u/picklelemonades

I live in Japan with my husband. I desperately want to go home. My job sucks. All I do is work, doom scroll, sleep. He gets frustrated when he gets home at 9 p.m., and I'm asleep bc I get up at 5 am. I don't blame him he just wants to spend time with me, and I'm always asleep or crying.

I told him I want to go home but he wants to stay in Japan forever so if I go home I go home alone and risk ruining the marriage and I leave him alone in an apartment he has to pay by himself. We both make low salaries, so I'm really worried about him.

I've gotten sick bc of my job a lot. I was bleeding for 2 months straight. I have hormonal problems bc of stress. I switched birth control, and now I'm ok, but I bleed a lot. I fainted on the train to work once, and I put in my 30-day notice after that.

I have an interview with a new job. Same thing, different company.

I keep crying or talking with my husband about my inability to make a decision, and the other day, he got so frustrated. He said he only has so much patience, but he's trying so hard to make me happy and spend time with me, but I'm never happy.

I want to go home. I want to feel like I belong again. I see people talk with coworkers and friends in their language talking about their culture, and they fit in. They belong. I sit there alone at my desk, no one talks to me, and no one wants to sit next to me. I'm so tired. I miss my mom. I miss the life I had before, but my husband loves this country. I'm so tired. Why do I have to make this decision? Why can't I just be happy here.

I need to shut up and suck it up. Ever since my husband told me he's losing patience, I try to cry in the shower in the morning when he's asleep. I cry before he gets home. I cry when I call my mom. I can't show anything to him, or he'll get tired of me. I can't keep ruining everything.

I don't know what to do anymore. I want this feeling to go away. Why won't he come back home with me?

I don't want to live here forever.

Hello everyone, so this is my first time teaching jhs and I just want to know how I can improve or if I’m doing some wrong.

I’ve taught only es for a while and I always have a great time. The kids are enthusiastic and I like teaching the lessons. Simple and sometimes I can be creative. This year I was given jhs assignment and I’m having trouble connecting with the students. Particularly my 3rd years. My JTE is also giving minimal support in class. Usually just standing in the corner and watching. 

Recently we had a discussion class. I prepared questions I ran by the JTE. I wanted to make sure they weren’t too difficult for their English level. I prepared worksheets and ppt so we can discuss each question as a class and prepare for group discussions. 

Overall I got very low reactions or had some students refusing to speak. My JTE gave minimal support as per usual and since it’s my first time I wasn’t sure what to expect. 

I wish my company would give us proper trainings because I just get nasty looks from that particular JTE. In fact I don’t know what we usually do during trainings but I’ve learned more observing a veteran teacher than hearing some guy ramble about teamwork. 

I’ll be leaving soon for personal reasons but I want to know for future reference what I can do to get the attention of the older students. 

I work well with the other jhs English teachers. I’m also t1 with another English teacher but usually the lessons aren’t THAT painful to get through. I just don’t get along with the previously mentioned teacher. I do get along with the art club girls though and I hide in the art room and draw with them for art club after school. Super fun! But they tell me I haven’t been doing enough haha

I know a lot of y’all like teaching jhs but why?! 

I've lived in Japan for 2+ years with my husband. We are both American.

My life back home was pretty simple, but I enjoyed it. At one point, we had a nice apartment, cats, cars, nice furniture.. it was the happiest point in my life. My husband had a part-time job while he was in university, and I had a full-time job at a library. Very low salary, but we had so much, and I don't remember struggling.

My husband was very depressed back in America and wanted to teach in Japan. I went out of my way to find us english teaching jobs, and we gave up everything to come here. He's finally at peace, and he likes his job.

Unfortunately, I'm not doing very well here. Both my husband and I don't make very much money. I make around 220,000/month before deductions, so around 180,000. The first 2 years here were a struggle. My husband lost his job and started a new one where he got uncomfortably close (emotionally) with a coworker, and things went south when I asked if he liked her.

After that, I stopped studying the language, and that really limits my options for jobs and relationships. My husband and I are still together. We worked through things, and we're fine now.

