Highlights of ‘07

Tokyo in January- made me feel like I could do something. I felt like my students actually respected me (kind of blew that by getting horrificly drunk in Uonuma and being hungover for the bus ride back)

Passing the JET interview- on the back of two great references (I chose my referees well) and answers the interviewers liked, I’m now in Japan, after months of waiting.

Graduating- put undergraduate university behind me for now. I’ll go back to honours one day, but maybe not in Perth, and certainly not at ECU. I’m thinking I’ll pass JLPT ni-kyuu and then do my honours on the literature of Kawabata Yasunari, maybe…I’ll work that out later.

Quitting my job- self explanitory. But no more dealing with abusive customers, abusive superiors, and…well everyone in that store was a bitch, with maybe three exceptions. No more sitting in a windowless box for twelve hours, or standing up for ten.

Moving to Japan- Everything from the five star hotel in Tokyo, the rent-free giant house to myself, the great pay, the job I love, the holidays I’ve been taking every month, the getting paid (a lot) to learn and all the cool people I’ve met, make me want to stay for a lot longer.

And then there’s all the small things, like having a 2nd grade teacher (a 26 year old about half my size) ask me what a ‘mother fucker’ is. She’d just seen Pulp Fiction, apparently.
Things like walking down to the shrine behind Sunny Mart to sit down on a bench, eat chocolate and read.
Things like the section of the Dosan line, where it crosses through eastern Tokushima prefecture, winding through white cliffs, red and orange leafs in Autumn, snow in Winter and (I can’t wait) blossoming cherry trees in Spring.
Things like knowing what the best coffee from all the vending machines is, and seeing the red stripe at the start of winter which means they’re selling canned hot coffee again (and hot tea, hot corn soup…)
Things like the christmas and new year’s cards I received from my students, particularly the one from Kaho in which she apologized that the card wasn’t ‘luxurious’ (actually it was the equal best christmas card I’ve ever gotten, because I’ve only ever received two hand made cards)
Things like planning more trips; Mt Fuji and Fuji Rock in Summer, following the cherry blossoms north to Tokyo in my Spring break, maybe Europe, Maybe China, maybe back to Australia for christmas (but the almost white christmas here was so good) which mean that the best of 2007 will most likely be the worst of 2008
but you might not all want to hear about how happy I am, so here’s a picture:

 

2007: a retrospective

 2007 stands to be the first year I kept my New Year’s resolutions- I had achieved both of them by August. They were to quit my horrible retail job and to teach English in Japan. I put my recontracting application in on Christmas Day, so by the looks of it I’ll be here until August 2009. I started off the year waiting- waiting to go to Tokyo for most of January, waiting for JET interviews, results, placement, information, Police Clearances, departures. I waited at airports, at home, at a checkout, in a tiny windowless office where I worked eight months of 12 hour Saturdays. I spent most of August sweating and waiting in this office for classes to start (on a closely related note, I have decided I’ll be holidaying next August- Europe and maybe China and then the Japanese music festival season. Maybe I can catch some European festivals too. Fingers crossed), waiting for bank accounts, internets, waiting to go to Fukuoka. And then from September onwards I was flatout- Studying Japanese (and waiting for the JLPT, travelling, and of course teaching adorably precocious 6 year olds, aggressively silent 11 year olds, violent or incessantly giggling 13 year olds and 15 year olds who I have actually managed to have conversations with. Actual, rewarding conversations.

(One of them sent me a christmas card. It said “Marry Christmas. I don’t know what a christmas card is so I made this card. I’m sorry it is not luxurious..” and then she promised me a new year’s card too)

And I think I would love to be a teacher, because I can connect with kids. I can be the male role model that is missing in the lives of Australian Primary School kids. But then I think I’ll miss every kid who graduates (I’m going to miss all of the third years as they go off to Senior High, and I’ve only met most of them three times) I’m going to be hurt every time a kid cries, or hits another kid. I still don’t know if that’s what I want to do with my life. But I don’t mind teaching English and learning Japanese for a little while longer. I don’t think I could ever find a job as laid-back, rewarding, full of perks and generally enjoyable as this. Basically I get paid to learn.

So my New Year’s resolutions this year don’t seem like they’ll be too important- there’s not much I need to change. I want to pass JLPT level 2 in December 08, I want to get better at Japanese, go to Europe and yeah, basically that’s it. Do what I can to do my best.

I’m off to Kobe/Hiroshima/Fukuoka tonight. See you all in a couple of weeks.