!!!!Congratulations Etoile!!!!

[Stella_Omega]

She's graduated Summa Cum Laude plus honors from Gaudellet University, with a bachellors degree in Deaf Studies, and minors in history(I think?)

I am completely in awe of your accomplishment.

 

[none2_none2]

She's graduated Summa Cum Laude plus honors from Gaudellet University, with a bachellors degree in Deaf Studies, and minors in history(I think?)

I am completely in awe of your accomplishment.

WOW, congrats Etoile! (To be honest, I never knew about "Gaudellet" until I saw the movie: "Children of a Lesser God". )

For what is it worth, I had always wanted to learn signing because I'm half deaf. (My mother was in a car accident [pre-natal]. I have a middle ear and inner ear, but no external ear and where I should have a canal, I have skull and skin. [They could drill a hole, but I would run the risk of facial paralisys as well as the fact that my ear drum may have atrophied from lacke of exposure to external air.])

What will you do now? FYI, I don't know why, but for some reason I envisioned that you were a translator at the UN.

 

[twister947]

Wtg, lady!

 

[Safe_Bet]

You rock, girl! (and you know you have my deepest admiration)

So when do you head out on Etoile's Big Adventure?

 

[Luna_Wolf72]

Many many happy kisses E~very proud of you!

Congrats!!

and I found him JUST for YOU!!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2267/2105506263_3a80827145_z.jpg

 

[girlsmiley]

Congratulations. Sensational stuff, mate.

 

[CJontherocks]

Yay Etoile!!!!

M, you know I've admired you for quite a few years... a proud member of the Etoile Fan Club since 2004.

And now I'm in awe. You rock. You've always rocked. Congratulations on your achievement. I wish you all the best.

(You can't see it, but I'm doing a little happy dance for you.)

-- P

 

[GaySage]

.......

 

[bicuriouscd]

Congratulations !!
Best of luck to you and your future .

 

[Etoile]

Awwwww thank you so much everybody!!

Luna I love that kitten OMG!!! SO CUTE!!

Etoile's Big Adventure will hopefully start in 2012. I'm applying this fall to a contract position to teach ASL in Japan for a whole year. You might remember I did this in summer 2010, well I fell in love with the country and I'm hoping to get the job there.

 

[Spicy Southern Belle]

Congratulations! That is amazing!

 

[infinity706]

I've honestly never heard of the college before, but Suma Cum Laude is pretty impressive. Many congratulations, Ms Etoile.

 

[Etoile]

I've honestly never heard of the college before, but Suma Cum Laude is pretty impressive. Many congratulations, Ms Etoile.

Gallaudet is quite small, no surprise you haven't heard of it! It's the only liberal arts university exclusively for deaf students in the USA.

 

[clio711]

Congratualtions Etoile. I don't know you, but I have enjoyed many of your posts. I always love to here about people going for and achieving their goals. Good luck with your future endeavors.

p.s. We have the same birthday too! Although, I'm quite a bit older . . . .

 

[none2_none2]

Awwwww thank you so much everybody!!

...I'm applying this fall to a contract position to teach ASL in Japan for a whole year. You might remember I did this in summer 2010, well I fell in love with the country and I'm hoping to get the job there.

I read your "100 things about me" blog which was last updated before your trip to Japan. You mentioned you also went to Turkey. How did that compare to Japan?

FYI, my own extent of connection to Japan is:

1) Lay over in Yakota Japan in the 70's. (My dad was stationed in Clark AFB Philipines, and a few trips back and forth I had various stop overs (Yakota, Guam, Honalulu)

2) If my mother hadn't seperated from my dad before I was born, I would have been born in Yakota.

3) During college, one of my best friends was a born-again Christian with a Japaneese fetish. (He thought they had the prettiest noses -- strange.) Anyway, bumbed around in Japan for a year after a year or two of teaching there. He taught me some of the trivia I know such as their writing systems: Kanji (the Chinese based system), Katakana, Hirigana, Romanji (use of western symbols).
We didn't stay in touch as his religious views got a big overwhelming. Last time I saw him he wanted a wife, but saw nothing wrong with snakes or wasp around his shack in northern Missouri. He wouldn't believe me when I said MOST women didn't have that kind of appreciation for nature THAT close to the house. The other thing that I didn't like is that when I referred to my family growing up as my folks (consisted of my grandma, mother, and grandpa until he died when I was 7) he corrected me. He said folks can only be parents. I think he meant it more in terms of a biblical truth then a meriam-webster correctness. Anyway, I figured I should keep my distance as heaven forbid he find out that I was gay. Personally, I think he should consider going back to Japan. As much as he wanted a Japaneese wife, he won't find many in rural Missouri.


