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Published: December 21st 2013
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Hello again to you all,
I'm indeed glad I had a delightful sojourn to Melbourne.
A number of things have occurred since then and the change of life, time with Jacinta without more to do than commute to the opera was blissful and gave me a break before the next adventure!
So what has happened.
Firstly the bad news: its about my dad Rex who lives in Maroochydore. You may recall I went up to see him in late October and followed the ambulance to the hospital where he had a procedure to drain his lungs of fluid. Well my brother Andrew came over from the States and continued the hospital visits and ensured he was returned quickly (at his request) back to his room in the nursing home. Andy came back for his birthday just last week. He sent photos that show how frail and thin Rex is. The long and the short of it is that Rex is on palliative care. He has either not recovered from the pneumonia or has got resultant dementia and is often not lucid, is quite uncomfortable and often drugged to relieve pain and not eating very much at all.
When he is lucid he is good but that is not a large percentage of time. No one knows how long he will be in our world. I hope for his sake that it is not too much longer. He has told me and my brothers aunts and uncles that he is ready to die and not at all frightened of it.
I have temporarily changed careers.; for this adventure it feels like a change. I am now a one-to-one instructor in an English language training provider located across the road from Tokyo train station. I work 4 days a week, mostly at night. I had to undergo 5 days of unpaid training to learn the 'style' of training my company provides, including 3 days that were over 10 hours with a commute on top! I felt like I was walking in cotton wool for the first few days but have got the hang of it at present. Always room for improvement but that will come with experience. The most interesting component of my new role is meeting the learners. Their lives are so different from most people I have worked with because they are business men and women
whose jobs are located in the Tokyo CBD. I've met systems engineers, accountants auditors and research scientists, all of them needing to use English for work. They are earnest, diligent and love to talk about things they are passionate about in English. So while being paid a pittance but maintaining a visa, I get insights into parts of Japan that I would not otherwise gain entry to. My coworkers (30 instructors each day at our school) come from all over the world and consist of men and women who are natural English speakers. There are a few Australians, Chinese, Indian, Dutch German, Trinidadian South African Polish Lithuanian and North American instructors. So I hear all sorts of English spoken. I fear for the learners who want one correct answer because we speak spell and write with minor differences and as they move from one to another instructor, they won't get one correct response. Our school is more into just communicate rather than worry about finer points of grammar but I have come across a couple of " but which English is correct". I had to stop myself saying that in 15 years time Chinese English mayb be the most modern
and populist English!
I live in a small apartment in the ward of Chiyoda called Kanda. It is a 20 minute walk to work or a 10 minute ride. Chiyoda is the area in the centre of Tokyo that is bounded the outer moat of the Imperial Palace. Its a mix of large office blocks, large apartment buildings, small alleyways with older style buildings, many restaurants, bars music venues and clubs. Just up the road is the electronics and manga capital of Tokyo Akihabara and next to it the antique books area of Awajicho. The good thing about the apartment is that it is almost sound proof so I rarely hear my neighbours or the street noise. I'm on the 8th floor and although natural light comes in through 2 windows and a door, I need the light on to read or write. A3 comparison: I have 24sq m of space in my apartment and room to park my bike downstairs. The rent here is equivalent to the rent on our home in Mile End - 3 bedrooms carport and front and back yard. I'm getting used to compact.The photos are from my front and back balconies.
I
had a shock yesterday morning as I woke up around 1 am and felt like I was slipping off my bed and was hot - are rarity because it has been so cold and close to snowing. Then I felt like the whole apartment was buckling but the walls remained square and upright but I could feel and see the walls swaying markedly. I was just about to panic when it was over. I didn't hear any noise at all. Not even the cutlery rattling! It wasn't a bad dream but an earthquake. Japan being so organised had registered it as level 3 on the Bureau of Meteorolgy website 10 miutes after it struck. I was amazed that the electricity stayed on and except for the major swaying of the building all remained as normal. Later I did some research and it appears that all the time i have been here there have been similar quakes each day. Work says that we only need evacuate if the shock is over a level 6. In the last 3 years that has not happened. (This is the length of time my manager has been at our office). So there are new things
to get used to on this adventure.
I am lucky that there is a huge primary school a couple of alleyways west. It has a swimming pool open to the pubiic each night and on weekends. It is only up to my hip but it is warm in the cold bitter winter and very convenient. It took me a while to understand that between 10 to and the hour, the pool is closed to users who must 'rest' while the staff check the safety of the pool. They swim around and make sure the floor is ok and nothing sharp is in the pool. You have to wear a cap and no jewelry is allowed so how something unsafe could occur is beyond my ken. However, I am happy to be safe.
I haven't done more exploring than the Imperial palace gardens and my neighbourhood yet. Its taken all my time to get settled and into new routine. I'm delighted that my lifestyle coordinator will arrive in a few days and will assist with the shoebox chores and organise outings. I have a beak when she arrives so hope to go see the Tokyo illuminations rather than teach
English at night.
I don't feel at all Christmassy although the store fronts here a surrounded with red and green and tinsel. New Year is a celebrated here and is a very family oriented time. There is special food and flowers and decorations so I expect they will replace the Christmas ones soon. For those of you who enjoy Christmas - go for it. Lets all have a great end to 2013 and a fantastic 2014.
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