here goes nothing...

so i spent my last evening at home trying to watch all of down with love, even though i knew i had to wake up at 5:30am to leave for the airport. it actually seems to be a pattern of mine, trying to get in as much "movie" as i can before leaving the country. i did it before going abroad for a semester (great expectations), and before traveling in france and italy (rising sun). on this particular night i was unsuccessful. i fell asleep on the couch in the middle of the movie and dragged myself up to my bed at 3am.

the next morning after tearful goodbyes to my family i boarded my flight, first to detroit, then on to osaka. i had a two seat row all to myself, and hoped to get some sleep during the "night" portion of the flight. but until then i slipped off my shoes and cozied in for some in-flight entertainment. i was very excited to see that one of the movie options was down with love! i also got to see the italian job. so after 2 movies and a decent dinner (by airplane food standards) it really hit me. 14 hours is a very.... long..... flight.....

i was able to doze a little after dinner, since i had hardly slept the night before. i read some of my japan guide, all about the kagawa region where i would be living, some history, some culture. i flipped through my japanese phrasebook trying to imagine which phrases i might need upon arrival. for a while i chatted with a few guys around me, all on their way to teach at nova as well, one downing sake like it was going out of style. i dozed some more. eventually we arrived in japan.


osaka, japan
the other new nova teachers and i managed to find our luggage, navigate customs, and locate a man holding a nova sign. he led us to the end of the terminal where there were more future teachers hanging about looking tired and a little lost. our names were checked off a list as we left our bags to be delivered to our respective apartments within 2 days. for another hour or so i sat on the floor looking over all the papers and booklets i had been given. finally we were shuttled onto a bus and brought to our hotel in dotonburi.

after dropping my remaining bag on the floor of my room and sitting on the bed for a while i went back down to the lobby to use the internet. i sent a slightly frazzled e-mail to my parents and set out into the night to find something to appease my grumbling tummy.

continued next week...

the other side of the planet

my great france and italy trip in the spring of 2003 came after a 5 month contract that was leading nowhere. i decided that since i had nothing holding me back - no rent/mortgage, no car payment, no full time job - it was the ideal time to make the trip. and it most definitely was. however. i never imagined my job search post-france-and-italy would be 3 times harder than the pre-france-and-italy one.

naturally i took it easy after arriving home. i watched soaps, sat in the sun with the dog, and cooked. but after a couple of months i started to run out of money. and i started to think about finding work. plus after not really doing anything or having any museums or historical sites to see, i was getting bored.

my father knew someone at his company who was looking to hire some junior level database admins, people to be trained to take over for the experienced dba's when they moved on to bigger and better things. so with my computer science background, some basic database experience, and an inside connection i managed to get a phone interview.

and then i waited. and waited. for this manager to call me back. my father's contact said i was a good candidate and would almost certainly get the job. but still i waited. and nothing. i started thinking about moving to hawaii, living in a small shack on the beach, and working at some technology company. i often have this fantasy when i read a trip to the stars, by nicholas christopher, which i have done 5 times. i even applied for a job in hawaii, though never really expected anything to come of it.

"i just feel like something else is in store for me, that this is not how things are supposed to be for me. i'm craving something else. something different and new and exciting. something else..."

disappointed, i started contemplating other careers. i started thinking about getting back into dancing, maybe auditioning for disney in the fall. i thought it would be fun to be a travel agent (my nana already thought i was hers), i could study to do that and talk about travel all day. i started looking at some crappy jobs, just to get some cash. i applied for an answering service job, and even starbucks. but i never heard back from anyone.

then i finally got a call from a headhunter, he had this junior web developer job. only a 6 month contract, but i thought as long as i don't go to europe at the end of the contract i should be in good shape. i was excited, but again i was left without a response, positive or negative...

until one day in august i saw a posting on monster.com for english teachers in japan. how it ended up in my technology keyword job search, i will never know. but as i read the job description i became more and more animated. they wanted to know if i had a passport, had i traveled internationally before (why, yes...), did i have any teaching or tutoring experience (well, sort of...). the more i read, the more i felt this was the perfect job for me. i applied right then and there.

things moved quickly after that. i received a letter saying my profile was a match for what they were looking for. i was asked to come down to boston for an "informational interview". and then i was offered the job. i had a job. I HAD A JOB! on the other side of the planet, but a job no less.

i discovered the joy that is temping, allowing me to work menial jobs that i could leave at any time. i managed to save up enough money to cover my flight. i started planning and packing and preparing. i was alternately thrilled and terrified by what lay ahead of me. and by the end of october i was making my final preparations for the adventure of a lifetime...

next time, the journey.

it's not me, it's you

this postcard is from my final days in italy. i was spending a few days in napoli before going to sorrento. if i had this trip to take again i would skip napoli altogether and head straight for sorrento. it was, in general, a sketchy kind of place with absolutely insane drivers - the worst in italy, without a doubt, and not a whole lot to do or see. in fact this postcard, which i sent from napoli, is actually of the island of ischia, off the coast.

11 april 2003
"can't wait to be around people i care about! the man at the desk says i'm so quiet for an american, when really i just don't want to talk to him..."

i found this to be a funny comment - those of you who know me well will attest to the fact that i can, when the situation merits, be chatty to a fault. but when it comes to people i don't like or who annoy me i find the best way to deal with them is to actively not engage them in conversation.

so needless to say after spending the day walking around a city i was not enjoying (i believe it was also raining) i was *not* in the mood to make small talk with a man who spent more time on his hair than i do and who thought he was god's gift to women. (and he was short).

i wrote about another little incident with this same desk guy (receptionist seems to be the wrong word) in my personal journal:

"also a little sketchy is the man at the desk this morning in the hostel. he gave me creepy eyes when i brought out my breakfast tray. and when he said something i didn't hear, he stepped closer and said it quieter. do not like him."

the above picture is what i thought was the best part of napoli - my bed (even though it was part of a four bed area, from wall to wall, with about a foot of space between it and its neighbor), my book, and my chili-chocolate bar

so that's the end of my france and italy extras. my next post, and the ones following it, will start to talk about going to japan and the experiences i had there.