Sorry my site has been down for a while - it was actually not down, it was just that I inadvertently replaced the index file and didn't realize. Well it's back up now, with a splendid new title page.
So here's a brief update on what's been happening since I got back from Scotland.
The weather here has been hot and wet. As you can see, it's been up in
the thirties, but before you get jealous remember that this is
accompanied by uncomfortable sauna-like humidity; you could let go of
your bladder and not notice the difference, waddling as you are in genital soup most of the time. Either that or it's hammering down
with rain, and humid. Right now I'm sitting with the window
open and it's pissing down and the sky is heaving with thunder
and
lightening. I don't mind this kind of weather at all.
Ai and I went to Disneyland and Disney sea again. I'll spare you the photos
As for job hunt progress - I'm primarily getting responses from
companies who set me up with private students, which is fine, but it's
not where the money is and the problem is that once I get a good paying
company/school job I will have to shuffle my privates around, so to
speak. I'm currently looking at Berlitz as they are a reputable,
global company with a history and good anecdotal reports on the internet.
Failing that there are jobs coming up in August with a government
organisation - EIS. It would mean travelling around Tokyo a bit and
going to different offices but I wouldn't mind that if they pay my
travel.
I'm also looking for a new flat. As soon as I get a new job I'll move
into a flat by myself. My apartment is getting a little bit smellier
and dirtier every day. The other day I came home to be greeted at the
front door by the thick stench of dead flesh. I holed up in my room to
deal with it in the morning. The source was half a kilo of raw mince
that somebody had just lobbed into the bin with no covering. It was
black and festering. The cockroach population is rising too. One
cockroach means a hundred, at least that's what they say here.
So I'm looking for a job and changing apartments. That's two out of the top three most stressful things a human being can do.
After claiming to have lost my bag for good, I got a call from the cretins at JAL (who were saddled with BA's mistake, see previous post) to say that my bag has been found. It returned in good shape with some strange tags attached to it, and nothing inside appears to be broken or damaged. After six days, I could finally change my underpants.
I heard about the firebombing of Glasgow airport and I'm sure I reflect the sentiments of Scottish people everywhere by saying "Glasgow !?". It appears that The Terrorists have got more in store that they bargained for if John Smeaton, the Glasgow airport baggage handling hero, has anything to do with it. I'm sure it's been all over British T.V., and I was told about it when a Scot answered the phone of a school I was arranging an interview with. If you haven't seen his infamous "We'll set about ye!" interview with the BBC then take a butchers.
The job hunt is going pretty well - it's easier than I thought to find teaching jobs here. I've applied for GABA and have an interview on Wednesday, I have a possible Saturday gig at a private language school, and I'm set up with an organization that arranges private students. It's been a long holiday, with Suzie coming over, Malaysia, Scotland, Amterdam, France and Disneyland. Oh yeah, we went to Disneyland again for our one year anniversary (the actual day of the anniversary was spent in the confines of the Heathrow-Tokyo flight). But now it's back to work, and the hope that I haven't completely forgotten how to teach.
