JLE International Moving | 日記 | Moving to Australia from Japan 1

Last year I was living in Japan, stuck in a dead end job which I hated, earning barely enough money to keep up my rent on my small one bedroom flat. I had no plans for the future, and I felt a bit lost. All I knew was that I wanted; no actually, I needed to leave! I’d always been interested in travelling and it was always on my bucket list to travel the world – particularly Australia. I don’t know what it was that attracted me about the place so much - well obviously there was the hot weather, white sandy beaches and palms trees - but there was something else that was telling me to go there.   A few years ago I met a guy called Mark at work who would tell me stories of how he moved from Japan to Australia, and was a school teacher there. It used to really fascinate me listening to his stories of how he moved across the world for 5 years and taught Japanese to Australian children. It’s one of those things that you hear and just think ‘wow!’ I think this was the seed that was planted in my head that would make me chase the same dream years later.  

After a few discussions about travelling and backpacking, with my friend Hannah, we finally decided enough was enough and that we were going to save up some cash and book a one way flight to Australia! It was April 2014 and we decided that if we saved a little bit each month, and bought flight tickets and accommodation over the space of several months, we were looking at about one year’s worth of saving to make it all possible. It seemed like a long time, but it was going to be worth the wait… I mean, what did we have to lose?   And so it began! Sticking to our plans we each saved what we could over the first few months. Although it looked like our dream could become a reality, we were also a bit nervous about what to do when we actually go there. It was all good saying we were going to book a one way flight to Australia, but then what? How long would our money actually last over there? What if we spent all our money on flights and only had enough leftover for a months worth of travelling? We needed a back up plan. Hannah suggested we get jobs out there to help pay for our travelling and accommodation. That was fine by me, I could work in a bar or do a bit of handy work to earn some free nights at a guesthouse or hostel, I had no problems with that… but then she suggested becoming teachers… Whoa! Hang on a minute; I have no experience whatsoever working with children, never mind teaching! Not only that, I didn’t have any qualifications. She told me that you didn’t need any experience or qualifications – which come to think about it, Mark had said the same thing a few years earlier. Hannah said that there was a qualification that anyone could achieve after a weekend course. It didn’t cost a lot, so after finally convincing me, we decided to give it a go.

 The course was really simple, and actually a lot of fun. We were shown different teaching techniques and different games to play in class. After two days in the class room, we received certificates. There was also an online part afterwards which you have to do to become fully qualified, which again was fairly straightforward.   Fast forward to March 2015 and we were ready to go. The flights were booked for 10th March; we each had our TEFL qualification, and had saved up enough money for a couple of months travelling. The hard part was over - committing to it, saving up and putting in all the extra work. Jumping on the plane and leaving everything behind, now that was the easy part! We arrived in Sydney and spent the first night there before heading north to Sydney. We stayed in a hostel and met a few people there that lived in Australia and were on a break… from school! That’s right, people that were in the same position as us! They had come over from America, England and wherever else, to enjoy this country and one thing keeping them here was their jobs. They all said the same things; it was an easy job, they had no previous experience, and most of all they all absolutely loved it! I still wasn’t convinced that I would make a good teacher, but I didn’t have to worry about that for now as I had enough money for a few months.