Feelings come and go

Would you believe it, after posting my previous entry, I'm back to feeling enthusiastic about going to Japan. Last night, we went to a dinner organised by the WA JET Alumni Association to farewell the new JET recruits. We had the dinner at Kido's Japanese Restaurant in Nedlands, and a few of the JETAAs (who are ex-JETs) mingled amongst the 30 or so of us Perth JET participants. It was great - Rob and I had a good time. The food itself was okay (the restaurant is not very well-equipped to serve large-ish functions) and it was sorta fun talking with fellow JETs and the JETAAs over dinner. The real fun was actually after dinner.

Somehow Rob and myself were the last to leave and were invited by the three JETAAs to go for coffee. So here we were, tagging along in one of their cars at 11pm looking for a cafe that was open (a lot of grumbles about how we wouldn't have this problem if we were in Japan). We finally found a cafe/bar/pub place somewhere in Claremont. It was refreshing meeting new people and talking about random topics. All three were quite different, and in fact we made an odd group - this guaranteed interesting conversation topics though. The conversations did not just stick to Japan-related stuff - polyamorous (a.k.a. open) relationships, agnosticism and dealing with issues in an inter-racial marriage, just to name a few.

All three of these ex-JETs synonymously agree that one year in Japan would not be enough but three might be OTT (two of them stayed for two years on the program, and the other who stayed only for one year regretted not staying for a second). Of course, the people who join the Alumni will be those that had a fantastic experience on the JET program so the testimonies I get from them might be a bit biased so I will try to remain realistic and not have any expectations.. As they say, ESID - Every Situation Is Different (a catchphrase that is constantly fed to us JET participants).

I realise that we have been too comfortable in the same routine of doing the same things everyday. Yes, the very same familiarity that I talked of in my previous post of being a little scared to leave behind. I mean, all we have time to do nowadays is meeting up and talking with the same people, and not really making an effort to go out and meet new people (having a full time job doesn't help either). It's getting boring. So, last night made me realise how much I really want to break this boring life and meet tonnes of new people, expand my knowledge base and experience lots of different things. Not just meeting Japanese people, but all the other JETs from all around the world. It'll be fun!!