Brian's Japan Adventure

March 10^th, 2008

 Three Days To Go 

Yup, 72 hours from now I’ll be on a plane bound for the West.  It’s funny that I have to travel east in order to get to “The West.”  That’s just plain counter-intuitive!  We’re down to a two-digit hour count now.  Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock!

 Travel Research 

I started off this morning with a trip up to the office to check a few things on the Internet. It turns out that I am allowed 50 pounds (23 Kilos) per bag, so I’ll have to do some fiddling with my “done” bag to lighten the loaf a bit.  I can actually pack the bag up to 70lbs, but there is a 3000Y ($30) charge for that, so I’m gong to try to avoid that. I’ll pay for one overweight bag if necessary, but I don’t think I’ll need to pay for two.

I also did some further research on the train trip to the airport. If you want to find out how to ride the trains to get anywhere in Japan, there’s a great website called http://www.hyperdia.com that you put in your starting location and ending location and it gives you all the transfers.  When I put it in a few weeks ago, I told it I wanted to be at the airport at 4:00, and it gave me a really complicated route with Shinkansen, local line train, subway, and even some walking in downtown Osaka between terminals. Crazy stuff!  Today I put in my starting time from Okayama, and it gave me a nice simple route that looks an awful lot like the ride we took to get here on day one.  Shinkansen to Osaka, and then a local line train right to the airport; much simpler.  It’s still an 8000Y ($80) ride to get to the airport, but I am far more confident that I will not run into any trouble on this new route.

 I’d Have Worn Shorts, But They’re Packed Away Already 

The weather for the rest of this week looks calm and nice, so I shouldn’t have a rough time on this end of the flight. I know they had pretty serious snowfall last week in Ohio, but I don’t know what the forecast is for that end of the trip. It’s actually really warm here today; my thermometer said it was a little over 70 today.  That’s the warmest it’s been in months.  I sat outside on the steps of the apartment, listening to my iPod for about an hour today, while watching students ride down the hill from the university. I left my jacket inside to do it too. Spring is coming!

I did end up going to Happy Town this afternoon.  I ended up buying a similar gift to the other one I discussed. Not exactly the same, but the same type of object. While there, I had my last McDonalds meal in Japan and did my last grocery shopping.  Unless I have forgotten something important, I think I’m done at Happy Town.

 How Do You Keep A Gaijin in Suspense? 

Around 3:00 the phone rang; it was my expected call from Y-San about the job.  She got tired of waiting for an answer from Fukuyama and called them.  They told her that they couldn’t make a decision until all candidates were interviewed. So I was right the first time when I said there would be no decision until next week.  But then she said something that didn’t quite ring true to me; she said that I would need a new visa if they hired me anyway, so there is no point in getting an exit visa now. Hmmm. That may be true, but there’s no way I can get a new visa in two or three weeks, right?  It took months last time.  At least with my old visa and an exit visa I can get back in for a few months while they sort out the paperwork on my next visa.  Maybe it’s faster the second time. Or maybe they told her that hiring me was unlikely, and this was her way of letting me know it’s not happening.  But I didn’t argue; I guess I won’t be getting an exit visa.

Either way, I’m not too worried about it. I definitely wanted the Fukuyama offer, and I may very well have accepted the job.  But it would have been a huge stretch and long-term challenge, and it may well have been the case that I would have hated it.  If they do end up saying yes, I’ll give it more thought (remember, I don’t really even know what the pay & benefits are yet), but if they say no, I’ll look at it as a good thing that I won’t have to make that decision.  I’m indecisive at best, and that would have been the biggest decision I’ve ever had to make. I think it would be a lot easier if they did in fact say no. Avoidance may not be a good thing, but I’m willing to live with it.  Then again, I stand by my reading of the situation last Friday, so I think there really is still a good chance they may want me. However it works out, I’ll live with it.

 Do The Math: I Am Not Putting on Weight! 

