Dual Realities
Working as an ALT so far has been a blast. It's been hectic, they've changed schedules around on me, I've had to wake up around 6 every day I've had to work, and at times I've come within an inch of complete and utter panic mode, but overall, once I'm actually in the classroom, we have fun, the kids enjoy my lessons, and the other teachers are apparently satisfied.
But it hasn't been like that for all involved, and that concerns me a little. My friend Xiao also started working with Interac at the same time as me, and her experience has been a little different. She worked at a Jr. High the other day, and had to prepare a worksheet for class wtih very little information to go on, and the Japanese teacher wasn't impressed. Less than impressed, actually, even more so by her lack of knowledge as to what a 'gerund' is, which I'm guessing 95% of the general English speaking population doesn't know either (a noun ending in -ing, e.g. skiing, or making lunch). But this bothered the teacher enough to complain about her to Interac, and so now she's involved in trying to cover her rear to our boss, Jason, who is calling into question her knowledge of grammar, which I think is...ya.
What I see in this is clearly a case of a Japanese teacher with a bone to pick with the idea of native English speakers waltzing into Japanese schools and teaching their students with what they perceive as basically no formal training whatsoever, and was on a mission to prove just that. See, things like gerunds or type II conditionals are things that every speaker of English knows, but, much like psychology, don't know the name for. Non-native speakers of English however, learn the titles for all these things because 1) if you've got a name for it it's easy to refer to when learning/explaining and 2) they don't know it's the kind of thing that native speakers never, ever say and probably don't know. Not the actual grammatical concept, mind you, but the word for it.
So now she's got an angry school and an angry boss, a boss who, to me, has been supportive and easy to talk to for the most part, however mildly dismissive when it comes to my overblown concerns. Which is probably good cause it teaches me what they think is important and how better to work for the company. But all the same, it's just weird, to think that all this time I'm out there in schools worrying, but still enjoying myself, and now there's another person, who I at least think is just as qualified to be here as my, who is experiencing what will probably be a lot of negativity until things have either blown over or other people put her in a more positive light.
Now, things to take into consideration here are that she was teaching at a Jr. High School, which I haven't done, and consider to be really really hard, since teachers are going over hard grammar points, things which are considered to be the most important parts of English as far as Japanese schools are concerned. Which, I'll admit, are important, but the ALT's job is to provide an opportunity for native English communication in a safe supportive environment, the Japanese teacher's job is to go over hard grammar. But, I digress. It was also her first day at that school, we really only receive training for elementary school classes, and she hasn't been in Japan that long(something like 4 months).
I'm just as worried about going to Jr. High schools. I have no idea how to do that stuff. Thankfully, I don't have to until February, assuming my schedule stays the same. But even then I don't know that I'll be ready to go in there, especially because then the school and the company will consider me to be an experienced teacher, and they'll probably pull the same kind of crap when I get there that they did with her.
But this brings up my long standing gripe about the role of native English teachers in schools. We're sold to the schools, and the understanding is or should be, that we're not there to go over the hard grammar points of English, though a knowledge of such things greater than the average guy on the street is good and I think should be required to some extent. We're there, as far as I can see, to encourage a healthy relationship with students, such that they see English as something that is not intimidating or impossible, and, much, much, much more importantly, to dispel the long standing xenophobia inherent to Japanese culture. The more we're in there, and the better students get to know us filthy criminal gaijin, the more we can start to drop those adjectives and change that racial slur to something much more neutral, like gaikokujin. Gaijin are the entire rest of the universe, and Japan is innately biased against them. If all I do in all my time as a teacher is instill the idea that foreigners are real, living breathing, and as potentially worthwhile valid individuals and members of society as Japanese themselves, then I will have accomplished far more than anyone could have ever hoped towards improving Japanese society.
I could care less if they still don't get the idea of the definite and indefinite article. Learning another language makes you less racist. TADAAA the world's a better place.
So, I hope that when it comes time for me to step up into a Jr. High School I can do something meaningful when I'm there. But, more so, I hope that Xiao manages to find a way to improve her image and step up the quality of her teaching, because I want her to enjoy her time here. So far it's been nothing but misery, and that makes me so sad, so see someone in the same country, doing the same job as me, have such a completely opposite view of their time here. I went through all this too, and I survived, but she's been here for far less time than I, so, all she has are bad times, none of the good stuff I've been through to make it all worth it.
