move to sapporo

Have ordered a set of scrabble to be delivered to K next week! In the meantime I guess I’ll be giving up on this goal, since I’m not moving to Sapporo itself after all, but K’s town.
Can’t believe I have only four days left in my current town. It really is so beautiful, and I have had so many experiences which have built and altered me as a person. I have changed so much, and so much for the better, over the past two years, but now it is time to take those changes with me, and move onwards!

Quite a few jobs in the pipeline, so hopefully one will come through. HOWEVER I’ve had a good hard think about things, mainly about why I want to stay another year in Japan when it would be so much easier to go home now! If I’m honest it’s because I know that when I get back to the UK it’ll be time to start doing career things seriously, and the book will be put on hold indefinitely, or continue to be written in dribs and drabs for the rest of my life. Somehow, I know that I have to get it done here, or not at all.
I spoke to K about it, and he has agreed that I can live stay with him while I redraft it.
One of the jobs would only be on Weds and Thursday, which would be perfect: go into Sapporo those days, write full time the rest of the week. So if I can get that job (which they basically said I could have) then all would be well.
Other than the terror of living together staying at a man’s house on a full-time basis, obviously.
Any tips for co-habitation?

Have just scheduled one for Saturday the 19th. I hate making phone calls in Japanese, but I like to think it makes a better impression in terms of pro-activeyness and blasting them with keigo in a real time conversation. Plus, it’s never actually as scary as I think it’s going to be. This time the lady was lovely, and was hugely apologetic about the fact that I was coming all the way to Sapporo for an interview. I had to placate her with the (lie) that I had other business in Sapporo to attend to as well.

A man e-mailed me last week about my interview availability but hasn’t got back to me since, which is annoying. I sent him a polite heckle this morning asking him to confirm whether an interview was still a possibility – just seems odd that he’d contact me at all if he wasn’t interested.

Also applied for another (less than ideal) job yesterday so hopefully something will come of that, if only so that I can have the satisfaction of turning them down.

My current employers have written me a fantabulous letter of recommendation, explicitly stating that I’m the best ALT they’ve ever worked with (I bet they say that to all the girls..), so I spent an uncomfortable afternoon yesterday translating that into English. Had to keep resisting the tendency to water it down out of humbleness!

Possibilities, possibilities.

need to find a job! But at least I dropped off a suitcase of stuff at K’s, so I feel like I’ve got the ball rolling one way or another. Jobs jobs jobs, somebody give me a job!!

A week or so ago I applied to a smaller ALT company who I know from friends employ people in Sapporo—turns out that not only are they owned by a much bigger ALT company, but the application process for some reason goes through that bigger company. I was a bit annoyed when I realised this, because the bigger company is much more centralised and doesn’t let you choose your own placement location, PLUS they don’t have interviews on Hokkaido, PLUS (crucially) I had already happened to meet its executive director who had said there weren’t really any positions in Hokkaido, never mind Sapporo. But I went ahead and filled out the second application form anyway, thinking it couldn’t hurt.
A lady rang on Friday and gave me a quick phone interview; I decided to be brutally honest in spite of their “you can’t choose where you’re placed” policy, and say that I only wanted to work in Hokkaido and would not even consider relocating to Honshuu. Then, in a flash of inspiration I fished out the big cheese’s business card and explained that I had had an informal meeting with him, that he had told me positions in Hokkaido were scarce at best, and that was why I had applied to the smaller company and not to the bigger company she was now interviewing me for.
Immediately her whole demeanor changed, from interviewer to someonewho just wanted to help out an old friend. She said she would forward my details to various “branches” in Hokkaido and ask them if they had any positions, and if not to keep my details on file on case one comes up. She would also see if she could arrange an interview on Hokkaido for me, and would get back to me when she had more info.
Sure enough, turns out there’s a position in Hokkaido starting from September….the trouble is I have no idea yet WHERE in Hokkaido, and Hokkaido is a jolly big place. She has sent on my details and asked them to get in touch ASAP, so I guess I’ll have to wait and see what happens.
Hmmm mmm mmmmm.

one: (preferably part-time) job
two: accommodation.

Two should be easy once I have one in the bag to act as a guarantor for my lame gaijin presence.

Must do by end of week:

+brief cover letter ready in Japanese just in case
+posh passport photos
+Japanese version of CV (GAH!) just in case