The somewhat mundane adventures of a guy who keeps ending up in Asia... and his random musings.

I am fast approaching the end of the six month contract that I signed with my company, W5. I have requested that if any six month contracts are available for the next semester I would like to sign and continue working in the school system, but I have come to the conclusion that I want to go home for good after that.

I originally planned to stay in Japan to see out my original year long contract with NOVA. For reasons that are obvious, that plan isn't going to come true, so instead I now would like to work here in Japan for that same year, plus about two months to make up for the time I was working for NOVA and some time to pack and send things home.

But past that, I don't really think that I need to stay here. I would go home for good this April, except that I have a few financial obligations here and I kind of promised myself to stay out here for at least one year.

The other reasons aren't as responsible, but are equally compelling.

I want to spend a spring and summer in Japan again. I like those seasons out here and look forward to enjoying them. I also haven't made it to Universal Studios Japan yet because it was winter, and I really want to go. Lake Biwa is nearby and I plan on visiting that, as well as going to see some friends and locations in Tokyo.

There is also Okinawa to visit, the Olympics (I've always wanted to see the Olympics in another country to see what the coverage looks like), my brother and possibly my nephew visiting me... I could go home, and I would be pretty happy doing so, but I'm still not finished out here yet.

So my schedule looks a little like this:
April: My brother comes to visit early in the month, late in the month is possibly a visit to a hot spring.
May: Early in the month is Universal Studios Japan, late in the month is a hot spring and/or more Osaka exploring.
June: Best month. Lake Biwa, Osaka swimming pool, Osaka exploring, maybe nephew visiting, Nagoya and/or Nara parks.
July: Also the best month, Provided I am working at a school, I only have half a month of work, so maybe theme parks, Tokyo visit, beach.
August: All of this month is vacation. Olympics, possible Okinawa visit, lake Biwa again. There is actually too much to list. August will be the real reason I came out here, as the 28th will make one full year of living in Japan.
September: Finish up working and start to get everything in order. I may have to apply for a visa extension that will make me legal to stay for a couple of extra months.
October: This is it. I will be done with my contract and I will be using most of the month to send things home and clean up. I will also try to sell the items that I can't or don't want to bring home (my desk, TV, refrigerator, etc). If I am low on money or my visa ends here, I will go home in late October, otherwise
November: Ideally I would like to stay until the second week of November. I will then go home for the holidays and start looking for work state-side. If all went even partially as planned, I will have a fair amount of savings on the side and be okay to leisurely look for a job until 2009.

It's been an experience. I feel like I've grown a lot in the past eight months, but another six will round me out nicely. I'll try to post less pessimistic things in the future, which should be easy as not only will the weather be nice, but I have stuff figured out a lot better now then I did just two months ago.

Six months can go very fast, so I made a (very belated) New Years Resolution to enjoy the rest of my time out here, even if it kills me.

-Maru!