I hate seeing people give up on Japan. Sometimes I want to, but, I realize that it's no different from any other place. The names of the problems change, but they're all still there. Don't like how racist Japan is? Never would live there because of the open discrimination? Lol. Look at your own life. You're just bitching cause here, you're on the receiving end. Or, if you're already discriminated against at home, I don't see why you wouldn't feel better off here, since it's not just your demographic they don't like, it's everyone. At least here you're not singled out.
Anyway, the lesson here is that there are people in the world who are out on a mission to prove that who you are and what you do are worthless. Part of making it in life is learning not only that there are such people, but how to work around them. Not necessarily to change their minds, because without them, we would have no motivation to be good enough to get past them. Even if it means being such a good people person that they look past your not knowing what a superlative is, you're still better off knowing how to get around them. Adaptation is the name of the game. Even in Japan, the land of repetition for the sake of repetition and repetitive identical failures because change admits a bigger failure.
Happy New Year 2008!
Well, first off, Happy New Year to all, I hope that this year brings not only myself but all of you all that you have hoped for and more. More importantly, what you need, but don't realize.
This year has gotten off to a pretty good start. My Christmas and New Years celebrations were pretty crazy, involving more than one strange Japanese girl, an American living in Kazakhstan, an unnatural quantity of alcohol, and Megatron.
What I didn't mention about Greg's party but should have was that I got a Megatron Transformer for Christmas on top of a stack of much needed cash. It's sick, I love the thing. Also, Jeannine, a gal from America living and working as a teacher in Kazakhstan was there visiting Greg, which turned out to be quite the irritant for his Japanese girlfriend Miki, who would occasionally flip out and get all emotional because it completely violates traditional Japanese relationship norms to have a girl stay with you, regardless of the nature of your relationship, which, if you knew them, you'd know what completely platonic.
For New Years, Bryan Andy Ty Dave and I started off at Saizeriya for a couple magnums of red wine before heading out to Kashiwa to meet up with Greg and Miki, and as it turns out Maya and Asami, Miki's make-out friendly friends, and Moses and Ben, two very nice guys from Nigeria. Oh, and Nathan too, who I worked with in Kanamachi for a time, who shares a love of a particular massively multiplayer online role playing game with me. The night basically turned out to be Asami making out with anyone she could, and Maya throwing herself all over me and me having to dodge her attempts to make out with/fondle/etc me. Saki was out with her friends that night, though I wish she were there with me, because she could have helped fend off Maya. Then again, I would have had to deal with Saki dealing with Maya throwing herself all over me, which would have been equally unenjoyable.
We would up at karaoke, but not before Bryan drank himself sick and had to be taken home by Fumi, who showed up just in the nick of time to do so. Karaoke was fun, but expensive, as we missed our train to go to Shin Matsudo to do it there and had to go to Shidax, the world's most expensive anything. That was fun too. Highlights include losing the ball of my eyebrow piercing to Miki trying to put it back on for me, having to change seats multiple times to avoid Maya actively trying to grab me any time I wasn't actively removing her hands, Jeannine being tired and grumpy, Miki crying, Asami making out some more, and a lot of singing. Went to bed around 7.
Then on Thursday, Bryan and I went to the Hub again to meet Greg and Jeannine for her last night in Japan, where Greg started talking to some random middle-aged Japanese woman sitting next to us, who joined us upon Greg's request, and stayed well after his departure. Amanda Nikki and Sachiyo showed up out of nowhere and they joined us too, and the 6 of us not including Greg and Jeannine but including strange Japanese woman Reiko, made our way to Shin Matsudo via last train to go sing some karaoke. We're pretty sure Reiko is a hostess or a snack bar girl, from the way she acted, and she certainly knew her stuff when it came to that karaoke bar. Our drinks were slow and she was all over them, we got our stuff in record time, and it turned out to be surprisingly cheap, much more so than our New Years excursion, which, for the record, was not the most expensive of all time, but still way up there. Got back home and went to bed around 3.
Yesterday I met up with Saki at Moraju of all places, to help her pick out some glasses. It's fun doing little mundane things with her, it's kind of a hint at what's to come in the future, and it reassures me to know that we do those things well and enjoy them.
