Hustlin'

So I have a job, in theory, but the salary hasn't been worked out yet. They gave me a lower offer than I had expected, and I really do need the money, so...we need to figure that out. They want me to start on June 2nd, so I'm guessing it will work itself out somehow by then. In the meantime, I've decided that I need to try to work-if for no other reason than to get me out of the house. I don't really want to do it, but I'm putting myself back in the English conversation game.

There is a website where you can register and put up your details, and then potential students can contact you. Usually you meet at a coffee shop somewhere, talk for an hour or so, then go our separate ways. Kind of like a date, except that money changes hands at the end (well...I guess some dates are like that ;) ) If things go well, then you usually meet once a week and continue to study English. I've done it before, and it really depends on the person. If you have a energetic person who can actually speak English, it can be quite fun. Other times it can be like pulling teeth.

"So, what did you do yesterday?"

"Uhh.....yesterday?"

"Yes, what did you do yesterday?"

"uhh....I....walk......dog"

This continues for an hour.

So anyway, I registered at this site yesterday, but it turns out there are roughly 5000 freelance teachers registered on this site in the Tokyo area! Goddamnit. So I tried to make my profile as attractive as possible, in order to attract as many potential students as possible. I have to sell myself, after all. I have my snazzy profile picture up, favorite color, interests, that kinda thing. For favorite movie I put Fight Club, which I think might attract some Brad Pitt fans, but I should probably change that to something a little more accessible to everyone.

In short, it's just like signing up for an online dating service. Here's hoping I can get some good "dates" out of it.

honeymoon wrap-up

So I'm back in Japan after spending 2 weeks in the states. Still not over jet-lag, which is bad since I have a lot of writing to do (in Japanese) for an interview Friday. More on that in a later post. Honeymoon was a lot of fun, but very tiring. In particular, I got really tired of eating out for every meal. Also, I really missed eating Japanese food. Shoko and I ate udon at the airport when we got back to Tokyo and it was soooooo good.

So the first leg of our journey was to New York. On the first day Shoko was digging New York, talking about how she could see us living here in the future. Heh...by the end of the week she was saying "I don't think I need to come back to New York ever again". New York is basically like Tokyo, except much dirtier. Someday I'm going to go back to New York and take a bunch of pictures of dirt/trash/filth, and then I'll take pictures of clean Tokyo streets...and I'll have an exhibition where the photos are divided into Tokyo and New York, with titles for each. The title for the Tokyo section will be "Tokyo: Winning the War on Chaos", while the New York side will be "New York: Losing the War on Chaos". We compared Tokyo and New York throughout the week, with Tokyo winning (in our minds, anyway) most of the contests-like public transportation, cleanliness, safety, etc. Though I think New York wins when it comes to food-mainly because it is cheaper than in Tokyo. I think though that our perception of New York was skewed by the fact that we were staying in Times Square, which....sucked. Way too many tourists. I much preferred just wandering around the East Village.

Highlights from New York include going to a Yankees game (vs. the Mariners)---



We also caught the Lion King on Broadway, which was fantastic, and saw my friend's sister as she and her classmates gave their final presentations for a class at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Ah, student films...it was very cool though.

After a week in New York we flew to DC. We were "randomly selected for additional screening" at LaGuardia. It was ok because we had plenty of time and the TSA people weren't rude or anything. Still...it was annoyinig. We got to DC and went to some Smithsonians, and also to the Spy Museum, which was great. After a few days there we went to Baltimore to attend the wedding of a friend of mine from middle/high school. Here's the four of us at the wedding:



So after the wedding we went to Reagan National to fly to Chicago as there is no direct flight to Tokyo from DC. Again we were "randomly selected for additional screening". Grr...so we went to their special screening area, and there was a group of middle eastern-looking gentlemen also being screened. Big shocker...they actually let us go first, while they lectured the other people about what was going to happen.
I was not particularly proud to be an American citizen at that particular moment. So I was talking to the TSA guy, and he said that if you change your flight you will get flagged. Both times we had reservations for a later flight but ended up taking an earlier flight. So that explains that, I suppose.

So now we're back, and it's definitely good to be home. 2 weeks in a foreign country (ha) is a long time. Next up: work!