Active April

Golden Week 2011 in Japan signals the end of a busy April for me. My last post had me writing from the family home in Australia and in the time since then I have returned from Australia, via Hong Kong and Taiwan, been back to work for over two weeks with a bustling start to the new school year, back to Australia once more over a weekend for my friends’ wedding, at work for three more days before taking the Shinkansen down for a long weekend in Fukuoka. All in all, it’s been about 30 000 km in the space of a month. Four airports, 4 countries (or 3 depending on your views about if transfers count or how Taiwan and Hong Kong should be classified), 2 Japanese islands and one very tired person. But, I must say, it has been all worth it.

The rest of my first, long-er trip back to Perth was a good chance to see many of my friends and spend some time with my family. It still was strange that I was back way out west but getting to see people that I hadn’t seen for over a year was awesome. Sure the city hadn’t changed a lot but with Perth being Perth, I was never expecting much. I hope though that the people who do want to escape do, and those that are embarking on happy lives in the sandgroper state remember to not fall into the trap of navel-gazing that seems to affect the more gullible sections of the Western Australian population. As for myself, I’m not sure that I could live there again for a very long time, if ever. My second, extremely short trip to Perth – fly in late Friday night, fly back to Nagoya Sunday night/Monday morning – was for the sole purpose of getting to see two of my friends (finally! haha) get married. As disorientating as the short trip was, especially come Tuesday once I returned to work, it was for a wonderful reason and I don’t regret doing it for a second.

The weekend just past saw me finally get back on the road, or in this case train tracks, around Japan and get shown around the wonderful Kyushu city of Fukuoka. Much like the relaxed vibes I felt in Hiroshima and Kobe, I really enjoyed Fukuoka. I think this was mostly due to the fact that all of these cities are by the sea, and unlike a city such as Nagoya, Fukuoka orientates itself and incorporates the ocean. In spite of the long nights and short hours of sleep, amazingly and unable to put a finger on the specific reason why, I felt very relaxed being there and came back , admittedly exhausted, but happy to have seen a different part of Japan. It makes me think that I need to see the ocean, or perhaps even live near one again sooner rather than later.

The new school year in Japan has brought small changes to my life in Yamagata and Gifu. Happily, I retained the same schools that I worked at the previous year and that continuity has already, in my opinion, been very useful. I’ve been able to slot straight back in to my old routine and I’ve been able to maintain the same relationships I’ve had with my fellow teachers and with my students. Over the course of the previous year I’d learned that usually most ALTs that have worked in the same schools as I have in the main only stay for one year but more and more as I got accustomed to my job and came to love where I work, I knew I didn’t want to have just one year with these kids. I wanted to be able to keep on with what I had been teaching and hopefully have the students, teachers and I on the same English page. I’d always thought it would be the best thing for everyone. The students already know me, feel comfortable with me and understand my style, the teachers know what I can do and what I am capable of and I already know what is expected of me and what I can do and know what levels the gakusei are at. The best example of this has been with the new Junior High 1st year students. I taught all of them at Primary School the year before so not only do I know who they all are, I know the levels that they are at and what I can do with them to make my time with them fun.

However, and I have been trying to avoid wanting to think about this for a few months, there is the question of what to do next. As much as I love Yamagata, I’m settled there and I like my job, I know things can’t stay as they are forever. This thought in my mind has become much more prominent since there was one little thing I noticed on my last flight to Perth (which I’ll keep to myself =P ), my friends wedding and the few days in western Japan as well as things that I have felt in the back of my mind before. Seeing the year 5 students I started with (and for an English teacher in Japan, year 5 is a milestone year in English education) graduate at the end of this year would be awesome but a third year in Yamagata brings about some reservations. Though of course, like my JH students this year, having another batch of my Shougakkou kids start Chuugakkou with me would be a proud moment.

With no real conrete path upon leaving Japan before I started, I’d always thought that living in Europe would be next. And in many ways I do want to make it back there. It is a place that I want to give much more of my time however saying that, a part of me wants to stay in Japan and ‘master’ the language. After just over a year here, and starting from a relatively low base,  I feel on some occasions that I’m doing ok but on others, I know that my broken Japanese just doesn’t cut it and there is a level of frustration that I can’t do certain things. Staying another year would give me one more years chance to get to a good level and if I moved to another part of the country (playing devil’s advocate, I’d be leaning towards western Japan) I’d get another chance to experience a whole different region as a resident instead of as a traveller. Though, and I was even thinking of taking this path years before Japan, with my experiences of the classroom, some part of me wants to become a fully fledged teacher.

But of course, it’s still early days in my second year in Japan, though astonishingly it’s already May and so there is a long time for me to come to a decision. I’m sure I’ll to and fro about everything before I janken myself in a mirror or something and come up with an answer. Rest assured that there will be more adventures, perhaps not as many around Japan over the next months however, and I will, whenever I can, update and disjointedly write on my blog. Until next time…