Being in Moraju was weird though, and we walked by Nova to find it wasn't there anymore. A wall had been erected where the entrance once was, and when we peeked in from outside through the edges of the pull-down curtains, we discovered that everything, I mean everything had been demolished and removed. The whole place was just empty drywall and spackle. Very odd. Very odd indeed to look at the place where you spent two years of your life working and see absolutely nothing to remind you that it was ever there. Not the first time in history that's ever happened, but still an odd experience nonetheless. Odd for Saki too, as the place where we met, and the whole reason we know each other in the first place no longer exists, not only in the fact that particular Nova isn't there anymore, but that I'm no longer a Nova teacher and she's no longer a student. Kinda makes me glad we met when we did. But, I'm always glad for that, regardless of Nova's plight.
After that we drove back to Kita Kashiwa to drop off her car, and I gave her the choice of going somewhere local, or going to my secret place, which I had picked out but wouldn't tell her, only that it was kinda far. After the great equalizer, rock paper scissors, we decided to go to my secret place. Let me just say this now that the Japanese have RPS down to a science, so much so that they can win or lose games at their leisure. I know for a fact, despite not know how, that she threw that game. I wish I understood it, but I think I'd have to have grown up here to have that kind of skill. It's like jinx I guess, when two people say something at the same time. Or calling shotgun.
So we got on the train and headed into Tokyo to my secret place, which turned out to be the Shinagawa Prince Hotel, where yes, I know, I took Melissa back in the day, but it's such a nice place, and well worth going to again, especially for a nice classy evening with a little fun added in. We went to the aquarium and saw the dolphin show, and the sea lion show, both of which I missed last time, and the Amusing Sunfish was sleeping, which was oddly amusing in and of itself, despite being completely uninteresting. Sleeping fish. Weird. Doesn't help that the dang thing is like the size of a car, and bobbing around upside down in a tank. Also doesn't help that Sunfish are just the weirdest looking things ever.
Anyway, after that we hopped on the roller coaster they have there, and then made our way to the 39th floor for some cocktails and a nice view of Tokyo. We had a great conversation up there, telling stories and going back and forth sharing tidbits of our lives we had previously left out. We discovered, not surprisingly as we get along so well, but surprisingly enough, that we both have what seem to be very interesting pasts, which had given us a great deal of experience in life, yet somehow haven't really jaded us much. I was surprised by how well balanced Saki is, I've always been able to see it, but, the more I get to know her, the more I realize just how little I have to worry about her.
We made our way back, and went to bed back at my place, and lounged around the house all day today before I took her to the station so I could mess around a little bit and relax before having to get up early tomorrow morning to go to a meeting for work in Iidabashi at Interac HQ.
K that's all for now, as if that's not enough. Happy New Year all!
Beginnings and Ends
Wow, things are changing pretty fast.
I finished a lot of things, and a lot of things have begun.
For example, I finished my training with Interac on Friday of last week, and discovered that I will be working mainly in Higashi Jyujyo, which is in Kita-ku, which is kinda near Ikebukuro. Additionally I will be subbing at schools in the Shinagawa school district, so those days I'll be getting up earlier. But, oddly enough, for these first three months, almost if not more than half of my days scheduled I don't have a school, which means I'm on a kind of standby, where I'd have to go in to Iidabashi by 7am (YUCK) in case someone calls in sick, in which case I'd head out to their school for the day. There's extra pay involved in that, regardless of whether I end up going to a school that day or not. Greg seems to think it's because they don't want me getting too attached to a school for April, when he thinks they're going to move me somewhere else, like where he is. Which would be fantastic. We'll see how it goes. I'm very excited for it, and I think it'll be a good step for me.
Thursday of this week was my last day at Nova. I'm officially no longer a Nova, or GComm, or whatever Eikaiwa instructor. My days of booths and level checks and Voice lessons are finally over. My last day was pretty anticlimactic, to be honest, there was nothing really special about it, except at the end of the day, I bowed, said "Otsukaresama deshita" and went home as usual. It's weird thinking that 95% of my friends here are no longer my coworkers, and just friends, and I hope I'll stay in contact with them all. I know from experience how quickly people fall out of social circles once they change jobs, and while I'm not really afraid of it, it would kinda suck not to see the people who have shaped my experience here so much anymore. Then again, it will certainly be nice not to have to deal with the ...'s I've come to know and hate working with, and be associated with via a company of notoriously ill repute.
