I have a new job now. Well, newish. I started in April. But since I haven’t posted in over a year, it’s easy to understand that you wouldn’t know.

Since my last post, I’ve done a few things:

As I mentioned, I changed jobs. I’m back to teaching. This isn’t for any normal school. It’s an international school backed by a big venture company. This will give me some opportunities if I stick with it for a while. Ideally, I’m hoping to move into an IT position. As of now though, I’m enjoying my new job. I’m teaching an after-school program where I see the same kids every weekday. Their at an advanced level of English, so they can have full conversations with you (although it’s still pretty broken).

I competed in a speech contest. I’ve now been in Toastmasters for a year and a half. In February-April, we had a series of contests. I was able to win the club and area contests. I got 3rd place in the division contest. The guy who won had been doing Toastmasters for 20 years, and he knew exactly how to win. I’m preparing for the contest next year now. I may already have a speech ready for it. I just need to practice, practice, practice!

Speaking of Toastmasters, I’m not the 2nd in command of my club (Vice President of Education). It’s pretty much the most intensive job in the club. I’m doing a lot of organizing since we’re a new club, and trying to simplify the process so that whoever takes over next won’t have many problems.

I’m starting to test my hand at leatherworking. I haven’t made anything yet, but I’m starting to get to know how to use the tools. I bought a leather working tool set similar to this from Amazon Japan, so it’s not a huge investment yet. I also found an awesome leather shop in Japan where I can get some practice hides relatively cheap (around $30), but I didn’t realize how much the nice stuff costs (between $200-300). The company name is Sanyo Leather. Here is a picture of the sample book they sent for $10 as well as a few scraps that they sent for free for testing. I think I’ll try to make a wallet with it.

Anyway, that’s all for now.