Just got off a video call with my successor (who's now back in the US), and boy did she spill the tea. it seems like she wasn't happy in the town, even at the time when i met her in person there! she was telling me about how random people in town would approach her to start a conversation, touch her hair without asking(!), to the point where i don't think she ever felt comfortable there. and her experience in the schools didn't help, either. the usual issues with the way english is taught, plus some intercultural differences both in the schools and town hall (she said people - adults - were talking behind her back), made her time there tough. i'm grateful i went in as an asian with decent japanese language ability, so i was able to fly under the radar. plus, i guess being a guy means that i'm less likely to be randomly stopped on the street for conversation? or it might just be my face helping to ward strangers/potential conversation partners off.

knowing how good the town (including colleagues, teachers, and kids) can be, i do find it a little painful/wasted that she didn't have as awesome an experience as i did (bar the last part with the prefecture). i also wish she'd told me about all that when we met! while i might not have been able to flip tables in the town hall on her behalf, i could have had discreet words or casual chats with certain people, or relied on the goodwill i'd built up to pull some other strings...especially since i was there in person! but yes, no use crying over spilled milk. i guess rural japan still has a long way to go when it comes to dealing with "actual" foreign-looking foreigners. so in a funny way, i guess my placement worked out despite the impression that they try to assign difficult/challenging placements!

not that i know enough to accurately ascribe blame for how things went down, but it seems to me that how things turned out was a bit on my successor, but mostly on the town and the system. i do wonder if the situation could have been salvaged, not necessarily with my help/intervention. like, would things have been different if my successor had voiced out her concerns more to the town hall (or to me!) and perhaps tried harder to assimilate (mentally, i mean; physically would be impossible), or if the town hall had recognized that her japanese language level was insufficient for daily life and offered her more support, checked in on her more, etc.? also not trying to blow my own trumpet here, but i think that i'm one of the better JETs that the town has had in terms of independence and tackling non-work-related aspects of JET life...and i hope the town hall staff realize that now.

still, she seems to be at peace with her decision to leave, so i guess that's good. she told me that she wants to continue in the education industry back in the states, and asked me to be a reference for her. i agreed, and i figure that i'll just tell any potential employers what i know about the job and her performance in the schools. she seemed well-liked enough by the kids, based on what i saw of their interaction, and that gives me a bit more confidence to give her a positive recommendation. besides, it wouldn't be nice to spoil her rice bowl.

nothing really new on my end, i got a whole bunch of cases which should last me the next 2 months at least. getting them all done by that time will probably mean i'll hit the promotion target. crochet guy came over to discuss my insurance coverage and...more. think i might need to up my critical illness cover, and maybe get an accident plan too. that's going to cost another few thousand a year, i think. within my means, but i'll probably feel the pinch. have to think about it more.

forgot to mention it when i first published this post...my third aunt recently informed me that the tampines place sold! i think it was within the past few weeks to a month? like i told them, my 4-month timeline to buy a flat is already accelerated. they ended up taking 6-7 months to finalize the sale. was there really a need for my second aunt to set my move-out date from marine parade for me, and cause friction in the process? irrational/emotional human reaction, i guess. well, whatever it is, i'm happy that the sale went through; that's one less thing for my third aunt to stress about.

-random thought of the day: Focus on work!-