Very Bad Timing

Most readers know I'm not thrilled about leaving Japan. I seriously contemplated a fourth year for a number of reasons. Quite frankly, I like life here in Japan. While life isn’t perfect, and can be downright frustrating, I like my social life and my group of friends. While I was definitely growing tired of some of the more tedious aspects of my job, I was willing to do it for another year for the opportunity to stick around. I certainly didn’t see myself in Japan forever, but I’m not quite ready to leave.

Professionally, I should be leaving. The fact is, an Assistant English Teacher can’t really go anywhere here in Japan. Pay is livable, but stagnant. The job is nice, but a dead end. My job is easy so other skills I possess are at risk of eroding. I consider myself extremely lucky to have landed the job I did in Kuwait with Universal American School. Quite frankly, the position looks thrilling, exciting, (and I must admit somewhat intimidating).

But what do you do when you meet someone new that you really want to know? I suppose readers want to know that I’m spending a lot of time with a girl named Emi. We met at the gym I frequent. Everything about her is great except for the completely awful timing. She’s a nurse in a nearby town called Nihonmatsu. She’s funny, lots of fun, very pretty, always smiling, and brightens everyone’s day. She goes to the same gym but I never even saw her until a few weeks ago! Why couldn't I have met her a year ago?


On the day we took these pictures, we were hiking near Lake Hibarako and went to the World’s most out of place art museum to look at paintings by Dali.