Meanwhile, today I have to get the apartment finished. Y-San will do a walk-through tomorrow, and she gave me a checklist of things to have cleaned and fixed up. I went through Marc’s entryway with a broom & mop, since he forgot to do that.  Slackass is still causing me work and he’s 7500 miles away! I wiped off the living room table and put the sink in the bathroom back together (don’t ask!).  Then it was back to packing.  I switched out a few things from the formerly “done” suitcase and its now at 48.9 pounds, which is as close as I’m going to risk.  The suitcases won’t fit on the scale by themselves, so I have to weigh myself, and then weigh myself holding the suitcase and subtract. There’s just enough variation in results that I want to leave a pound or two leftover for possible scale errors.  Oh, and by the way, I weigh exactly the same as I did when I arrived here and used the kilogram scale for the first time.

So that’s pretty much the situation as it stands Monday evening.  There will be no news on the job until next week, and I suspect by then I will have decided against it, having been spoiled by American food all weekend.  I probably will have gained ten pounds by next Monday anyway.  I’m mostly packed, and mostly done cleaning. First thing tomorrow is the apartment inspection and shortly thereafter is my certificate award ceremony. That’s all before ten o’clock. After that, I’m pretty much free for the afternoon.  I’ll probably just go for a long walk, just my camera and me. Wednesday is spoken for and a full work schedule, and that’s going to be pretty much it. I doubt I will see the Internet again or post anything else before I get home, so stay tuned!

March 9^th, 2008

 The Last Library Day 

Went to McDonalds and had McBreakfast. I forgot about the bug I saw last week until halfway through today’s meal. Oops. Oh well, I survived. I got to the library on time and got my favorite Internet desk. I had a bunch of blog posts to make and a lot of email to answer, but I did not appear to miss anything crucial during my on-stop workweek.  I don’t have any lessons to prepare, so I spent my post-chat time looking up things that might be useful in the future, such as getting an AAA Membership and getting an International Driver’s license.  I don’t remember, but if anyone back at home still owes me a birthday present, a AAA membership would be a really good one, hint-hint.

Anyway, the library took about 4 hours of play time and research. Afterwards, I stopped by Maruzen and picked up a book for the kids. I had a choice of buying them each a book with one small story in it or getting them a large book to share. I went with the bigger book, since it’ll keep them busy longer. The book is full of classic Japanese children’s stories; it’ll be like fairy tales they’ve never heard before. I think they’ll like it, and it gives them an excuse for story time with their former favorite uncle.  I think I’ll have to regain my old title as quickly as possible. I also have a few really small items from Happy Town for the kids, so they’re done.  I also have a gift for EITHER my parents or brother & sister-in-law. I haven’t found anything better than that gift, so I think I may just buy a second one of that item and call my gifts done. I even have a certain bundle of by-request art supplies for someone who asked for them.

I then stopped by Mister Donut on the way to the bus stop. I’ve never actually tried Mister Donut before, but Marc said they were great, so I figured I’d give them a try before leaving. I wasn’t impressed. The coating on top was sweet enough, but the donuts themselves had no taste. Japanese people do not seem to be really big consumers of sugar. After this, I took the bus back to the little station and rode my bike home the rest of the way.

I finished cleaning the bathroom. It’s spotless now. I finished the living room too, and it looks nicely organized for the next person.  I don’t know what to do about the kitchen. It’s clean enough, but I have a huge shelf full of empty plastic Pepsi Nex and Green Tea bottles, as well as a few leftover wine & beer containers from Marc.  The recycle day for those items isn’t until the last Friday of the month, so I am not even close to being able to throw those out.  I guess I’ll just have to bag them up and sit them in a corner somewhere.  That ain’t good, but there isn’t anything else I can think to do with them.

 Pack Up Your Troubles 

Finally, I started to pack up my own stuff.  The first suitcase is full of clothes, and weighs in at 57 pounds. I don’t remember for sure, but I think the weight restriction was 50 pounds. Maybe it was 55 pounds.  I’ll have to go up to the office tomorrow and look up weight restrictions on the airline’s website before I start re-distributing. I filled the second suitcase up to about 70%, but I have to have clothes to wear this week, so I can’t really call it done yet.  All my electronics will go in the carry-on bag with me. It looks like I really won’t have to mail anything, which surprises me. I guess a lot of what I brought here and had mailed to me was disposable stuff. I am not taking home shampoo, deodorant, slippers and old shoes, and so forth.  There are several items that people sent to me for use in my lessons, and I’ll just leave those here for the next person.  Some of it I used, and some of it I didn’t.

