This is, by far, the hardest thing I've ever done. I've moved to a foreign country where I know absolutely no one, and I'm trying to do a job that I have no idea how to do. I'm on the most extreme emotional roller coaster that I've ever experienced. Small things, both good and bad, seem amplified. I meet someone cool, and I'm high as a kite, my heart is pounding, and I feel like everything will be alright. Or, my students are talkative and won't pay attention to me, and I'm down in the gutter, nearly crying in the classroom.

It's challenging in nearly every way. Constant translation is tiring, but it's a requirement for daily life. To meet new people and make friends, which I so dearly want to have, means that I must be outgoing and confident, which I usually am not. To teach my students English, which is the job I am paid to do, I need to entertain and motivate large groups of early teens who are required to take the class I'm teaching (thus, many are not interested in what I have to say).

It's intense, but it's getting easier. There are fewer frustrating situations, because I'm learning how to avoid making the same mistakes, and there are more uplifting situations -- whether I like it or not, I have to be outgoing sometimes, and I really have met some great people. Sometimes it's rough, but that would happen anywhere in the world. Any anyway, it makes the sweet times all the more enjoyable.