New Year's Resolutions

Last year, I made ten New Year's resolutions.

Out of that ten, guess how many I managed to keep? A measely 3. I did succeed in doing all of them at some point, just not continuosly and definitely not long term.

I've been much more realistic with my resolutions this year. I'm not gonna share all of them with you - I always find that revealing too much never helps anyone - but I will tell you a few of them.

The 3 biggest things for me this year are to save money, get healthy and pass 2kyuu of the JLPT.

I am always in a constant battle to save money. The problem is I love to travel, and there are still so many countries that I want to go to, and being here, I want to make the most of it. So I know that I won't be able to save everything, but I can definitely put a bit aside every month - even if it is just a couple of man, it's better than nothing. And given that my salary is lower than it was on JET, and my rent is seven times higher, that makes saving all the more difficult.

When I say I want to get healthy, I mean in terms of exercise. I really need to work on my general fitness - stairs still kill me and I can't run. Even running to the train station when I'm late leaves me gasping for air. I'm doing alright with this already - ditching the train and walking to the gym, taking the stairs instead of using the escalators (or walking up the escalators if they're really long), and it definitely feels good. I can't change my diet - my love for cake and other sweet things will just simply not allow it. I'd just be downright miserable without my cake - and everyone who knows me knows that that's true! LOL! But I know I need to get off my lazy arse and start doing something about it!

I never studied properly for the 3kyuu of the JLPT so I kind of need to review the grammar and kanji for that level before I even start on studying the 2kyuu. I've been reviewing the vocab on my train ride to work and I'm really shocked I managed to pass 3kyuu given how much of the recommended vocab I don't actually know. And don't even get me started on the kanji readings - I mean, I can tell you the English meanings, but for the most part, I don't have a clue how to actually say any of them. I figured that I can give myself until end February to go over the 3kyuu stuff properly - it's more the vocab than the grammar that I'm worried about. Then from March onwards, I'll concentrate fully on the 2kyuu. I would like to start from next month really, but I wanna be realistic, and with my working hours, I won't be able to review everything by the end of this month. Maybe I can aim for mid February instead...we'll see how it goes.

So yah - those are the main things that I've got going on this year. I also want to travel whenever I can - I hate wasting opportunities and I've already lost one by not going anywhere over the winter break so I definitely want to make up for that. Travel aims this year are Seoul, Malaysia and Singapore, trip to the States to see friends and either a trip back to UK or Australia/NZ. Bora Bora is definitely out - I know I said I would make it happen this year but it's impossible because I won't be able to save enough money before I want to go. And taking that trip would mean that I wouldn't be able to do anything for the rest of the year - and I definitely don't want that to happen.

On a completely different note, I had a bit of a proud moment in the classroom today, when one of my babies stood up on his own for the second time ever! It really is quite remarkable working with babies and watching their development. I also have another baby who has started clapping! When I met him he couldn't even walk. So cute.

xx