hey all,
So as you followers of Ferris Bueller's philosophy will know, life does in fact move pretty fast, and if you don't stop and smell the roses, it might just pass you by. In your cases however, it means that my life is moving pretty quickly right now, and it probably seems like it is passing you by, as I haven't been keeping pace with letting you all know of developments as they're happening.
I've received some more details from my company. It looks like it will be 3 schools instead of five, all three of which are closer to either of two train stations than my current schools are to their closest train station. As far as I know, the number of days has not changed. I have a board of education meeting early during the second week of April.
Obviously, I can't continue living where I am and work in Tokyo. Although, I guess I could, but I'd spend so much money commuting, and waste so much unproductive time on the train, that I'd have to be brain dead to try it. So, I've been looking for apartments, and I believe I've found one that is pretty nice. It really has a lot going for it. It is bigger than my current room by a factor of about 2 or 3. It has its own bathroom, and also a kitchen area (really just a convenience like my room in Amsterdam). Although it is a little far from my schools (about 20-25 minutes by train), it is ridiculously convenient. Already, I'm pretty familiar with the area, because I go there all the time to rock climb at an indoor gym. Besides from the gym, they have a large number of restaurants, shopping areas that include clothes, groceries, electronics, books, music and movies,a movie theater, outdoor equipment, etc, and it is about a 5 minute train ride to Michi's apartment. On the negative side, the rent is a bit more expensive than what I'm paying now, and the laundry machine is coin operated.
I've been asking different companies about apartments closer to my schools, but they have all named monthly fees that are a little too high. But the real problem with these apartments is that they are owned by Japanese companies that don't cater to foreigners. Japanese people seem to feel some kind of debt or obligation to their employers that guilts them into working unpaid overtime, skipping vacations, and working themselves to death. Apparently, the same feeling can be found in the housing fees: in order to earn the "privilege" of living in a small room with electricity, water, and internet, I would have to pay about 2 months rent in advance as a deposit, a finder's fee to the realtor, key money, and then yet another fee known as "gift money." Yes, it is not enough that I pay out the butt with all the other fees, I am supposed to give my greedy landlord a non-refundable, nontaxable "gift money." All told, it would cost me over $2000 to move into one of these places, none of which I would see again. Screw that. This might just be some kind of American rationality/practicality manifesting itself, but if two people can come to a mutually satisfactory arrangement, there is no need for such a level of gratitude/obligation/sacrifice that clearly benefits the person who is already better off. I might be dumb, but I'm not dumb enough to think this is an OK way of doing things.
Anyway, outside of that little rant, things are going well. My school classes are still slowly winding down. Everyday, I say good bye to a couple more 3rd year students who've graduated. I actually feel a little bad, because it seems like some of them really enjoyed my classes, but I think I could have done a lot better. Looking back on how little I knew of how to teach English at the beginning, I wish I had become skilled more quickly. Tomorrow is the graduation ceremony.
This weekend Japan celebrated White Day. In Japan, on Valentine's Day girls give the men in their lives chocolate and/or presents. On White Day, men give chocolate/presents to the girls in their lives. Why we need two separate holidays for that, I don't know. As usual of late, Michi and I did yoga on Saturday, made dinner (vegetarian gyoza: OK, but we both agreed that for gyoza you really need a little bit of meat to get the best flavor), and then went rock climbing on Sunday. We're trying to organize a trip to Joyama next weekend, but finding lodging is a little tricky as it is a 3 day holiday, and many people are traveling.
I received my visa for next year with no problems, so that is good news. I think that's about all.
Cheers,