I drank myself silly with Ty and Dave that night. It was good fun.
I went to a Christmas party at Greg's house on, gasp, Christmas, which was also fun. He got me Megatron, the Transformer, the original 1983 series toy that's 1 year younger than me. I was so stoked when I opened that package. I mention the party for documentation purposes, and to mention that I didn't have enough money to get home when I got to his place. I asked Greg if I could borrow some money, he asked how much? 3? 4? 5? I said 5, thinkin, 5,000 yen would be enough to get my by until my advance from Interac comes through. He hands my 50,000, and I felt a little like weeping. Thank you, Greg.
I had originally planned to use the money I had saved up in my room to get back. See, I've had this massive pile of 1 yen coins since forever, an entire drawer of them in the little jewelry stand I have on top of my bookcase, and I finally took them with me to work to deposit now that I had reached a point of destitution great enough to warrant sorting out change. Empowered by my recently opened postal savings account and the memory from a long while back of an old woman depositing a massive amount of change at my local Post Office one day, I walked in Christmas morning to give myself a little present. And what a little present it turned out to be. 1,516 yen. Which isn't bad considering I had that many 1 yen coins saved up, but not really enough to withdraw and use to get by for a while. So I just let it be.
But I went by the ATM today after I dropped Saki off at the station and checked my account to see if my Interac money had shown up, and lo and behold it had. Double heck ya. So, now I'm basically set financially because this will get me by easily till the 15th when i should get my GComm paycheck, and that combined with everything else, including my massive coinage deposit, should get me by until my first Interac paycheck at the end of February. So, this is the end of the panic regarding my finances and the beginning of, though far from the meat, of financial security, something which might be of sudden and massive importance.
Fun Fun.
I'm two days into training for Interac now, and it's wonderful. I'm having a really nice time, and I haven't been stressed out about it at all. I'm increasingly happy that I'm making this switch in career, especially now that I can see all the people I shortly will have used to work with, and how eager they are to go right back to doing what they were before at Nova. I can already feel the distance I will put between myself and them. Two days. Funny how that works.
An Interview, A Resignation and A Low Blow
Wow, for once I didn't immediately update after some potentially life changing event. Huh. Weird.
Well, anyway, I got the job. I got a call three days later while I was at 'work' at Nova in Kanamachi congratulating me and offering my a job with Interac. I was surprised and delighted to hear from them so soon, and with that answer.
Oh, speaking of 'work', man, that's been a joke and a half. On Tuesday of last week, I went to my mini Voice type thing in Kashiwa at Mos Burger and chatted with the ladies for about an hour and forty five minutes, and raked in a whopping 15,000 yen. $150 for that long? And all I did was sit there and chat? Amazing. Gotta love this country sometimes.
But there was something odd about that morning as well. Even before I went in for my little lucrative chat, I was stopped on the street walking past the rotting corpse of the Nova building, by a Kashiwa student, asking me in what appeared to be a panic, if the Kashiwa branch was open. I had heard that it was scheduled to open the following day (it didn't, it's still closed), so I relayed the information to what appeared to be relief. Great relief. At the chat itself, a lot of the conversation revolved around Nova and the reopening of branches. They were all, each and every one of them, itching to get back into Nova, which had basically screwed them out of a LOT of money.
Also, as they're to find out, they're going to be able to use their tickets, but they have to pay 25% of their value to use them. And they're all gonna do it. Weird. Way to pay to use tickets you've already bought.
Anyway, I got to Kanamachi after I finished up in Kashiwa to find the doors locked and Dara waiting out front. So, when all of us had congregated out front, we decided to go into a coffee shop next door to sign the paperwork. Here's the deal we were given:
1) Start work immediately and go on standby if your assigned branch isn't open yet, receiving 100% of your pay regardless of whether you actually go in. Get paid on the 5th of Dec. and the 5th of Jan. and so on. Option to take a 50,000 yen advance on your December paycheck.
2) Start work on Jan. 10th, and get paid 150,000 yen to be unemployed until that date, due to having far too many teachers for what's actually needed. First actual paycheck Feb. 5th.
