I am just curious what the teachers do if they get the summers off? Do you go back to your home country? Do you find temporary work elsewhere? Do you travel and go to other countries or other parts of Japan? Or do you just stay home and rest?
I’m going to go ski in New Zealand for as long as I can, so I can avoid the heat.
All of the above …. Depending on the year … I really don’t like to stay home (in Japan) and relax .. gets kind of boring
Generally try to travel at some point. If you can, so a side gig to keep busy. Or work like I did last summer. I didn’t get a summer break. But I had all of April and March off basically.
Research; family stuff; study; preparing for fall classes; grading; volunteer work. In the university setting, it’s not really time off: it’s just time outside the classroom.
LAWL. Tbf it’s a good question but like… personally I’m so broke I can’t even imagine being able to “vacation” Pretty happy about finding the gyomu supermarket though
Lately I’ve been staying home or making plans with friends locally. Ideally I’d love to travel! Visiting home is out of the question as plane tickets are still insane. But travelling domestically would be amazing.
Melt into a blob. Spend a week resetting the demons and relaxing. Look for some part time work for a bit of extra money. Study, tests, research, melt and catch up with the 101 jobs I’ve been putting off.
I guess it depends on how long my break is. Some schools I got the same break as the children, about a month. I always traveled when I had long breaks because it is hot in Japan and I didn’t want to stay home. My current job, I only have a week, so I went back home once to renew my driver’s license. During the pandemic, I stayed home the past two years, so this year I might travel overseas again.
>Do you go back to your home country? ~~Do you find temporary work elsewhere?~~ Do you travel and go to other countries or other parts of Japan? Or do you just stay home and rest?
All of the above, except the work part.
Last year I went diving in Izu with colleagues, then travelled to Osaka, Kyoto, Shuzenji and Karuizawa solo.
This year I plan to go diving in Thailand and then spend the bulk visiting family in Malaysia. Don’t think I can take another Japanese summer lmao
Yep just fly home for 4-5 weeks and come back first week of September. I find it’s cheaper than coming back just after golden week. Being an alt it’s pretty easy to take time off whenever.
Pretty much most of the other ALTs I occasionally talk to always go off on these fantastic adventures to China or Korea then come back broke and stressed with little to show for it.
Me? I just enjoy sitting at my apartment watching some favourite movies on Netflix and occasionally going out to lunch or to see the latest summer blockbuster at the cinema, might seem ‘boring’ to many but I love doing simple things, plus just lying around doing nothing, I have a very hectic schedule with multiple schools and six lessons every day so just being able to lie around and enjoy the silence without having to rush around and have my ear drums blown by screaming kids is another reason why I love summer vacation.
All of the above? Do whatever you want. Sometimes I went back home, sometimes I traveled. Sometimes I went out of country (Thailand, China, Korea, etc.). Sometimes just “staycation” at home and actually rest and relax.
3 weeks off. Do what I wanna do and spend time with my wife when she also has off. Go somewhere within Japan, go to the gym, play games, go hiking, meet people
After classes finish and final grades are announced, I use my nenkyu and visit my family, often with another destination before/after that.
I just chill. I have a kid so I’m tired anyway. I mean, possibly trips back home but not every year.
I’m contractually forbidden from other work and while I know there is ways around that I don‘t feel like bothering.
This break I’ve done a professional development course online, put in a bit of groundwork for research I want to do next year, and planned some of my new classes. I’ve also done a little bit of travelling albeit very locally. Sometimes I go back home but can’t afford it at the moment lol so I’m lucky some people came to visit.
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I’m going to go ski in New Zealand for as long as I can, so I can avoid the heat.
All of the above …. Depending on the year … I really don’t like to stay home (in Japan) and relax .. gets kind of boring
Generally try to travel at some point.
If you can, so a side gig to keep busy.
Or work like I did last summer. I didn’t get a summer break. But I had all of April and March off basically.
Research; family stuff; study; preparing for fall classes; grading; volunteer work. In the university setting, it’s not really time off: it’s just time outside the classroom.
LAWL.
Tbf it’s a good question but like… personally I’m so broke I can’t even imagine being able to “vacation”
Pretty happy about finding the gyomu supermarket though
Lately I’ve been staying home or making plans with friends locally. Ideally I’d love to travel! Visiting home is out of the question as plane tickets are still insane. But travelling domestically would be amazing.
Melt into a blob. Spend a week resetting the demons and relaxing. Look for some part time work for a bit of extra money. Study, tests, research, melt and catch up with the 101 jobs I’ve been putting off.
I guess it depends on how long my break is. Some schools I got the same break as the children, about a month. I always traveled when I had long breaks because it is hot in Japan and I didn’t want to stay home. My current job, I only have a week, so I went back home once to renew my driver’s license. During the pandemic, I stayed home the past two years, so this year I might travel overseas again.
>Do you go back to your home country? ~~Do you find temporary work elsewhere?~~ Do you travel and go to other countries or other parts of Japan? Or do you just stay home and rest?
All of the above, except the work part.
Last year I went diving in Izu with colleagues, then travelled to Osaka, Kyoto, Shuzenji and Karuizawa solo.
This year I plan to go diving in Thailand and then spend the bulk visiting family in Malaysia. Don’t think I can take another Japanese summer lmao
Yep just fly home for 4-5 weeks and come back first week of September. I find it’s cheaper than coming back just after golden week. Being an alt it’s pretty easy to take time off whenever.
Pretty much most of the other ALTs I occasionally talk to always go off on these fantastic adventures to China or Korea then come back broke and stressed with little to show for it.
Me? I just enjoy sitting at my apartment watching some favourite movies on Netflix and occasionally going out to lunch or to see the latest summer blockbuster at the cinema, might seem ‘boring’ to many but I love doing simple things, plus just lying around doing nothing, I have a very hectic schedule with multiple schools and six lessons every day so just being able to lie around and enjoy the silence without having to rush around and have my ear drums blown by screaming kids is another reason why I love summer vacation.
All of the above? Do whatever you want. Sometimes I went back home, sometimes I traveled. Sometimes I went out of country (Thailand, China, Korea, etc.). Sometimes just “staycation” at home and actually rest and relax.
3 weeks off. Do what I wanna do and spend time with my wife when she also has off. Go somewhere within Japan, go to the gym, play games, go hiking, meet people
After classes finish and final grades are announced, I use my nenkyu and visit my family, often with another destination before/after that.
I just chill. I have a kid so I’m tired anyway. I mean, possibly trips back home but not every year.
I’m contractually forbidden from other work and while I know there is ways around that I don‘t feel like bothering.
This break I’ve done a professional development course online, put in a bit of groundwork for research I want to do next year, and planned some of my new classes. I’ve also done a little bit of travelling albeit very locally. Sometimes I go back home but can’t afford it at the moment lol so I’m lucky some people came to visit.