First day back!

After everything that had happened i decided to take a break from most things on the internet, although i couldn't keep away from facebook as i use that site to update and talk to friends and family.

About a month has pasted since i properly used this site, and a lot has happened since then.

For most of April nothing really happened, except the fact i started my new contract (but not work) and got a nice pay increase. I spent the first couple of weeks living in a hotel spending the days sat at my works office waiting for news about an apartment, my schools etc and then wondering around the city at the weekend (my hotel, which was paid for by my company, was a business hotel which required me to be out of my room during the day)

Eventually it was approved that i could stay with my friend, who lived in teaching accommodation, until my apartment was ready (it was still being built and waiting for supplied, the hold up was due to a shortage of petrol and road damage caused by the earthquake)

Living with my friend was a nice change in pace from the hotel life style, it meant i could relax at home and play on the playstation...Once my contract had started i was also issued a new rental car and also my friend actually started working which meant i had the place to myself during the day.

As time went on though i still felt like i didnt belong, this was just another place that i was living out of my suitcase, surrounded by boxes of my belongings...it was like i was sleeping in a storage room. I still felt trapped and helpless, waiting for something to happen that would give me some normality, or more to the point, some familiarity in all this chaos.

Living in limbo really created a strain and created a lot of stress that i allowed to build up because i didnt want to talk about anything, or admit anything was wrong... instead as each day passed with no real news of anything progressing just made me less tolerant and so the littlest  things would be enough to get me annoyed.

The first major thing to happen was a trip down south...however, before the trip even took place me and my friend almost fell out... to keep the story short, my friend has a habit of assuming way too much, he like to invite people to do things without thinking things through... in this case he had told me it was a postpone trip that we had planned before but had to cancel due to the tsunami (this was nara, osaka and kyoto), he told my other friend we were going to kanazawa and then without even telling us invited a third friend who lived in tokyo and said we spend time in tokyo and kanazawa... 

He also has the tendency to act on impulse - usually you will ask or tell him something - he will only hear one word and match that with what he is thinking or wants to do which is usually the total opposite of what you just said...

so baring these things in mind and the fact my tolerance was quite short at the time...needless to say voices became raised when i got to a point whereby it felt like i was banging my head against a brick wall... you see he had asked me to talk to my friend in nara to see if we could stay, so i did, she said yes...but then he tells me were just going to kanazawa...furthermore, he had assumed they would use my car, which theoretically is for commuting to and from school and local driving only NOT driving to a place 15hours away... Of course when i said my plan is to go to nara and osaka and if we are not going there then i wont be going as these were the places i was interested in - my friends response, they need my car and if dont go the trip is cancelled and that i need to be more accommodating...

accommodating!!! - this is what pushed me over my limited of tolerating the whole last minute planning (which was another problem, something that has been brought up many times - i dont like last minute planning...called it an OCD thing, but i like to go through set procedures, checking  and rechecking)...

I got so pi$$ed off that before going to bed i gave him choices to think on - one of which was to cancel the trip...i also reminded him that other people needed to be more accommodating because it was my car i was taking and it was my neck on the block because i shouldn't be taking my car that far...

The following morning a decision had been reached, it was 2nights in tokyo at our friends house, 1 night just outside kanazawa, 1 night in kanazawa, 2 nights in nara at my friends and then the final night we drive back...

sorted!!! - The trip did actually go quite well... i got to see a little more of tokyo, my friend who loves gardening fell in love with kanazawa and wants to move there, i got to see my friend in nara, the friend i almost fell out with got to see his friend in osaka, i also got an ipad 2 that i bought myself as a birthday present...

My birthday was may 5th, i turned 25... at the start of the trip it was my friends birthday (the one who likes gardening, not the one i almost fell out with) and then my birthday was at the end...

The only thing that annoyed me about my birthday is that a part was arranged for my friend before the trip BUT i didnt get a party... Instead for my birthday we had set off from osaka just before midnight, when the clock changed to 12 my friends said "happy birthday"...the rest of the day was spent driving back...

Half way though we stopped at a service station, i was now the passenger, just as we were leaving the car park someone drives into the back of us... so we spend almost 2 hours exchanging details and talking to the police... i then take over to drive the last 4hours with a dinted car that was brand new and have to explain why i was so far away from home, why i wasnt driving and how the accident happen...

When i got back to my friends apartment there was no card, no presents, no nothing... i tried talking to my mum with a bad connection until i eventually gave up and went to bed...

The Second major thing happened a day after my birthday, which was moving to my new apartment... i had to be up early (which almost killed me cos of all the driving i had done the day before)...i got the keys, signed the papers and became a proud owner of a brand new apartment...

My friend came to meet me so we could go to morioka (2hours away) and get lights etc - i will be using the spare room and sharing the apartment as and when, he works outside of miyako so has decided to keep his teaching apartment on because the rent is so low...

Anyhoo, on the way to morioka he gives me a parcel from my mum which has the cards and a present, and then he gives me a present from him and another friend... This day went much better, even though i was very tired...

(but still not party)

The final major thing happened today...my first day back at work - if you can call it that... I was nervous, excited, tired, apprehensive because this was a new school so i didnt know anyone... I had my introduction ready, with a map of the UK, the english flag, the UK flag, english money and a fun quiz... however when i arrived at the staff room i was left standing at the doorway being stared at until i notice one teacher out of 30 gesturing for me to take the desk next to her (not the warmest of welcomes)

15minutes later she introducers herself in a very quiet voice and turns out to be one of the english teachers (there are 8 of them)...she also tells me all my classes today have been cancelled for 1st year orientation and that i will only have 2 classes tomorrow...

10minutes later another english teacher comes over to me to tell me in 5minutes the principal will introduce me and i am to give a speech in japanese - thankfully i had a back up speech...

its now 1:10pm - ive completed a game on my ipad, checked emails, and wrote this

Already i miss Yamada High School - this school is not very friendly

 

So, now your up to date... i'm still stressed, i miss my old schools very much, i've resulted to talking a lot less which my friend has taken personally (apparently the only way to make him understand is to shout at him - this was due to 2 comments he made...1st "What are you stressed about, you have nothing to make you stressed" (um, try tsunami, earthquake, friends and students dying, no home for over a month, missing family, contract changing etc etc)... 2nd "When you're quiet i think its because of me, it makes me feel like ive done something wrong and i dont like that, it makes me angry...so you better change soon because you dont want to see me angry"

I will leave it to your imagination what i said to him

 

Anyway, talk soon - hopefully when im in a more happier mood

• school
• 1st day
• interac
• alt
• ns
• taching
• trip
• Tokyo
• Japan
• miyako
• TEFL