Re-Contracting

The day has finally come. Today I signed the papers to stay for a third year in Japan. It was a tough decision to make and I have spent literally hours pondering over what I should do. It's made particularly hard by the fact that almost all my close friends are leaving in August. Friends mean a lot to you when you are so far away from home and I will really miss Teresa, Tim, Natalie and Christophe, Stephanie and Matt who I have spent so much time with over the past 18 months. In the end there were far more reasons to stay than to leave. I know that one more year will be enough and I can come home and settle down. There is still a lot to achieve in another year - namely improving my dicey Japanese!, taking the Japanese JLPT level 2 test next year, becomming a PA for the JET programme, taking a more active role in school, making more Japanese friends etc etc. I also have a tonne of places that I still want to travel to!

After I announced my decision to stay my supervisor came back into the staffroom and told the Vice Principal who promptly announced to everyone that I was staying. They all stood up and clapped and said well done and it was a heart warming moment!

I'm in for a third. I'm pretty sure I will call it a day after that though!