So...in to the final 8 days of work. It's amazing how working with no pressure can make any job so much more enjoyable. A few decent things have happened to my schedule over the last few weeks which have also meant an easier time at work. The new teacher will arrive to a much less daunting timetable to the one theat greeted me, thanks to a combination of class mergers and the loss of the two wildest children that I have ever taught (they aren't dead...they just don't come to this school any more).

Over the weekend I went into Nagoya for possibly the last time. I lunched with a good friend, and then set about accomplishing one or two tasks that I had left unaccomplished. Firstly, getting a visa for my trip to China. Having already tried to deny me a visa based on the fact that I lived in Gifu and not Nagoya (they wanted me to do the 100pound 4 hour roundtrip to Tokyo), I was ready for this to be more of a challenge than it should have been. It, however, wasn't. I paid my 4,000 yen and left with a shiny new visa.

I then went shopping. On Monday/Tuesday I intend to climb Mt. Fuji. I bought a lamp to go on my head (which is funny to look at but useful in practice) and also some lighter gear to climb in and stay warm. It should be a good weekend.

5, 4, 3...

Nearly there now. I am utterly broke, what with having now paid for my airline ticket, but also genuinely excited about moving back to the UK. I haven't done too much recently. Last night my 3 co-workers and I had a small-scale fajita night, which was good fun (before watching the football), and other than that, I have mostly been getting everything in order for the new teacher. Her name is Rachel (nice name) Kinnear, and she is from England. This is nice for my students, as they are thoroughly used to the English accent. That said, she could be from Liverpool or Newcastle, which would certainly be a change from my bland northern tones.


I just told my last class that "next week will be your last lesson with me." I have been looking forward to saying that, but it's a shame it had to be with one of my favourite classes first (3 three year olds). I realised I will miss alot of my kids- particularly Mina from today who tearfully asked me why I was going to England (in Japanese I might add. I am not that good a teacher- she is only 3). She will forget me soon enough.

Back in Time

So, I have less than three weeks to go. Only 12 days of work, too, so I have been thinking about what it will be like when I get back home.

I've heard differing reports. Some people warn of doing too much to soon when I get back, trying to see everyone and do everything in as little time as possible. I can see why this might be a problem for me. I get bored very easily, and I already have so much planned for the first couple of months that I guess I could experience some reverse culture shock. Having said that, I never really suffered any culture shock when I got here, but that was because I was pre-prepared. I had been here before, and I knew that everything was going to be completely different.

I have never, however, returned after a year away to a place that, although undoubtedly familiar, will be utterly changed from both how I am living now and, to some extent, how it was before I left. I think it will be highly unusual.

Having said that, I also know people who went home and felt as though they had travelled back in time. I don't think I will let that happen. I have too much to get on with. It will be nice to re-do a certain amount of things that I can't out here, but ultimately I want to get home not so that I can hang around the house doing that. I want to get on with planning the next step, whatever it is. I hope I have a seemeless transition fron outskirts of small Japanese city, where my contact with foreigners is restricted to a tight-knit community, and seeing a new English-looking face still a novelty, to walking down the street, or riding the bus and being able to understand everything.

This weekend I was supposed to obtain my visa for China, so I headed into Nagoya to track down the embassy and get it sorted. I arrived at about 1am, but I obviously hadn't done my research, since it only boasts business hours of 9am-mid-day. Not to worry, apparantly it takes about 5 days to process, and I have 3 weeks or so. Still...I do have a lot of things to arrange before I go, and I can't afford to procrastinate as much as I have been doing.

Jspsnese television got a lot better recently. It used to be nothing but unintelligable rubbish (although frequently entertaining on a novelty level). Of course, it's usually unintelligable because of my inability to spak Japanese, but some of it seems genuinly non-sensical. But..long live the World Cup. Live, linguistically unimpairred entertainment every night!

I have been in a bit of a shopping spree (by my standards). I bought a few new T-shirts (including a Japan national team T-shirt) and also some new glasses. This was more out of necessity than a desire to shop, since my old ones cracked.

I am now 100% ready to leave my job. Leaving Japan will be more difficult, but sitting down on the train to Nagoya Airport on July 11th will be amazing. I have so much to do back in England, and I can't wait to get on with it!

World Cup!

I remember when I first came to Japan, about 5 years ago, and I knew I'd mis-timed it by about a year. Surely it would have been wiser to visit in 2002 so as to catch the World Cu, which that year was in Japan and South Korea. However, I can remember that even one year before the greatest sports tournament in the world started, there was still an abundence of soccer merchandise shops and a feeling that anyone who was anyone was obsessed with football (or soccer, as I find myself calliong it over in this north-American infested place).

I am delighted that that is still the case, despite the fact that I have once again conspired to be on the other side of the world from the matches tthemselves. Germany is not oo bad a place for the World Cup to be, as the time difference means that all of the games kick off after I finish work (at 10am which is perfect, 1am which is a little late and 4am which is probably toolate, but I will watch if it's England or Japan).

5 years ago I spent almost all of the 2-3weeks in Tokyo (what a great place to be an 18 year-old!). I like the city, despite a lot of it beiong a bit too full of shops for my liking, so I went back for one final visit, taking in Yokohama Bay, Motomachi, Shinjuku, Harajuku and Shibuya, as well as a brief motorcycle ride with my cousin. Which was fun.

World Cup Countdown

It's nearly here!

The good people at my local bar have a quad-yearly (is that a word?) competition whereby entrants pay an entry fee for the chance to draw a team featured in the world cup. If your team goes on to win, you get everyone's money. A sweepstake, basically.

So...I Paid my ichi man yen ( I won't put the amount in pounds because it's scandellous) and sat back and waited for the draw. I was excited. In fact, I was giddy. I could get Brazil or Germany or France or, heck, I'd even take England. By the time I went to draw my number (it was all completely random), Brazil and Germany had gone, but Argentina, Spain, England Portugal and Italy were all still available, so I fancied my chances. So I drew my lott, and low and behold...

Paraguay.