Hard Gay and Tough Decisions

[blacklilly]

In my previous post I put up a clip of Yoshio Kojima, whose morning workout is having absolutely no effect, save for improving my ability to stomp and amuse small children. When we go canvassing for new students in Ina, however, we rely on the Hard Gay technique:

So the news I posted about on Sunday, or whenever, is that I will be going to Cairns, Australia next week for a training trip. This is the end of the six month Big Jump training and for some unknown reason I was selected to go on it (clearly this has nothing to do with business results). I have to give a presentation on teaching vocabulary, which was mightily interesting in the researching, so I hope it goes well. I am sugoiexcited about going, but held off telling anyone until I got my new passport and had all my visa-stuff sorted out, which I did on Monday. Six hours on a train with a low fever is not fun. It's only a short trip though - we fly out on Sunday and back on Wednesday, but it will be my first time in Australia!

In other job news, I've been offered a transfer to Yokohama. The school is huge - twice the size of Ina, and very busy, with loads of staff. I was talking yesterday to the Area Leader there, well aware that he could persuade me that a hot poker up the bum is just what I needed. So I've got to think think think. It would be the total opposite of everything in Ina (they have carpet for one thing).
[Unknown site tag]
I'm starting to settle-in in Ina, but here is the main problem. I like Ina, I like the local people I've met, and it's near the mountains so I can go break my arm in the forthcoming winter when I go snowboarding again. But, it's isolated and the school gets me down sometimes. My ridiculous schedule, the plague of spiders, the lack of a manager, and any notion that anyone remembers we're here. There's no cinema, which used to really annoy me until I found Tsutaya and got re-addicted to the X-Files.

I like the fact that everyone knows me here - yes, I revel in my Gaijin fame - so the anonymity in Yokohama would be something to adapt to, but that was what I enjoyed when I was in London. There are also tonnes of Gaijin, which has its pros and cons. I have liked being away from other English speakers here, but have recently found a group of ALTs in the area, which spices things up a bit.

In Yokhama there will be bookshops, where I can indulge my reignited poetry craving (yeah, yeah, I know it's on the internet but I hate reading from computer screens). There will be Japanese schools, and there will be people my age! But, it means moving all my stuff, reclocating to a new City (much as it pretends to be, Ina isn't a city), making new friends (but meeting up with old ones), and getting used to new students. I will also have big shoes to fill, though I hope that's why I was asked to replace him. Being told you're a great teacher (as I was yesterday) for me is hard to take. I enjoy the flattery but I can't help distrusting it.

Ramble ramble ramble. Any thoughts you have would be appreciated.

Comments

[ex-skh293.livejournal.com]

I think you've spent long enough in Ina. It seems you gain as much as you lose moving to Yokohama, and career-wise moving around a bit will look better in the long run. It's easy to sit in the relative comfort of familiar surroundings and people knowing that you'll sail through okay, but going head-first into the challenge of a new city, a different crowd and trying to make your mark is what will define you in years to come.

Don't return from Australia without a good supply of Vegemite to get you through your move. ;-)

[kittygoth.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks for the advice. And will indeed hunt down the vegemite. Yum.