Farewell Japan

I have decided not to renew my contract with Aeon. I have lots of reasons not to continue with Aeon but I have enjoyed working for them and found the experience invaluable. I recommend Aeon to anyone looking to get a foot on the ladder in the ESL world. You will need to strong and flexible with Aeon but a I think it is worth it.

Now I need a new challenge so I will head offshore from Japan and head to Korea. I am looking to work for a public school this time. I feel it will give me a good chance to work with children in a government school and broaden my teaching range. Previously Aeon focused mainly on conversation with adults.

It will also give me better hours to spend time with my wife. Aeon finishes at 9:30pm so by the time I sleep its 1am and Yuuri needs to be up at 7am so she wants to sleep. Public schools are 8-5 with weekends off so I can enjoy life more.

The lessons are fewer so I can spend more time planning my lessons. Aeons lessons just require practice, once you know the lesson its just about getting to know the students and finding out what they are thinking about and what they want to say. It takes time but its a lot of fun working with the students and getting to know them.

I chose Korea because its not far from Japan and it will give Yuuri and I chance to live abroad without going to far from home. For Yuuri it will be tough because she cant work, shes still looking for ways to fill up her time but she thinks she will try and complete her university course. She is considering English literature.

For me the difficult part is coming back to Japan. Since I wont be working in Japan I cant get a working visa and since Yuuri isn't working I cant get a marriage visa. But I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

Right now I have applied for Korea and I am currently waiting for a school to accept me. I will be starting on the EPIK program. I was recruited by Teach Away, a Canadian company who I recommend to anyone who wants to work abroad.