I chose option 1. So, of course, the next day Kanamachi opened up and I've been going to 'work' ever since. Why scare quotes, you ask? Because so far it's been a joke. We literally sat around all day doing nothing, nothing nothing nothing, all last week. I mean, sure we cleaned up the office, and made Christmas decorations, and so on, but really, it's been us playing poker in the break room and playing all sorts of creative word games, such as, a personal favorite of mine, "pick a word out of the dictionary, define it, and see who can guess the word first". So, yea, not too bad really.
Today I actually taught a lesson, gasp. Only one though, so not so bad. But it's amazing how quickly one can forget how to properly teach a lesson. Oh well. It comes back just as fast. Really it's just been a lot of stand up comedy, as Nova more or less always has been for me, but there's nothing wrong with that, as long as the students are involved, I rather enjoy it. To be honest, I'm going to miss it now that I'm leaving.
Right now, I'm reveling in the joy that is having just handed in a resignation. I'm sure I've written about this as some point before, but there really is something amazing about the feeling you get knowing that you're a lame duck. Work just gets fun after that, nothing can hurt you. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? I already have another job. If they fire me I just get a vacation before starting up again. Big whoop. I mean, it hurts where it counts, the pocketbook, but it's not gonna happen. Who's going to fire someone who's already quit? So from here on in it's just me having fun at Nova. Biiiiig deal. My resignation was as follows:
As I have been offered a position at another company, I hereby tender this, my resignation. I have greatly enjoyed working here, and I wish you all success in your endeavors. Thank you.
So now, it's just a matter of time. I've got some more paperwork to do for Interac before my training comes up on the 18th, but it's no big deal. Oh, yea, I've got training from the 18th-21st of December. I'm taking unpaid holidays to go, which were instantly approved, cause, well, we're overstaffed, so anyone who wants vacation days gets them by default, Dara just signs the thing, makes an note of it, and it's done. Sweet.
Oh, ya, the interview, forgot about that. The interview itself was pretty much what I expected. The obligatory introductions, the long ass video about why Interac is good and what they do as a company, so on and so forth, yada yada yada. I say that because during this whole time I had to pee like no other, so I wasn't really paying attention. Thankfully, I was not asked to regurgitate any of the information presented.
But, much to my surprise, when they were introducing the recruitment staff, in walks Vinny 'Vincenzo' Birch, a buddy of mine from Nova, who was promoted to AT about 6 months ago. Funny stuff, you shoulda seen the look on his face, or more, probably the look on mine. Priceless stuff, talking to each other as if we're not not only well acquainted but haven't gone drinking and gotten piss ass drunk on a number of occasions.
After a much needed potty break, we got down to actually doing some work, which involved the obligatory grammar/spelling check that weeds out, man, I dunno, mongoloids who somehow managed to make it past the first screening. I never know what that stuff is about. I mean seriously. I hope they give tests like those to relax you, you know, by acing the thing and thinking, "shit, if this is as hard as it gets, I'm golden" so you don't just ham everything else. But, the interesting twist was that the longest quiz I took was the Kiersey Temperament Sorter, something with which, as a psych major, I'm intimately familiar with. Apparently, thanks to an X, I'm either a Rationalist or an Idealist, my choice. Being Japan and all, I'm surprised they didn't just ask our blood type and leave it at that.
After the group part, we took a break before starting on the individual interviews. This is where I get to size up the competition, so to speak. Which, incidentally, is always in my favor, because, well, it just is. I happen to interview well, and other people's A Game is generally contrived to begin with. So as soon as we go on break, is when you get to see what kind of people they all really are, and I was not in the least surprised to discover that most, despite their experience, were either clueless or lacked genuine desire to have the job. Or, I dunno, they just didn't meet my standards. I wouldn't have hired them. Listening to their video lesson presentations from the other side of the dividers didn't do anything to change my impressions.
Lesson 1 I've learned when it comes to other foreigners: Other people's Japanese sucks. Seriously. Wa taaashi wa Bu ra yan dessssss. Oh man, I just can't do it justice. I mean, at least they try, but, shit. I speak better Japanese in my sleep. How these people function in Japan without even the most basic ability to introduce one's self is beyond me. Their lessons weren't that sparkling either. I knew as soon as I heard two or three other people's lessons that I was a shoe-in. I had the job as soon as I walked in, even if I hammed the thing myself.
