My first year in Japan
It has been one hell of a change in my life, going from the countryside of Belgium, to a busy city in a country 16 hours flying away from my home country to a place where the language is still mainly unknown to me and the food, although delicious, not what I’m used to eating on a daily basis.
I got married, moved into an apartment, got a full time job for the first time in my life and started living away from my family. My life really got a good turn and I’m still quite happy with the decision I’ve made. In the video I tell more about all the things which have changed for me and I hope you enjoy this look into my more personal life. Enjoy! ^^/
Did my Japanese improve?
Yes and no, my Japanese did get better but not to the degree which I was expecting it to be. My listening improved but my speaking … well I don’t have that much practice even though my wife is Japanese. We mainly communicate in English and with her parents we use mister Google translate, very quick and easy to use hahaha. I should really force myself more to actually speak, but I’m happy with the progress I’ve made on my listening so far.
How’s living in Japan?
Because of all the lockdowns and such which happened right after I landed in Japan, I haven’t been able to go out that much yet. Making friends and going out on trips isn’t really possible, plus my work forces us and demands that we don’t go out so we don’t get infected. But when I got a fever my work didn’t really seem to care too much, they did not find it an emergency and without knowing if it was just a cold or the other thing, they send me a mail that my schedule changed and that I had to go to a classroom the next day which was over 1 hour away …
Work situation
To be honest, it’s not great. My company is apparently one of the better ones in Japan, but I’ve never felt treated as a number as much as I do in this company. I’ve worked for several companies in Belgium and in almost all of them there was mutual respect. So far I rate work in Japan a 1 out of 10.
The teaching is fun though. I really enjoy teaching kids and I feel that I’m actually kind of good at it. I still have many things to improve upon, but I already feel that I have been doing a very good job with my students and I can actually see the progress that they are making. One of the things I’m not a big fan of in my company however is that I teach in 10 different schools … so I only see all my students twice a month. Also travel times are outrageous, they keep sending me to classrooms which are 1 or 1 and a half hours away.
Start of my second year
Work stuff aside, I really enjoy living here so far, but because of all the lockdowns and restrictions I haven’t really felt that much that I’m in Japan. Yes people speak Japanese here and the culture is different, but I don’t really see much else than stations and malls. I hope in the near future I can explore the country a bit more and actually feel and experience more that I’m actually living in Japan.