I got a job from facebook: An ode to social media.

I had only been here on the island for a couple of weeks when I saw a posting on the "LDS families on Okinawa" facebook page with a job opportunity. It was for a substitute teaching position teaching english at local Japanese schools. So I responded, and I have been teaching once or twice a week now for the past month or so. Teaching english as a second language seems to be inescapable to me. This is now my third time doing it: the first in China and then in Romania. I guess it's something I'm meant to do. Anyway--I really have been enjoying it. The kids are darling and call me "Annie Sensei": for cute!

I am just so happy to get to do something like this while I'm here. I love being in the Japanese schools and working with the Japanese. I love the schools here. They are happy and inviting. But besides all that, I wanted to say how thankful I am for social media. I got a job because a woman I had never met posted it on facebook and took a chance on me by letting me do it. Before my mission I thought facebook was just a shallow form of communication. Now I realize what opportunities social media gives you, when used in the right way. It gives opportunities to help others. It gives you discussion about issues we are all worried about. It gives opportunities to form friendships out of common goals, interests and feelings.

Instagram and twitter are my favorite forms of social media right now. Quick and to the point. I love getting glimpses into people's lives through instagram and I love that I can show my friends and family aspects of whats it's like here in Japan. And I love how it has reconnected me with friends who I haven't seen in years, and yet I feel like I am a part of their lives again thanks to instagram. And thanks to texting apps, imessages, and facetime, I can see my baby niece start to walk, and I can see a dear friend days before her wedding and share in her excitement even though I can't be there in person.

Technology sure is amazing. And such a big blessing in my life--especially now as I am living on a tiny island on the other side of the world from my original home.

So yeah, this post was mostly meant to let you know about my little job that occupies some of my time here and helps me feel productive, but also to say how incredibly grateful I am to be able to feel so connected to you from so far away. So please don't stop blogging, tweeting, instagramming, facebooking, facetiming, pinteresting, etc. etc. etc. Because it means so much to me.

Nora Ephron says it best: "The odd thing about this form of communication is that you're more likely to talk about nothing than something, but I just wanted to say that all of these nothings have meant more to me than so many somethings."

So thanks again.
xoxo Annie