Now, that's a lot of really cocky talk right there, but really, I think I have the right to talk like that. I've earned it through preparation and time spent making sure I can walk into a place that has no idea who I am and leave knowing they liked what they saw. If you give me 5 minutes on camera to impress a group of total strangers, fine, you got it. I get the feeling these people thought about their presentations as one would a book report, something you prepared for the sole purpose of getting it over with, or at least having something to do at all to fill 5 minutes and get out of there. For me it was just stupid, it's 5 minutes of something I do every day; make an ass out of myself so that other people can enjoy whatever it is I'm talking about. What on Earth is there to be nervous about there? I was more nervous about screwing up my Japanese than I was my lesson. My leg was shaking as I introduced myself, but as soon as some color cards came out of my pocket it was as good as over.
Some day, I hope, secretly, and halfheartedly, to attend an interview where I'm surrounded by people I'm genuinely worried are not only more qualified but better fit to a position I really want than me. Just to see how I react. My record of never having applied for a job I didn't get stands. I guess I'm not applying for the right jobs. Hmm. I'll have to think about that.
Anyway, the presentation went fine, and the interview did too. I interviewed with Denis, who is the Recruitment Manager for Interac, and is basically the 2nd highest person in the foreign side of the whole company. We got along fine, and I closed it with my ever-successful, "when given a chance to ask questions at the end, not only ALWAYS ask questions, but ask personal ones and get them to talk to you as a normal person" strategy. It's amazing what you can get out of a person when you take it to them instead of having them be someone feared by would-be future employees. When they open it up to you and you just fire one at them about if they like the company, and what do they get out of it, and how long they've been around etc etc it shows them so many things if they're thinking about it, like, "hey, this guy isn't intimidated by me" and "wow, he might actually be relaxed enough to care about who I am", but if they're not thinking about it, all the better because all of a sudden they realize they're opening up to this person they've never met and yammering on forever, huh, that's strange, must be something about him.
Anyway, so ya, got that job. Wrote them an email after I got home thanking them for their time, remembering Denis' comment that he loves when he gets a call from people afterwards just to say thanks. Speaking of which I should give him a call tomorrow and do just that, since emails don't really count, ya?
So, here I am, with a month left at what's now my old job, and I start work for Interac not in April, but first thing in January.
The problem is this: I start work in January, which means I can't go home in February as planned. And, the job's in Shinagawa, which is pretty far from where I live now. Which means I'll either be moving, or I'm gonna be getting up at 5:30am or so every day to go to work. Either way, I'm gonna be getting up ass early every day to go to work, since it starts at 8am regardless of where I am. Yuck. So, I've been thinking about moving, and where I would should I.
Actually, the other part of that is, with who. Living by myself would be fine, I'd rather live by myself than with unknown roommates at this point, I'm tired of living with other people I don't know. But, actually, odd as it is, I'm thinking of asking Saki if she wants to move in with me if I move. Ya. I know. I just said that.
But, I'd like to. I would live with her. I've spent a lot of time with her lately, she came over Saturday night after going to a wedding, she was all dolled up and waking up next to her, I could really get used to that. She came over last night for dinner too, and she actually cooked a bit for me for once. Before then I've always cooked for her, so it was nice to see her make something. It was pretty good too, this salad involving green onion, mushrooms, bamboo, boiled chicken, sesame oil and salt.
Anyway, I'd love to live with Saki. It's a strange feeling for me, but I would. Sitting on the couch with her last night, it was perfect, we just watched TV and joked around, but mostly enjoyed just relaxing and being close to each other. She looked so beautiful sitting there with me. It really amazes me.
So yea, might be askin her about that soon. I mentioned in an email when she complained that if I lived in Shinagawa that it would be harder to see each other in our spare time that it would be nice if we lived together, to which she replied that ya, it would. So, I think she's open to the idea. More on that later I guess, as that's a pretty huge thing too.
K, lemme read back over this and see if there's anything I forgot. Nope, ya, I think that covers it. Stay warm out there all, it's freaking cold.
