Oh the weather outside is frightful...
Hey guys!! I know it's been forever since I updated, but I kinda wanted to wait til I actually had worthwhile stuff to update about, so here I am :)
It's almost the end of January--hard to believe it! It's almost been 6 full months--a half a YEAR--since I moved to Japan, and I'm pretty comfortable in how used I've gotten to life here. Things that scared the pants off me at first--ordering in Japanese, trying to get somewhere by train by myself--no longer are that big a deal to me, and I find myself adopting much the same personal lifestyle here as back in the states (read: my apartment's a wreck and I spend too much money XD).
For an update, I went back to America for 2 weeks over Christmas/New Year's and had an awesome time--though I ate out far too much and probably gained back any and all weight I might have lost, whoops :) I got back to Japan on Sunday Jan 6th and had to start back at work bright and early the very next day, fuuuuun :P But I'm back in the swing of things now, more or less.
I already updated some of you on this, but shortly after I got back, I began my new job search in earnest. For those of us joining us now, I'm not going to be recontracting with JET another year. I love the job, especially all these days off (that are almost gone XD), but I just can't live this far from Tokyo being as into Japanese musicals and theatre as I am right now--it's too expensive, and wears too much on me going back and forth. It'd be different if I lived in Yamanashi or Kanagawa or Chiba or something and was only a short, INEXPENSIVE train ride away--I'd WANT to live in Tokyo, but there'd be no financial or time-burden on me to do so--but I live a 2-and-a-half-hour VERY expensive train ride away, and there's no sense in staying that way. And since I don't plan on stopping my love for musicals and theatre, it's gotta be the job that changes :)
With that in mind, I've been searching many online forums and Japanese job websites, and have hit upon a few that look very promising, so I hope they get back to me. One actually did--a representative from East West Consulting. They asked me to come in for an interview, and since I was in Tokyo last weekend, I did so.
I wasn't sure exactly what the job would entail, but I went with a positive attitude--it looked to be a very good job, making twice as much as I am right now and right in the middle of Tokyo no less. The offices were nice, and everyone very friendly. I thought I did very well in the interview--the only problem after it, though, was I didn't like the job :P
The company basically acted as a middle-man between Japan-based offices for foreign companies (big corporations) and Japanese employees. The comapanies wanted Japanese employees, but needed someone to convince them to come work for them, essentially. My job would be to cold-call Japanese companies, and convince whoever I was assigned to that they needed to meet with me for a conference, and at that meeting convince them to come work for another company.
And all that, in Japanese.
I could probably do the face-to-face meeting in Japanese, given enough prep-time and practice. And I could do cold-calling in English if I had to (and if the price was right). But both? And in Japanese? Oh heeeeellllll no. First of all--the level of Japanese they required was FAR below what would be needed to actually pull this sort of thing off--there are all sorts of levels of politeness that I'm not comfortable using like a native speaker, and it just would not be a pleasant experience on ANYONE'S part.
I didn't turn them down right away, but they said to keep in touch, since I couldn't come in until August--suffice to say, I PROBABLY won't be calling on them if I can help it :P
Other than that, though, I had an AWESOME weekend in Tokyo--I went to one of *pnish*'s (the theatre group I follow very closely) events and got to see Japanese friends there I hadn't seen in a month or more, so very exciting. Meg brought her boyfriend James, who was visiting from America, to one of the shows, and he had a great time too XD
It's been reeeeaaaally cold here lately, but I love it--because we're finally getting that lovely weather phenomenon I've not had the pleasure of being exposed to much: SNOW!!!
This was the view outside the teacher's office at one of my school's yesterday afternoon--all that white isn't fog, it's snow coming down so hard and fast it's a white-out :)
This was the view outside my apartment this morning--that yellow towel on the left is one I put out to dry XD;;; Whoops. It's a little hard to tell, but the snow's still falling.
This is a video I took from inside my apartment, too, so you can see the snow falling. I talk a little in it, so turn up your speakers to hear moi :D
And finally, this is a video I took while one of my English teachers drove me to school (it's dangerous to ride your bike in the snow).
