It’s official…

Well, almost official.  I’ve booked my one-way ticket home for July 31st so all that’s left to do is pay for it and tie up all the loose ends before I fly out.  

 Warning: Rambling ahead.  Skip to the last paragraph if you’re not really bored.

 I’ve been here almost nine and a half months and looking back, I’ve done a lot of stuff but not nine months worth of stuff, if you know what I mean.  Like I didn’t use every minute of my free time doing something that I’d only be able to do in Japan.  Over the months, I’ve been asked many times, “How’s Japan?” and “Do you like Japan?”  My response is always, “Ehhhh…. (while I think it over) it’s okay.”    Most of the time it comes across as though I hate Japan and I just want to go home.  It’s partially true that I do want to go home.  But after really thinking about it, it’s not Japan that I don’t like, it’s my situation in Japan.  The fact that it takes a 10-minute bike plus a 5-minute walk to just get to the train station usually makes me not want to go anywhere.  And then there’s the weather, which is like a bajillion times more noticeable when you’re on a bike than in a car (or even walking), that makes me want to stay in even more.  Yes, I’m relatively close to Tokyo but that’s compared to people living in Hokkaido.  It still takes me over an hour (on the train alone) to get into Tokyo.  Where am I going with this?  I don’t know.  I just think if I lived closer to a train station, or closer to the dojo, I’d be a happier camper.  

And then there’s the job.  At the one school, the kids are awesome, and they are comfortable enough to answer “NO!” when I ask, “Do you understand?”  At the other school, I have a bunch of kids that really don’t care much about learning English, and they have little to no English ability to begin with.  So what good is an Assistant Language Teacher who speaks only English?  If I could be at my awesome school five days a week, I’d probably be a happier camper as well. 

The food here is pretty good, although I’m still skeptical about how healthy it really is.  The train system is great, but it’s a little expensive.  The people are really nice (but I’ve been told by a Japanese friend who’s lived in Toronto that she thinks people in Toronto are nicer), but I can’t understand them.   

If I had the chance to do things differently, I would have definitely looked into learning Japanese before coming over here.  Do I regret coming to Japan?  No.  Do I wish things were different?  Yes.  Will I make the most of my last few months here?  Probably not.  I’m excited to come home.   The countdown begins.