It's All In The Execution
Tomorrow morning is my job interview with Interac. Kind of odd how quickly a month went by. Much faster than the two or three weeks it took them to get back to me in the first place and set up the interview. I went and got my hair cut today to look nice for it, and ran into a bunch of the mall employees I always used to talk to, so that was nice. The people at Brave, where I get my hair cut, were very friendly, and all of them mentioned that my Japanese has improved a lot since they last saw me. I think that's because I actually spoke, and my nods and smiles actually corresponded with tag questions or yes/no ones, instead of open ones which kinda end conversations in their tracks, as I should well know, being an English teacher and experiencing them on a regular basis.
Anyway, I started preparing for my interview a little while back, thinking about what I'm going to do for my little 5 minute video presentation, but when I was reviewing the information they gave me on Saturday I discovered that they want me to bring my diploma with me, something I, as I would assume most people, don't have on them at any given time. It's sitting on my wall in America, in a nice frame, a monument to the shit I had to do to get here. Well, that's not exactly true anymore, it's probably in an envelope speeding its way across the ocean soon to arrive at my door, but that's beside the point. I had my dad scan it and send me a high res copy, which I printed out this evening. Not exactly official, but at least they'll see that one exists, theoretically. I called Greg when I discovered this, and he told me he didn't have his either when he went in for his interview, and that it didn't turn out to be such a problem. But, there will be a few more people at mine, and the circumstances are different, and I'm afraid they're using it as red-tape filtering. Oh well, too late to worry about that now.
So I focused my energy practicing my stuff, and it's come together pretty nicely, basically it's exactly 5 minutes, and could be pretty fun, if all goes well. The rest of the interview I'm not really worried about so much, it's the standard stuff, which I'm pretty good at. Question and answer section, grammar test, informational speech, etc. Not that I'm not thinking about it, but, there's only so much one can prepare for those things, and at least with that part, I've got experience under my belt to help me out.
It was kind of fun, cutting out little flashcards and downloading stuff, and printing stuff out while preparing my presentation. It was I think the first time that the stress turned into something enjoyable. While I was cutting, and printing, and hacking through mistakes, I never felt nervous, I felt excited. My confidence built, and to be honest I'm not worried about it at all right now. That'll probably change tomorrow morning when I go into controlled panic mode, but, at least for now it's good to be this close to something important and not worried that my sitting here writing in my blog is taking away from my preparedness. More on that when I get home tomorrow, I'm sure.
Also, I start work with zombie neo-Nova on Tuesday in Kanamachi. I got the call from Cerie when I was plastered with Greg up in Moriya on Friday. I think I managed to maintain pretty well, but who knows. Oh well. I'm happy that I have something right now, some kind of promise of future pay while I wait around for the government to pick up the rest of my back paychecks. Money's gonna start getting reallllly tight pretty soon here, but for now I'm going to enjoy this time for what it is. Heh, today was the last day of my month long vacation from work.
In other, other news, Saki came over last night and she was just the cutest thing. It's strange, I'm starting to understand a lot more about how the Japanese, and some other Asian cultures, work regarding public vs. private selves. Saki is a very cool, relaxed, chill girl when we're out and about, she's witty, sarcastic at times, etc etc she's great. But then at home, when we're alone, she's different, but still her. She's a lot cuter, she tells me more about her feelings, the real cutesy shit comes out, and I like that too, but what I'm coming to understand is that that's how things work out here. Not that it hasn't been said a million times over, but there really is a public and private reality here.
This is what I think really confuses foreigners, namely Westerners, when they come here and get into relationships with the locals. They meet someone who seems very put together, or fun, or non-possessive, or loves their music, and that's all very well true, for their public persona. But when they become comfortable enough to show their private side, invariable it's things that those foreigners don't like. And then boom, the relationship crashes, and all you hear are stories about how this Japanese chick was cool for a while, and then as soon as things settled or got serious, "they just completely changed overnight into someone I couldn't stand to be around."
Funny that this country breeds people to split their personalities, even though it's ok here because that's what's expected, and thinks that's not going to cause relationship problems. Or maybe, it doesn't so much because the guys here all know it's coming. But that would also explain why old people here are so completely different from young ones, because their personalities have melded again, and they've stopped giving a shit about putting on appearances and just hate gaijin openly, or whatever. It's an interesting system, and I'll have to spend some more time considering the ramifications. See what other questions and observations that clears up.
Kk, time for me to rehearse once or twice more, and then get some good rest so I can just crush my interview tomorrow.
