Journal Entry One- 21 February 2003
Well, where do I start?
After too many years of sacrificing a fun, social and braincell-depleting partying life for a piece of paper more commonly known as a University degree, I am having a break!
My fascination for Asia has directed me towards the Land of The Rising Sun where I will live for a year teaching English to kids between the ages of 6 and 15. Some have said that it won't be much different from my current job and in some ways I agree (only kidding guys!)
I had planned to start in May but was offered a position earlier so the next three weeks will be very hectic catching up with everyone, turning 24, buying clothes (any excuse), moving out of the Scarborough bachelorette pad, finding a suitcase big enough to fit the kitchen sink and buying out Woolworths' entire stock of Vegemite!
So on Friday 14th March I leave Perth and fly to Osaka, via KL. After arriving at the Kansai airport 7am Saturday I will hopefully find my way to Tokushima, which is about a 3 hour "express bus" trip from Osaka. Being close to Osaka is great because I will be able to visit my friends Lara (in pic below) and Shannon while they are there.
Tokushima is on the island of Shikoku, which is the fourth largest island (which I think makes it almost the smallest) south of mainland Japan. Where I will be living is quite a bit smaller than Perth so it will be very different to my perception of the hectic streets of Tokyo.
Because Shikoku is in the southern part of Japan the weather is much milder than that of the north and even Tokyo. It seems to be very similar to Perth but a little colder and much wetter. The annual temperature average range is about 3 degrees celcius to 30 degrees celcius but I guess I will see how accurate that is when I get there.
The link below gives some more interesting information about the Tokushima Prefecture.
I will try to update this site with information regularly and include as many photos as I can. I will miss you all heaps so if you are ever in the area stop by for a sake!!
Love Gem
Visit these links for more information about where I will be:
All about Tokushima
Heaps of info about Japan
