredictable. We came to accept that not so perfect is OK too (sometimes). And that we do the best we can with what life throws at us.

Improving Japanese language skills

I will be giving a presentation in Japanese next week about life in Fukushima as a foreigner and Switzerland.

Then, next week-end, I will be attending a one-day workshop about interpretation to/from Japanese.

I am afraid that although my spoken Japanese skills have been improving a lot since I moved to Fukushima last year, my Japanese language reading/writing skills are not yet at a professional level. I am working hard on the said skills, though.

Volunteering for AFWJ

I have been volunteering for AFWJ for quite some time now. Years ago, I was Kanto Newsletter Editor. I later did 2 years as a Journal Editor. I was then a Technical Advisor for the following Journal Editor, for about two years. I volunteered again last year as a Journal Editor, but this time only for one year. From this upcoming April, I will say goodbye to the position for good.

Since 2007, I am also AFWJ's Webmaster. Life had been very busy this past year and I could not do as much as I would have wanted.

However, recently, I created a new Blog about AFWJ Members.

The latest entry is an important one I would like to see spread over Japan. You may have heard of foreign nurses and caregivers being welcomed in Japan. I believe that it is important that the nurses' voices and their version, quite different from the "official" version we see on TV, is heard. Feel free to forward.

A good description of my nowadays life

I was recently interviewed (in Japanese) by a local newspaper (Fukushima Living, distributed to all household in Fukushima city). The article will appear in early November.

It is a good description of my nowadays life.

Translation:
Ms Annerose is from Switzerland. She came to Fukushima, her husband's hometown, this past Spring. At her home, she opened a classroom called "Annerose's classroom", where she teaches French, German and simple English. She also translates from German and English into French. Someday, she would also like to translate from Japanese and is studying to this purpose. "I like studying very much. It is important to always learn something new."she said in fluent Japanese. She also volunteers for AFWJ (Association of foreign wives of Japanese). She is enjoying her life in Fukushima while taking care of her family.