New life in Tokyo

Feb. 5, 2007

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind. I cannot even begin to write about it. But things have gone from one surprise to another. It started off rather distressing, as I realized that I would not seriously be able to share a room. It might be the Tokyo way, but I am too into having my own space. So after having a heart to heart with my roommate, she decided that she would sublet her apartment and that meant that I had to scramble for housing. The amazing thing is that I sorted out my housing and job situation in two days, while I was struggling with a cold, I might add. I was offered a fulltime job with a large corporation, who ironically specialize in the business of marriages as well as English schools. There is a recurring theme of me being in close proximity to marriage institutions that started in Shizuoka and even here on Omotesando, I am next to some huge marriage facility called Anniversaire and there are marriages going on constantly. Anyways this huge corporation, which I will refer to as Z, is offering me a spot at their Shinjuku branch with good pay and short hours, as well as set curriculum. The next day I am offered a position as music teacher at an exclusive school for children that I will refer to as Zoo. Notice the letter Z connection? Zoo is a small company with two schools and caters to rich kids essentially. The pay is good and comes with 5 weeks paid vacation and national holidays. I really dig this school because the kids can actually speak English and it is fun just hanging out there. What a contrast to my previous teaching job, which was draining and gruesome. I will teach basic music theory and also get paid to develop a music curriculum for the schools. The director is totally into taiko and we have talked about starting a children’s taiko group. Needless to say, I am over the moon. This job is also full time, but won’t start till later in March so I will work for Z corporation in the meantime and phase it out to part time when Zoo starts up. The director at Zoo is very cool (with a California streak to her), very beautiful, and is treating me very well indeed. Upon hearing of my housing dilemma, she said, “Would you like to live in a very large house?” You gotta be kidding me, but no. She was totally serious and now all my problems have been solved and I feel like Cinderella. Not only is the house awesome and the rent cheap, she is taking me shopping so that we can furnish the house with essentials. I love shopping with her! She whips out the credit card and suddenly the entire kitchen is furnished.