Thailand trip over… back to Okinawa!
It’s back to Okinawa, teaching, and understanding at least a little more of the language than I did in Thailand. The last couple of days in Thailand were pretty relaxed. John & Erik took me to the airport in Koh Samui at 5am, and Goi (girl from La Bodega) came to see me off. That was pretty sweet of her and was highly appreciated. She was telling me, in very broken English, that she’d miss me and would try to call but that it would be expensive for her. I told her I’d keep in touch with her which she was pleased with. She was very close to tears as I left to get on the plane. Bless! I gave her a call on Saturday night actually. We only spoke for a few minutes (the huge language barrier means we can’t have anything other than very basic conversations) but she sounded really happy to hear from me.
My flight left Bangkok early on Thursday morning and I woke up feeling really excited about traveling. I felt like I was going “home”, and it brought a smile to my face when I got to Don Huang airport and heard a Japanese couple behind me chatting. I have developed such a strong affinity to this country and it’s going to be so hard to leave when the time comes. I’d had a great time in Thailand, but all the time I was missing Okinawa and especially in the last few days I was looking forward to getting back.
No rest for the wicked though, and 12 hours after arriving back in Gushikami, I was going to work again. All the teachers were pleased to see me and some of the students were highly excited to hear about what I’d been up to. I only had 2 classes and this week I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of them. In typical Japanese style though, they have tests this week. Yes – only one day of school last week and they are doing tests already. No wonder these kids get burnt out and sleep in class sometimes. The new foreign teacher at my school seems nice enough, and although she’s a little quiet I’m sure she’ll be a more than capable teacher.
I also had the chance to meet some of the other teachers on Saturday. Was originally meeting up with one from Brighouse (yay – another person from Yorkshire!) but then a few of the other new teachers walked in so I was meeting those too. Think I’ll get on very well with the Yorkshire lass – we’ve got a common language(!) and seem to have similar ideas about teaching and the JET Community. Plus we’re at high-level schools so hopefully we can throw ideas around between us and share the good ones. Think I might have managed to get someone doing a diving course at the end of September too. One of the new teachers’ friends are coming down from Osaka at the end of September and she’s interested in doing a Discover Scuba Diving course with them. I’d prefer doing an OW or Scuba Diver course, but they aren’t here for long enough. DSD is fine with me though and it will give me some much-needed experience.
That’s about it from me for now. No diving planned as of yet, but hopefully I’ll be back in the water towards the end of this week. Once I’m diving again I’ll report back on how Okinawa’s waters compare to Thailand’s. Until then take care and dive safely.
or Discuss this Article
