Today marks an important day for me, so I thought I would share it with all of you. Today I made my final decision on re-contracting to the JET program. I handed in my recontracting form and agreed to stay another year, bringing the total to two. My ultimate goal is to stay for three years, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. Time is moving too fast to not stay at least another year. I need to complete my cultural and language acquisition. I do admit, it’s a great sacrifice to take myself away from home and my friends and family, but I feel that there is a need for me to develop on my own. Most of you already know that I was planning on this anyways, but today I’ve made it official.
I hit another milestone as well this week. On Sunday I ran 12.3km, marking the first time I’ve ever run that far before. It was quite difficult and my legs felt like lead at the end of it, but I know now what I need to do in order to complete a marathon run. It’s going to take some time, but I have my goal in sight. I am nearing my target weight and believe I should reach it within 6 months. Perhaps even sooner if I decide to increase my training. I still haven’t decided yet.
Winter had hit my town and it’s cold and snowy. Quite depressing actually. It’s no where near as cold as Edmonton, but given the lack of central heating, it can make things a little chilly. I’m working through it. I’d say that other then going to Tokyo, these holidays have been a rather low point. But they are over and now I can look forward to warm weather and more fun. I’m looking forward to seeing a number of you in the coming months. This week I will be seeing two friends from Calgary in Tokyo, and in March, two good friends are coming to Japan as well. You can easily add yourself to this list. Japan is not as expensive to reach as I used to think. With seat sales you could get here for as little as 700US round trip. And if you are coming, let me know in advance. You will then have a place to stay if you need it.
My next milestone day will be January 27th. That will mark my sixth month in Japan. It’s funny how fast these things go. It still feels like I just arrived the other day.
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