Overall, I don't have any long-term goals here. I don't want to live here forever. The wages are low, and more people are starting to let their hatred for foreigners show. For my particular field of work there's no real ladder up and wages have actually gone down bc so many ppl are trying to get in the country and these companies know they can get away with barely liveable wages.

My job is miserable, and I've put in my 30 days. I had a lot of health issues leading up to it and even fainted on the train to work because I was so overwhelmed. My day consists of going to work, coming home, scrolling, sleeping, waking up to eat dinner with my husband, sleep, and repeat. I have no interest or energy for anything else, and it's been this way for a very long time. I've stopped feeling anything. I feel little short bursts of joy, but that's about it.

I've told my husband I want to go home, and he encourages it. He, on the other hand, will NEVER leave Japan. He likes the free health care and clean streets. He also (imo) scrolls a lot on news subreddits and tells me America is too dangerous rn.

Many of my friends and family are concerned for my health and suggest I come back home. My husband says it's dangerous, and if I want to stay in America, we'll probably end up separating and never seeing each other again.

I know if I was here by myself, I would have gone back home, but going back without my husband to my childhood bedroom to essentially start all over again by myself is very uncomfortable..

Many women in my life are upset he's not coming back with me after hearing about my depression but my husband says he sees a potential career here if he pushes himself and keeps trying. The other men in his life don't say much and think it's okay that he's staying. They just say something along the line of "Hey, that sucks."

Obviously, I want to leave, but I'm scared I'm making the wrong choice, and maybe I'm just running away. I'm so tired of living life on hard mode. I've struggled with having less that ¥10,000 many times while being here. But maybe I'm just not trying hard enough.. this country is safe and clean, so why can't I make it work? It must be because I'm lazy, right? I have a cozy apartment my husband chose to accommodate both our job locations (although my assignment moved and for my remaining time at my current job, I travel 1hr30mins each way), I buy all the cute merch I can to get my serotonin boost, if I get sick I know it's affordable... so why am I not happy?

I know the answer will probably never come to me. I know up to the very last minute whether I stay or go, I'll have that uneasy feeling that whatever I did was wrong. I know the safe choice is to stay here with my husband and just grit my teeth, and hopefully, he gets his big boy job, and maybe he'll get permanent residency and maybe I'll find a job and finally settle into a routine.

Or I go home, live with my mom, get my car back, get a new cat(I had to give away my cat to be here, another long story...no i did not want to give up my cat) get a part time job until I can get a full time, try to get back into library work or there's a teachers aid certification I really want to get... but this feels selfish.

Sorry, I don't have access to the digital textbook, and I'd like to use it as a warm-up for my 3rd grade.

Does anyone have the video? When I scan the qr code in the textbook, it's only audio..

Anyone have a class debate where students choose a topic and spend the rest of the class discussing their options on said topic?

It's my first time in JHS, and I have some discussion topics in mind, but I'm not sure if they will get the students engaged..

Any ideas or topics that seemed to work well for yall?

Any help is appreciated

For example, I have a couple in mind.. Should school start later in the day? Should weekends be longer? Should students use tablets and ipads in school?

But I think maybe those might be a bit boring...

My husband and I have lived in Japan for 2 years. I have decided to move back home for many reasons.

A lot of it has to do with worrying about the future financially and my mental health. Mostly, my mental health. I've been very depressed since we've moved here.. and it got significantly worse since moving to a different school (I'm an ALT)

I'm not sure if it's the right decision, I'll be honest, but I'm already making preparations.

My husband will, under no circumstances, EVER return to the States. So we will see if my being in the US is the right decision..

He suggested that after a year, we will start the process of separation if I decide to stay home.

It's really hard to hear since we both love and care for each other very much. It feels like this is all my doing, and I feel incredibly guilty.. I feel like I'm just very weak mentally. Maybe my life here isn't bad after all, and it's all in my head..

Anyway, many people are telling me a year apart and straight to divorce is a little fast-paced, but idk.

Obv, we don't want to divorce, but like I said, I'm unhappy with my job combined with loneliness, language barrier, homesick, no money to enjoy life.. like I said I'm not sure and maybe it's all in my head..

Tldr I'm burnt out.. Just seeing if anyone has similar stories or words of advice.