As I mentioned in my last post (a long time ago), I've had a busy few months. After my last post Moo visited me (pictures soon to be posted), and two days after she left I went on a 16 day trip through Thailand and Cambodia (pictures also soon to be posted). After returning to Nihon, I started my new job (same job as last school year, now working in a different area, staying at one school for 7 weeks rather than changing between 4 different schools), this is my third week back. I'm very much enjoying my new school, I work with great teachers, and also have a lot of free time, during which I've been doing a lot of reading (this may be the subject of a future post).
However... all things must come to an end. As much as I love this country (I really really do, it is going to be heartbreaking to leave, I think), I can't stay here forever. I have had an amazing 15 months here so far, and had met some truly wonderful people. However I feel I'm now at the stage where I've done pretty much everything I'd wanted to do here (with the exception of climbing Mt Aso and visiting Sakura-jima - unfortunately I doubt I'll be able to afford another trip to Kyushu), and am at risk of becoming too comfortable here (not a bad thing in itself, but I'm not ready to become too comfortable anywhere yet).
My plan has always been to live and work in the UK, and so that is what I am planning at the moment. Somewhere in these plans further education figures highly as well, ideally in the UK or elsewhere in Europe, but that is still in the early stages of planning.
In the meantime, I thought I'd let you know I've booked my flight home. I leave from Osaka on Wednesday 30th of July, arriving in Brisbane on the morning of Thursday July 31st. So I'll be seeing those of you in Brisbane soon :)
Yes, it's about time I posted something, but the title also refers to something else. The Australian government today announced it will be introducing changes to about 100 laws that discriminate against same-sex couples during the winter session of parliament. While this has stopped short of removing the ban on gay marriage (a ban both the Howard government and the previous Labor opposition supported - and actually, both the current government and opposition still support), I'm enormously happy Australia has finally decided the discrimination of its citizens based on the innate characteristic of sexuality is not okay. This is something that should have occurred a long time ago.
One final thing. In Thailand I bought some glasses (I've needed them for a while - I'm a little short-sighted, a problem I was alerted to in Osaka, when upon borrowing Ayla's glasses at the Björk concert, I was treated to seeing a fully formed Björk jumping across the stage, as opposed to the gold blob I was seeing sans glasses). So now I can see things at a distance - no more missing buses for me! Anyway, you like 'em?
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Now playing: Final Fantasy & Ed Droste - Possibly Maybe
