As I said before, I am going back to London on Sunday, but this decision was made very, very recently. Wednesday morning in fact. And I'm quite relieved. Not because there's anything so wrong with Japan, more so because everything has become so muddled and bizarre.
After the walk and the Oprah moment on Friday night, I had decided to stay after all. This meant lots of walking on Saturday to plan, and I emailed a friend about a job I thought would be very easy to get in a very short time. In the evening I managed a 12k run from Yotsuya round the Imperial Palace to Hibiya Park, and back again.
Sunday was spent in the company of Hiroshi and Tomoko, a couple I met at Tiger's wedding in March. They are both funny and cool, and so we headed to a very nice cafe in the trendy Daikanyama area, and afterwards wandered round there and NakaMeguro where we had a drink at a very wooden, rustic type of place. And then we headed to karaoke for a session of Japanese song singing in which I invariably buggered up all the words and either mumbled or substituted the words with, "sumimasen, sore wo wakaranai..." ("I'm sorry, I don't understand this") and other such comments.
On Monday I found out that the job I should have been able to get quickly and easily would in fact be not so easy and would take at least 2 weeks. Boo! But having wandered the streets and eventually remembering to buy the Japan Times and stumbled upon a magic advert- "Wanted! Experienced Assistant Language Teachers for Immediate Start!" OOH! I emailed my resume and was offered an interview the next day.
Unfortunately I wasn't well on Monday night which put me in a bit of a negative mood, but I went to the interview, was very impressed by the woman who interviewed me (who started the company) and must have done something as I was offered the job (part time at a school near Roppongi). So I said I'd let her know the next day and immediately realised I didn't want to be an ALT. Yuko and I went to dinner to talk about this and other things and we pretty much worked out a way I could survive on the low (compared to JET) pay, and then went to karaoke. (I am aware that this statement ends at least 1/3 of all paragraphs in this blog).
But Wednesday morning came and I decided no, I'm going home. Right now everything is too complicated and my Japanese isn't good enough to sort it all out. Job aside, apartments here are a bit of a pain what with key money (usually a fee of 2 months rent which is not returned to you) and deposit (also 2 months rent which you sometimes get back). Plus I threw away/ gave everything away when I left Katsuyama, so I own nothing to put in a new flat. And I have a 2000pound flight home on Sunday which I would have no idea how to deal with if I didn't use it. And my old Board of Education, who purchased it for me, don't speak any English, so I worry that I'd have to pay back a possibly non-refundable ticket. These concerns among others are helping me head home. I am aware that there are probably easy solutions to all of these, but just the fact that after two years I can't deal with them myself is doing my head in!
And I went on a nightbus marathon yesterday back to Katsuyama, and it made me think I am doing the right thing. But I'll save that for another day...
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Hey Chris,
Finally catching up on all your posts. Tokyo looks like although it was very exciting, it was a little bit too much stimulation. I always found it to be too much. I live outside of Boston and whenever I go into Boston I feel like my sensory nerves are being overloaded.
Tough decisions on going home, always. I made the right one, although now that I'm doing job search here (in engineering, no more teaching for this kid), I'm also looking into the possibility of either a job in Japan or a job that uses Japanese.
I had an interview last Monday with a semiconductor company looking for a bilingual engineer and I bombed the interview. Terrible. Phone interview in Japanese, but I was so worried about my Japanese that I didn't prepare at all for questions and things in English even. Absolute crash and burn.
I have a couple of interviews next week, robotics company and General Electric, sales division, so there is still a light at the end of the tunnel.
Take care and keep up your blog or some form of communication. You're welcome anytime in Boston, pallaver
p.s. Responding to posts on my blog work too, cuz sometimes it takes me awhile to catch up and find where I last posted on friend's blogs.
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