FYI: I'm somewhat of a geography nut in terms of I like natural borders. If I was young and a world militant, one of the causes I would fight for is for Japan's right to Sakhalin. It just seems like they should have it for its geographical location. (However, something tells me it is probably pretty cold there, so Japan may not want it that badly.)

I really am not an urban person, so whan I think of a trip to Japan, I think of big crowded cities which just isn't me. I would want remote rural areas.

(To give you an example of my lack of appreciation for urban areas: On a trip to Boston, I left the very next day for Province Town -- not because it was gay or had an ocean view, but because it had much fewer people. That is the nice thing about Kansas -- SPACE!)

So anyway, if I won a trip to Japan, I'd probably spend most of my time in Hokkaido. If you find yourself with Sakhalin for Japan liberators, make sure to take plenty of pictures of Hokkaido and any boat beachheads to Sakhalin. That part of Japan and far east Russia don't get a lot of attention. Here are some photos of Sakhalin and if you scroll down a ways you'll see on picture of a Japanese buildling from when Japan had the southern part of the island:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tgerus/galleries/72157624278966083/#photo_428489483

You are so lucky to be young and free to travel. I hope that not only you get to go to Japan, but travel to many other places in the world. The world has too many beautiful places worth seeing in a lifetime.

 

[infinity706]

Gallaudet is quite small, no surprise you haven't heard of it! It's the only liberal arts university exclusively for deaf students in the USA.

I'm really surprised such a thing even exists. It's a nice idea, but as far as I know, I've met one deaf person in my life. I'm quite impressed they have a large enough student body to keep the doors open if they only accept deaf students.

 

[Etoile]

I read your "100 things about me" blog which was last updated before your trip to Japan. You mentioned you also went to Turkey. How did that compare to Japan?

Hmm, maybe I should update that. There's no comparison between Turkey and Japan, they are extremely different and I was there for different lengths of time (3 wks vs. 3 months) and different reasons (tourism vs. cultural exchange).

FYI: I'm somewhat of a geography nut in terms of I like natural borders. If I was young and a world militant, one of the causes I would fight for is for Japan's right to Sakhalin. It just seems like they should have it for its geographical location. (However, something tells me it is probably pretty cold there, so Japan may not want it that badly.)

Well, they did fight over it for a long time, but frankly more of it is closer to Russia than it is to Japan!

I really am not an urban person, so whan I think of a trip to Japan, I think of big crowded cities which just isn't me. I would want remote rural areas.

Japan has both. The cities are extremely crowded, yes, but there are plenty of areas that are remote. There are often hot spring spas (onsen) in such areas, so they can sometimes attract visitors, but there's plenty of solitude to be had.

You are so lucky to be young and free to travel. I hope that not only you get to go to Japan, but travel to many other places in the world. The world has too many beautiful places worth seeing in a lifetime.

Well, I am 30 and married, so "free" is not what it could be. There is actually a lot of other traveling I would have done if I had been single in my 20s. If I were single I would be jetting off constantly!

 

[Etoile]

I'm really surprised such a thing even exists. It's a nice idea, but as far as I know, I've met one deaf person in my life. I'm quite impressed they have a large enough student body to keep the doors open if they only accept deaf students.

*chuckles*

It's a bigger world than you realize.

 

[infinity706]

Yeah, it's a big world, but most people I know just go to the closest, cheapest college. It's not like there's any extra prestiege in going to a college no one's ever heard of. It's not like it's an Ivy League school or famous for its football program.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Arrgh! I just realised I've been mispelling "Gallaudet" in these posts.

And Etoile is such a classy lady, she doesn't even care.

I'd have been all correcto-dude.

Thank you for your tolerance and class, Etoile

 

[Etoile]

Arrgh! I just realised I've been mispelling "Gallaudet" in these posts.