 Lost Treasures 

I really should have gone through those suitcases earlier. Inside one of them I found brand new packages of socks and underwear, which I could have been using all along instead of wearing holes in the ones I’ve been using. There was an unopened pack of black dress socks. Most importantly, there were four or five fancy gift bags that I brought along with me. I can use those for my kindergarten gifts instead of the crappy ones I bought at Happy Town.  Unfortunately, I also found folded-up coffee cup gift boxes that I could have used for the two gifts on Friday. Too late!

Overall, there was nothing drastically interesting about this day. Today was really the beginning of the ending, as I continued cleaning and started actually packing.  Tuesday, Y-San has to do a walk-through of the apartment to see what we’ve destroyed (nothing) and then I have to go back to the office to get a certificate of completion of my internship handed to me by somebody important.  Probably after that, I’ll go get my exit visa with Y-San and the other American teacher.  Other than that little bit of business on Tuesday, I don’t have any special plans. Nothing for Monday either. Wednesday of course, is an all-day work day, so I won’t get anything done then in the way of packing. It’d certainly not going to take Monday and Tuesday to finish cleaning and packing. I can probably finish packing in less than an hour, and the cleaning in less time than that.

I wonder what I should do?

March 1st, 2008

Alone At Last

I got up around the usual time. I had to get up in the middle of the night to turn down the heat. I sure wish I had known about those filters back in the Fall. Anyway, I couldn’t go to the library this morning cause I had to lock the door behind Marc. He left around 12:30, heavily loaded but able to walk. He chose not to have Y-San drive him to the station. I’m pretty sure I won’t be as gracious. That’s a long walk with that much stuff, and I only mean the backpack, not the two gigantumous suitcases on wheel. If she doesn’t offer to drive me, I’d even be willing to spring for a cab. Anyway, he left at 12:30 and his flight leaves here at 7:00 tonight. He’ll actually arrive in Los Angeles around noon today. Yes, he’ll arrive a half an hour before he left. I asked him to phone ahead for the lottery numbers, but he wouldn’t do it.

Cleaning!

He probably hadn’t event turned the corner at the end of the street yet when I started cleaning. His room and the kitchen are in pretty good shape; he really did a good job cleaning them. He got two rooms and I got three.

The living room is easy, I just had to put some books away and throw out some old lessons piled up on the table. Next week I will gather up the videotapes under the TV and mop or broom out the dust; then that room will be done. There really isn’t much to it.

The bathroom is more than a little disgusting. There’s dust, hair, and I don’t want to know what else stuck to the walls and the floor. There’s a reason Japanese people have a separate pair of slippers just for the bathroom.  It wasn’t as difficult as it sounds to clean. The showerhead is on a long hose and there is a drain in the floor. I simply stood in the tub and sprayed everything outside the tub; toilet, floor, walls, mirror, even the ceiling. The whole bathroom is essentially one sealed piece of plastic, so there is nothing that can be harmed by too much water. The room is still drying out with the fan on, but it seemed to work pretty well. I’ll probably have to blast it again before I leave.

I haven’t touched my room at all, and it’s the only apparently “lived-in” room here now.  I’ll go through my desk tonight and throw out trash papers and old lessons. I’m doing a load of laundry now; I’ll try to hold off the next batch until the day before I leave.

Earlier this morning I figured out my train schedule for next week. Every day next week I’ll have to be at the little station by 9:00 am to catch the train to arrive in Fukuyama a little after ten. Then I’ll do the 20-minute walk to the school and cool my heels until class starts at 11:00. I have two classes, which will end at 1:00.  I then do the whole trip in reverse and should arrive back at the apartment a little before 3pm.  That’s six hours to get in two hours of teaching. That’s annoying.  Wednesday, of course, will be an all-day affair as usual, but at least I have a bunch of stuff to keep me busy on those days.

