purple? haze

I have been feeling like my time is being stretched to the limit these days which may explain my lack of up to datedness here. I hope that you all had great holidays.
Lately I have been noticing my own mental block…One day last week as I was walking to school, I realized that I never really pay attention to buildings or signs or anything like that. (This leads to a great deal of not knowing where/what anything is.) I have also noticed that whenever I get any papers or anything with writing on it, I basically close down. I think, I can’t read this, and then I just don’t bother with it. Because I feel like I can’t read anything, it’s not worth it for me to even look at. So I’m now trying to be more open-minded and maybe just try looking at the paper first to see if there are any words on it that I can understand. I also tried to really take notice of where I was going and my surroundings the next time I walked to school. I think (ok, I know) that I can read more than I expect, so I’m doing my utmost to try and be more aware of things.
On a connected note, I am studying Japanese again. My goal is to (try to!) pass the Level 2 test in Japanese Proficiency. There are 4 different tests, with Level 4 being the easiest and Level 1 being the hardest test. (People who pass Level 1 usually have some sort of Asian background, which helps in knowing the kanji, or Chinese characters. I think you have to know about 1500 – 2000 of them to pass Level 1.) The problem with studying (or remembering) kanji is that each one has 2 or 3 different ways of reading them as well, leading to a lot of variations. I took the Level 3 and 4 tests a long time ago, and they weren’t very difficult, but the gap between the Level 2 and 3 test is phenomenal. I think for the Level 3 test you need to know about 165 kanji, while I need to know about 1000 for Level 2. I have a long way to go towards that goal, but I think that if I am able to reach that level, life here will be easier. (Think of going from being literate to illiterate to junior high school level literacy.) The test can be taken once a year (in December) and I hope that if I study enough, I can pass it, but at this point I don’t have much confidence.
The school year will be finished at the end of March here. I will be teaching at a new school in April, and going to new elementary schools, too. There are 7 foreign teachers hired by the Mishima School Board (the closest big town to where I am) and 7 junior high schools. Apparently we get switched around every year. We should find out around the beginning of March where we’ll be going to in April. I’m feeling a little anxious about it as I feel like I have just come to know this school and its system and teachers etc, but I guess it’ll give me the chance to meet more people this way. I think I’ll be able to get around Mishima more, too, which is probably a good thing. I basically only know the area around the schools I go to now.
Anyway, I think that’s enough for now.