Well this morning I received a package in the mail from the Japanese Consulate. It looks like I’ve passed stage 3 of the JET Japanese teaching qualifications, which means barring my breaking both my legs and being declared criminally insane I’ll be heading off to Japan for a year as of August to teach English. I’ll probably be located on the northernmost island of Hokkaido in a city called Sapporo.

It’s kind of hard to know what to think or how to feel about this. On the one hand I’m really excited, it’s going to be a brilliant opportunity and I’m bloody chuffed to be going. I’ve had a long interest in all thing Japanese and to actually go there and sample the culture for myself first hand will be a huge rush. Hell, I’ve always wanted to go to Japan and now I’m going to be paid $55,000 AU to teach English – how good is that.

Then there’s this other little voice in my head that’s scared shitless of having to cope with living alone for year, without knowing the language or anyone over there. Having to cope with that extreme culture difference, dealing with the basic racial intolerance most Japanese have for foreigners and not knowing enough Japanese to have any kind of conversation will mean it will get pretty fucking lonely, especially in the first few months when you’re trying to settle in. However in the end I think the advantages will more than outweigh any negatives.

In other fun news, this basically means I’m not going to see my girlfriend until December or thereabouts. Hopefully I’ll be making enough money to buzz over to Malaysia in the 10 days of annual holidays Japanese teachers get. Hooray for long distance relationships.

Posted in Japan on Tuesday April 8, 2003.

« Previous: Kartoo Search | Next: Takes your breath away »

Related Posts

Omodaka
Uniqlo Calendar
Weekly Schedule
Highly Effective Train Travel
Kangaroo Court II