And Etoile is such a classy lady, she doesn't even care.

I'd have been all correcto-dude.

Thank you for your tolerance and class, Etoile

Aw, most people get it wrong, so I didn't need to say anything! Just slipped the right spelling in there.

 

[beachtime]

She's graduated Summa Cum Laude plus honors from Gaudellet University, with a bachellors degree in Deaf Studies, and minors in history(I think?)

I am completely in awe of your accomplishment.

Add my admiration. wtg

 

[dre_jones]

Congrats and job well done!

 

[none2_none2]

Well, I am 30 and married, so "free" is not what it could be. There is actually a lot of other traveling I would have done if I had been single in my 20s. If I were single I would be jetting off constantly!

Lots of times when we comment, we are doing so from our own frame of reference. With that in mind, for my use of the word "free", I wasn't so much thinking of relationships as much as other responsibilities. The main one for me is animals. It is one thing to go off and trust a friend to watch a pet. It is another thing to figure out how to take care of many farm animals. However, I must say even if I wasn't on the farm, I couldn't imagine leaving a pet for an entire year. I'd probably figure a way to take them with me. Another thing in my case is elderly relatives. It might be difficult to be available to deal with their issues if I was half way around the world or somewhere remote where I couldn't be reached for days. Seriously, I don't know how farmers nor people with dependents (children or seniors) ever get much of a chance to go very far from home for extended periods.

As for that island, yes I know how close it is to Russia. Japan as an Island nation needs all the space it can get, and this was another island nearby -- the only one with much size. Also realize that the Ainu (some prefer to be known as Utari) were displaced from their lands on Sakhalin when Russia took over the island after WWII.

Speaking of needing space, I'm sure you probably heard of Kansai International Airport being built on a man-made island:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansai_International_Airport

It is very impressive.


Finally, If you do leave for a year, will your partner go with you?

 

[Etoile]

Congrats and job well done!

Thank you!

Lots of times when we comment, we are doing so from our own frame of reference. With that in mind, for my use of the word "free", I wasn't so much thinking of relationships as much as other responsibilities. The main one for me is animals. It is one thing to go off and trust a friend to watch a pet. It is another thing to figure out how to take care of many farm animals. However, I must say even if I wasn't on the farm, I couldn't imagine leaving a pet for an entire year. I'd probably figure a way to take them with me. Another thing in my case is elderly relatives. It might be difficult to be available to deal with their issues if I was half way around the world or somewhere remote where I couldn't be reached for days. Seriously, I don't know how farmers nor people with dependents (children or seniors) ever get much of a chance to go very far from home for extended periods.

As for that island, yes I know how close it is to Russia. Japan as an Island nation needs all the space it can get, and this was another island nearby -- the only one with much size. Also realize that the Ainu (some prefer to be known as Utari) were displaced from their lands on Sakhalin when Russia took over the island after WWII.

Speaking of needing space, I'm sure you probably heard of Kansai International Airport being built on a man-made island:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansai_International_Airport

It is very impressive.


Finally, If you do leave for a year, will your partner go with you?

Ah yes, I see what you mean about "free" - if I were single, I'd definitely be researching how to bring my cat to Japan with me. Fortunately that's not an issue, because (to answer your later question) my wife will be staying in the U.S. It will be hard, but we'll set up a schedule for Skype and we'll email every day, as we did when I was there for three months last year. I'll probably come home a couple of times, too, and she'll definitely come out and visit, as will my mom.

I am a bit worried about my mom though, yes. She'll be 64 in October, which isn't that old, but she has always been in less-than-great health and recently was hospitalized briefly and has had other issues as well. When she was hospitalized last week, my dad (they are divorced, but still friends) emailed me and I was able to go visit her without even knowing what was wrong - I live an hour away, so I just got in the car and went. We talked about what we'd do if something happened when I was in Japan. My dad said he wouldn't have contacted me right away in that case - he would have waited until doctors knew what was going on, and then told me. If it were very serious, I'd have to fly home. So while I don't have to care for her, her health is on my mind when I consider leaving for a year.

I actually didn't realize that Kansai Airport was on a manmade island, that's really cool! I'm reading that article now, thanks!