Thoughts Pre-Departure.

25 Days.......25 days until I say goodbye to my family, friends, home, way of life and pretty much everything else for an entire year. It's a terrifying thought but one that makes me quite excited. My Desk Officer (effectively my boss for the year) told me that if I wasn't worried there would be something wrong with me and I agree. I'm supposed to be afraid, I signed up to be afraid, or more specifically; taken out of my comfort zone and "flung to the furthest corner of the world where nothing makes sense"...Those were the exact words I used in the interview during my application, so I guess my wish has come true.

            The house where I will be staying.

I find the fear that an adventure like this brings on quite interesting. It's very enlightening in a self exploration sort of way. The night before training I had a few long moments of panic where I just lay in my bed and thought "why in gods name am I doing this!?". I really began to question myself and my reasoning. Was I doing this to prove to myself and others that I was special? To some how set myself apart and carve out a bit of individuality? To really engage in a charitable act? Or was I just that bored? To be honest I think it is a mixture of all the reasons I listed out.

 I really do want to be charitable but if I'm honest, English teaching is the last kind of charity that Japan needs right now, so if it was solely to be charitable I would've gone to Uganda or somewhere far less developed. I've definitely always wanted to be set apart by my actions and views but not for the sole purpose of being individual. Everyone wants to be special or different in someway and this was something that I felt was a bit off the beaten track for most people of my age. And yes, I definitely think boredom was a big factor. Words cannot describe how the monotony of school drove me up the wall. Obviously, nobody loves school but I always felt like I hated it to a particularly strong degree, so by the time I finished I wanted to really shake things up...And that's pretty much exactly what I've done.

In many ways my childhood has been far from comfortable (don't worry I'm not going to moan about it :P) and I think it's that lack of comfort, and at times happiness, that has given me the desire to strike outwards, travel and endeavour to be different in some way...and if I can help people while doing it then all the better! So I do think that I'm partaking in this little adventure for the right reasons. I just really hope that it goes well or so much effort and hard work to get this opportunity will have been for nothing...and that would be hilariously tragic :P
                             

 Here's a picture of the lake that I'll be living next to...pretty snazzy eh?       

   

                                 

Right! Time to get started!

   A photo of everyone who attended our training course. (I'm the one pulling the pose on the right).

Well, I guess there's no easy way to kick things off so I guess I'll jump straight into it. To cut a very long (and  boring) story, mercifully, short; it all started roughly 2 years ago when a friend of mine traveled to South Africa with a gap year organisation called Project Trust. The idea appealed to me almost immediately, although looking back on it I'm not entirely sure why.

 Skip forward about 6 months and I had just sent in my application form to attend a "Selection Course" during which I would be assessed to see if I was suitable for going over seas. I had to travel from my home in Dublin, Ireland to the Hebridean, Isle of Coll off the coast of Scotland which is where Project Trust is based. This involved catching a plane, taking a train, staying overnight in the coastal town Oban and then catching a ferry early the next morning. I had to travel literally by land, sea and air to get to the place...and this was just to be judged!....or sorry "assessed".

 Well, after an intense and, initially, a very intimidating week I returned home and soon received a letter informing me I had been selected. I had gotten my first choice which was to travel to Japan for a year to teach English as a foreign language. I was filled with excitement, pride and new found confidence.The selection course had been intense but I enjoyed every second of it and it gave me a great sense of personal achievement.

Now it was time for the next challenge...fundraising. Every volunteer has to raise a lot of money before they travel overseas. For me it was €6000, a disgustingly large amount of money, especially for someone from my economic background. But, with a huge amount of help from my friends I managed to get it together. We raised most of the money through packing bags for donations in supermarkets, a surprisingly effective means of fund raising.

Skip forward another 10 months and I had just returned to the Isle of Coll to undergo a training course. It was similar to selection in the sense that we received both lessons on how to give classes and actually practiced teaching in small groups. We were given training, advice and our plane tickets.

 Skip forward another few weeks to today and I am now preparing to travel overseas. I will be travelling, in just under a month to Hokkaido in northern Japan for a year to teach English as a foreign language to children, teenagers and adults. The feelings I am experiencing now are a mixture of excitement, pride and terror. Although there is fear and self doubt in my mind I am confident that I am making the right choice in choosing to follow through with this...At the very least anyway, this blog will be an interesting documentation of my decent into madness. :P

    A photo of the Project Trust headquarters that I stole from another volunteers blog (sorry Jack).