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?