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frellnikHappy New Year!
God, I can't remember the last time I was on LJ. It's been a while! How is everyone doing?
My Winter break is almost over and it's back to work in a few days. So of course I got sick right before the break started and I'm still sick almost 3 weeks later. On the bright side, it's NOT influenza, it's just a very persitant cold. So I really can't complain. I haven't been sick since the end of March, so I had a pretty good run.
I am now on my 5th and final year on the JET programme and am now starting to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. I'm in the process of applying to grad school in England. I'm waiting on a reference letter from one of my University professors in Canada and then I'll be done! If I get accepted then I'll be moving back to Canada at the end of July for about 7 weeks and then moving to England for a year of insanity at the University of Leeds while I earn a Masters degree in Japanaese Translation. So I've been saving every scrap of money I can to send home (and I HATE that the YEN has gone down so much in value, stupid Abe!) to pay for school. The British Pound is going up and the Canadian $ is going down and the YEN is just sinking! So I need a lot of money. :( So I really hope I land a couple of scholarships to help me or I'll be needing quite a big loan from OSAP.
Halloween this year was amazing!! I was at my favourite school for Halloween for the first time and I made them all scream in fright! MUWAHAHAHA!!! It was a huge success and the kids had a great time. I invited my students from two schools to come trick-or-treating at my place and this year I had 60 kids come by!! 12 of them were from Ono (which means that their parents had to drive them) and the rest were from my town (Yotsukura). All but 3 kids dressed up and the ones who didn't weren't there for candy (they were just with their friends). I'd say Halloween was a huge success this year!
I went to Hawaii for my birthday back in September! It was absolutely amazing!! I really want to go back some day! It was for a sci-Fi/Science convention and I met scientists from NASA and got to sit in on some very interesting lectures, as well as met some actors and other very interesting people. HawaiiCon was amazing and if I wasn't going to grad school next year I would love to go back. Maybe one year I will be able to.
There are two more trips in planning before I go home in just under 8 months. There is a leavers Conference in Februrary to give people leaving JET information about opportunities as well as workshops about how to write a resume (how to incorporate your everyday experiences into your CV such as public speaking, creating presentations, ect.)
The second trip is at the end of March during Spring break. I am hoping to go visit a friend in Kyoto and we will go to Universal Studios in Osaka. I really want to go to Harry Potter World! My friend has a season pass so all I would have to do is get tickets at the local corner store and then book the train tickets. I don't quite have the money saved yet but I will by March.
5 years has gone by so quickly! It's been a hell of a ride and I've loved most of it! I definitely could have done without the 2 week hospital stay my first year here, or the giant earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown (also in my first year here). But the rest of it was pretty amazing!
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Date: 2015-01-03 09:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-04 12:39 am (UTC)