End of Semester

Last week, I finished the last of my exams - and therefore the end of the semester, and official end of my year in Japan. Unofficially, I'm staying until the end of March to do some travelling and catch up with friends I haven't seen in some time.

To be honest, I'm quite surprised that this semester went by really quickly. First, I was just getting to know some of the new students that came to Japan at the beginning of the semester back in September, and before I knew it, it's already February 2015. The worst thing, is that only now I'm just starting to get to know those students, and they're pretty cool to talk to and hang out with. Furthermore, after the farewell parties last week, it started to sink in that the other students and friends who have also finished will also be leaving soon, with two of my friends going back home next week. It has also started to sink in for my girlfriend that we only have two months before I go home, though not for good. 

I have been thinking about our future. I do want to come back and work in Japan, but it will most likely not be until next year. I want to do some part-time work back home in Australia, just to get some money coming back in again, and during that time, prepare for the JLPT N2 exam that I was not able to take last year due to illness. Hopefully I can come back for a holiday in August to see my girlfriend for a little while, and possibly again in December/January, if circumstances allow it. After that, I would want to start looking for work in Japan as an english teacher, though not necessarily through the ever so popular JET Programme. My main is concern is where I would end up working if I decided to go through JET. While you're officially allowed to put your preferences of where you want to work, it's very rare you ever get those preferences, especially if you're proficiency in Japanese is very good. The story I have heard is that those with high proficiency are usually sent to small, out of the way, country towns, whereas those with little to no Japanese proficiency are sent to the bigger cities, where they're able to get by without too much struggle. I know that finding work in Kyoto is highly unlikely, but I would like to get work somewhere close to Kyoto, in order to stay close to my girlfriend.
I have some friends who have/are working as English teachers, so I've contacted them to find out about their experiences about the work involved and such. Ultimately I want to get as much as information as possible, so I can decide on the path to take to find work in Japan.

As for her, she hasn't decided on what she wants to do yet, as she still has a few years left before finishing university, though she has said that she would like to do post graduate, so that would be another year or two there. What she wants to do after that, is uncertain, but she has mentioned that she would like to work abroad, though that's not definitive yet. Whatever the case, I'm prepared to stand by whatever decision she makes.

On an unrelated note, we went to Kobe last week, but I'll save that story for another post.