I don’t have to invent any lessons for the Fukuyama classes, since that was all supplied for me already, but the Wednesday folks did request that I do a lesson on Past Participles. We have pretty much nothing related to grammar in the books here at the apartment, so I’ll try to find something at the library tomorrow. I may simply not have time, in which case, I’ll just use one of the many lessons I have leftover already. I’d like to give them what they want, especially on the last classroom day, but I may not be able to do it. My schedule has been totally warped this week, and next week looks even worse.

Tough Choices

There have been no new developments on the job front. Today my mood is leaning more toward just going home and being done with it rather than staying at all. The money isn’t especially good after plane fare is considered, and I won’t really be learning anything significantly new. There won’t be time for any major sightseeing or in-Japan travel.  Being here in the summer might be more fun than in the winter, but it’s hardly a vacation.  Again, a year of teaching will look better on a resume than six months.  I just don’t know. Four months doesn’t sound like that big a deal, but I’ve been awfully eager to go home, and there was probably a reason for it.

There isn’t a perfect right or a wrong answer here, but either which way I decide, I’ll probably regret it soon after making the commitment.  I haven’t committed to anything yet, but even if I decide to be done and go home, it’s going to feel like I abandoned them or didn’t finish properly. I almost wish the choice had not come up now.

February 28^th, 2008

Stranger and Stranger

I got up a little early and updated my resume, writing a nice cover letter to the Elementary School principal. I stated my interest and mentioned Y-San and the Junior High Vice Principal as references. I then asked Y-San to fax it to the principal. I also sent a copy to my contact at the Company Office that called me last night. Maybe something else will come along later on.

My Own Worst Enemy

I always hated Physical Education in school. I was always the last kid called on to be on the teams and so forth. I hated sports. I took any

opportunity to take in a sick note and miss class. I always thought physical education teachers were the lowest of lowlifes. And now here I am applying to be one. Yes, I could easily become my own worst enemy. What’s the old quote about becoming the thing you despise most?

But still, it’s not all bad. I doubt my Japanese language deficiencies will be a huge issue. There are American teachers that I would be working with, so that will be a big help. I doubt Physical Education requires a huge amount of lesson planning, so my off time would be mostly my own. I like chasing my niece and nephew around the yard and playing at the park; I doubt it would be much of a stretch to go from the two of them to 200 or 300 kids a day, right? Art class could actually be fun. I’m no artist, but these are little kids we’re talking about.

Still, when I handed the resume over to Y-san to fax, she looked at me like I was crazy. She made a face and asked, “Do you know what you are getting into?” I told her it wasn’t my top choice in the world, but it’s the only opportunity that’s come along. I told her I had to try, and the worst thing that could happen is that they say no. No harm in giving them the option. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that, but I don’t want her to think I’m desperately eager for the job, since I’m not. I could be convinced, but that’ll be up to later negotiations… if they decide I’m the best choice. I’m older than the typical intern, and a little out of shape, but I see no reason I couldn’t do it if I set my mind to it. Add to this the fact that from the sound of last night’s call that I may also be the only applicant. Time will tell.

I then came back down the hill and ran into Marc getting up and ready. His class for today has been cancelled too. Finals are approaching. He really should have gone home last week.

He mentioned that yesterday he was up in the office and somehow it came up that he wouldn’t mind staying on over the summer. Hearing this, Y-San asked him if he really wanted to do it, since there is only one student coming next time. He said he would. I assume since he said “yes” right away that there was no reason for her to mention it to me. I don’t think Marc’s being asked first was a planned thing; he was in the right place at the right time. At least that’s the way I am going to interpret my not being asked to stay on. On reflection, this may have been the reason for Y-San’s reaction to my asking her to fax the resume this morning; shock that I might be willing to stay on, and regret at what she did yesterday.

However, this morning he got a call from home telling him that his brother is going to be married sometime over the summer. He wants to attend that, and it’s more important to him than staying here doing the same thing for another four months. He then went up the hill to tell Y-San that he couldn’t stay here after all. I told him to mention that I might be interested in doing it, although I did not mention the Fukuyama application to him

So just hypothetically, let’s say I have to make a decision:

1) I can go home. That’s hardly a bad thing, as months of blog postings should make clear. I will be going home in a couple of weeks, regardless. It’s just a matter of whether or not I have a reason to return to Japan or not.

