Should I Stay or Should I Go.

By the end of January, I have to decide whether I am going to stay through August ’08 or August ’09. Pretty big decision which I am on the fence about. Two years would have been out of question when I first signed up, due to it being a mind blowing amount of time to commit to.
So here's my pro/con list. I'd love to hear what you think, what would you do, etc. So send me an email or facebook message.

PROS
· It’s a pretty easy, comfortable life here. I don’t have much to worry about. Monday through Friday, I go to school at 825, stay til 415, assistant teach a few classes, chat with the teachers. I have plenty of free time at my job even, time to study Japanese, read, write lists.
· More chances to see Asia, experience Japan. 20 vacation days plus holidays isn’t bad for getting around.
·I’ll be able to speak Japanese very well by the time I leave. 5 months in and I can have basic conversations. It just takes me some time to formulate grammatically correct sentences. It’ll be nice to be able to talk with people. However this has been at the expense of Spanish which has disappeared.
·The surfing is good. I mean there’s always swell, and I’m a mile away from a great surf spot.
· I’ve got friends here, Japanese and other ALT’s.
·I’m saving money, probably about 10,000 by the end of the year. Not bad. The pay is pretty good here, especially with the yen strengthening against the dollar.
· The kids are pretty cool, easy going, etc. I’m starting to have more and more classes that afterwards I can say to myself, wow that was a lot of fun.
· What would I do if I went home? I’m still professionally lost. Whatever’s next I can just start a year later. Word from the home front is that it's not too easy to find a decent job in the US.
· I have the rest of my life to spend in America and I’ll appreciate the good friends and family that much more when I come back. If I leave, I’m not coming back.

CONS
·It’s a pretty easy comfortable life here; I SHOULD push myself to try something different. It’s becoming a bit habitual. It’s been fine for the last 5 months, but somewhere into the other 19 months, I might go crazy.
·I’ve already gotten a ton of new experience from a year here, is another year really going to add that much to it. Experience is kind of how I’m measuring worth nowadays. I could try something new instead or start building towards a career.
·I miss my friends and family, and perhaps they’ll be a little mad at me, but much worse is maybe friends will start to forget about me.
· It’s not the most challenging job, its tough to communicate with the kids, and I don’t feel like I make a huge impact on the students. Though they do like me. Elementary English is not the most enjoyable thing to teach or learn. Tough to get too creative when the Junior High’s follow a strict textbook itinerary and the elementary age kids have about zero English skills.
·A desire to live in NYC, or a city, or in a place where I can FULLY communicate with people. I miss being able to use English.