My name is Irina Holca, and I come from a small country in Eastern Europe, called Romania. Apparently it's famous for vampires and Dracula, but I wasn't really aware of that myself before I came to Japan six years ago (I learned a lot of things about my own country after coming here-- ironic, right?). Apart from the blood-thirsty characters, though, Romanians are a warm and friendly people, if somewhat loose and disorganized; the wine and goat/sheep cheese we make are delicious, and we have many beautiful old churches and castles, mountains, and hills, and the Danube Delta, a place that's unique in Europe.
The official language in my country is Romanian, a Romance language that resembles Italian, Spanish or French, but everybody studies at least two foreign languages in school, the first one usually being English (starting from the second grade in elementary school). I learned English and French, and then picked up Japanese as my major in university.
My passion for Japanese literature brought me to Nara University of Education first, then to the Graduate School of Letters at Osaka University; my specialization is modern Japanese literature, particularly Shimazaki Toson (I'm writing my doctoral thesis about his autobiographical novels right now).
All during my stay in Japan, I've been teaching English to children and adults, in public, private or Eikaiwa schools. I really enjoy it; it's a very fulfilling job, and I think that while helping my students improve their English, I've also been able to improve myself as a person.
I'm not a native speaker, but I've been surrounded by English for as long as I can remember. Having studied it myself, I think I know what are most of the difficulties a learner of English can encounter; having some knowledge of Japanese I'm also quite sure I will be able to discuss your problems and answer your questions easily and promptly.
That's (almost) all about me-- I'm looking forward now to start finding out things about you too, so drop by AESS!