2) I can stay here another four months or so, from April 1^st to sometime in late July or early August. This period is a lot shorter than what I have already done, and there are almost no vacations during this period. Still, I’ll have my weekends and the schedule shouldn’t be any more difficult than what I have already done. I will have an apartment to myself, although it might be more expensive than where I am now. I’ll be making exactly the same amount of money. When it’s over, I’ll be able to claim an entire school year worth of experience, which is far better than six months.

3)  As the Art/Phys-Ed Teacher in Fukuyama, I would be paid more, possibly a lot more. I would have a real job rather than an internship. I would have an apartment to myself, I assume, but it would certainly cost more than this one. This would be a full-time position with a one-year contract, insurance and benefits rather than just cash in an envelope. It would also be jus tone school, so the crazy daily traveling would stop and I could focus on just one school and get to know the students.

Sigh. All this to think over and it’s not even 11:30 am yet. I expect the phone to ring at any moment; it could be a long day.

Nope, Didn’t See That Coming.

11:37am. [Update]

I hadn’t even shut down the computer after typing the above when Y-San called, officially offering me option #2. She mentioned that she didn’t realize I was interested in staying before this morning; I had mentioned it was back before Christmas, but hadn’t really kept on her about it. I told her I liked the idea but asked if I could let her know for sure on Monday, which was fine with her. My work Visa is good for a full-year, so there will be no problem with that; I would have to get a renewal on it for the Fukuyama position, but I don’t think that’s a difficult problem.

I think likely I will go with her offer but I now have already submitted the application at Fukuyama, so I ought to follow-through on that tomorrow. Financially, the Fukuyama position will be clearly better, but as far as what would look better on a resume, I’m not sure: One full year as a “pure” English teacher or a half year as an English teacher and full-year as a PhysEd/Art teacher? I’m not going to put the cart before the horse, but at least now I have one choice to make. It’d be nice to have two.

I guess the first thing is to decide if I actually WANT to stay another four months. If I don’t want to do that, then the full year would be a big mistake. I’ll be going home as scheduled, so I can get my hair cut, buy new shoes, eat 45 burritos, renew my driver’s license and so forth, so my “maintenance” can be accomplished then. I would certainly not want to stay here continuously without a trip a trip home at all. I wouldn’t have to take home everything I have here now; I could leave my warm-weather clothes and take home what I won’t need, bringing back some fresh replacements. That would alleviate my “how am I going to get all this home” problem quite nicely. One problem with staying another four months is that will be darned near impossible to find another teaching job that late in the summer when it finally ends. If I were to just go home now or at the end of the Fukuyama year, I’ll have all summer to look for new work.

I’ll meet up with the Fukuyama principal tomorrow, but right now, I like the four-month stay better.

January 20^th, 2008

Japan White

It rained all day. All day, non-stop. Then it started to snow. It’s still snowing.  Even Marc stayed home all day. We’re hoping they cancel school tomorrow, but we’re not really even sure that they ever do that. Not that it matters all that much, since we each only actually have one class tomorrow.

First thing this morning, I went through the book for tomorrow’s class and made up a final exam.  Now I know what I want to go over in class tomorrow, and have a test made up if he asks for it, which I suspect he will. If they should actually cancel classes, that will be a major scheduling hassle for someone, since I’ll have other classes on Tuesday and Wednesday.

After finishing the exam, I loaded up Civilization again. I wanted to play a little violently than usual, so instead of some kind of scientific or diplomatic victory, this time I simply built up my military and killed everyone. Everyone. Bwahahaaa!

About the time the game ended it was time to eat. It was alternating between rain and snow by then, and it just wasn’t worth leaving the house to get supper. So I had to make do. Tonight’s wonderful dinner was… bread & butter, followed by popcorn, and Pocky.  And “they” said Japanese food was healthy- I’m going to prove them wrong if it kills me!

Just to round off this exciting wonderful evening of snowed-in hunger and boredom, Marc dug out the last few videotapes from under the TV and we watched two hours of old episodes of The Simpsons. Oh joy. Too bad it wasn’t really educational TV like South Park or something.