It's SO pretty!! I love walking outside and just getting covered in these fluffy white flakes--though it does make getting around a real pain :P
It's almost the end of January--hard to believe it! It's almost been 6 full months--a half a YEAR--since I moved to Japan, and I'm pretty comfortable in how used I've gotten to life here. Things that scared the pants off me at first--ordering in Japanese, trying to get somewhere by train by myself--no longer are that big a deal to me, and I find myself adopting much the same personal lifestyle here as back in the states (read: my apartment's a wreck and I spend too much money XD).
For an update, I went back to America for 2 weeks over Christmas/New Year's and had an awesome time--though I ate out far too much and probably gained back any and all weight I might have lost, whoops :) I got back to Japan on Sunday Jan 6th and had to start back at work bright and early the very next day, fuuuuun :P But I'm back in the swing of things now, more or less.
I already updated some of you on this, but shortly after I got back, I began my new job search in earnest. For those of us joining us now, I'm not going to be recontracting with JET another year. I love the job, especially all these days off (that are almost gone XD), but I just can't live this far from Tokyo being as into Japanese musicals and theatre as I am right now--it's too expensive, and wears too much on me going back and forth. It'd be different if I lived in Yamanashi or Kanagawa or Chiba or something and was only a short, INEXPENSIVE train ride away--I'd WANT to live in Tokyo, but there'd be no financial or time-burden on me to do so--but I live a 2-and-a-half-hour VERY expensive train ride away, and there's no sense in staying that way. And since I don't plan on stopping my love for musicals and theatre, it's gotta be the job that changes :)
With that in mind, I've been searching many online forums and Japanese job websites, and have hit upon a few that look very promising, so I hope they get back to me. One actually did--a representative from East West Consulting. They asked me to come in for an interview, and since I was in Tokyo last weekend, I did so.
I wasn't sure exactly what the job would entail, but I went with a positive attitude--it looked to be a very good job, making twice as much as I am right now and right in the middle of Tokyo no less. The offices were nice, and everyone very friendly. I thought I did very well in the interview--the only problem after it, though, was I didn't like the job :P
The company basically acted as a middle-man between Japan-based offices for foreign companies (big corporations) and Japanese employees. The comapanies wanted Japanese employees, but needed someone to convince them to come work for them, essentially. My job would be to cold-call Japanese companies, and convince whoever I was assigned to that they needed to meet with me for a conference, and at that meeting convince them to come work for another company.
And all that, in Japanese.
I could probably do the face-to-face meeting in Japanese, given enough prep-time and practice. And I could do cold-calling in English if I had to (and if the price was right). But both? And in Japanese? Oh heeeeellllll no. First of all--the level of Japanese they required was FAR below what would be needed to actually pull this sort of thing off--there are all sorts of levels of politeness that I'm not comfortable using like a native speaker, and it just would not be a pleasant experience on ANYONE'S part.
I didn't turn them down right away, but they said to keep in touch, since I couldn't come in until August--suffice to say, I PROBABLY won't be calling on them if I can help it :P
Other than that, though, I had an AWESOME weekend in Tokyo--I went to one of *pnish*'s (the theatre group I follow very closely) events and got to see Japanese friends there I hadn't seen in a month or more, so very exciting. Meg brought her boyfriend James, who was visiting from America, to one of the shows, and he had a great time too XD
It's been reeeeaaaally cold here lately, but I love it--because we're finally getting that lovely weather phenomenon I've not had the pleasure of being exposed to much: SNOW!!!
This was the view outside the teacher's office at one of my school's yesterday afternoon--all that white isn't fog, it's snow coming down so hard and fast it's a white-out :)
This was the view outside my apartment this morning--that yellow towel on the left is one I put out to dry XD;;; Whoops. It's a little hard to tell, but the snow's still falling.
This is a video I took from inside my apartment, too, so you can see the snow falling. I talk a little in it, so turn up your speakers to hear moi :D
And finally, this is a video I took while one of my English teachers drove me to school (it's dangerous to ride your bike in the snow).
It's SO pretty!! I love walking outside and just getting covered in these fluffy white flakes--though it does make getting around a real pain :P