my job

Here are my responses to questions asked related to new recruitment in replacement of my position. I thought it might be a good idea to post them as it's almost time to conclude: (two more months, fingers crossed)

1) In addition to a pretty busy eikaiwa schedule, I go to a kindergarten (in town) on Weds (10:30-12:00), and used to go to an elementary school (next town) every Thurs (10:30-12:30) but gave it to another teacher when he came on board.

2) My apartment is quite new. I'm guessing 5 years. It includes a living\bed room, a kitchen, a toilet, and a bathroom. Size-wise it's OK for Japan. It's certainly bigger than my last place near my station. Amenities and furniture are all available in alright condition as far as the school apartment check-list is concerned.

3) My neighborhood is also pretty new, in fact all the houses here are no more than 10 years old. My pad is more or less like a mini-townhouse. I got a parking space in front and a small garden to look at, as well as a tiny alleyway for a backyard. The area is a quiet and safe. To some people it might be a little too quiet. Not much traffic at all since it's tucked away from the "main" street. It takes 10 minutes to drive to the city center, if it could be considered one.

4) There are some 10 English-speaking foreigners from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and England. So I'll go ahead and say it's not exactly the easiest place to make friends if those are the only options. I haven't been hanging out much with fellow gaijin because I'd done a lot of that first two years in Japan. But I'm able to make great friends with the locals. For someone who doesn't speak Japanese or a first-time "Japaner", I imagine it would be quite tough. A little resourcefulness would go a long way here.

5) Day trips to these cities are quite reasonable:
Choshi (30min by car or train) kujukuri beaches, a marina, a college, a light house, the first sunrise of Japan, good seafood
Narita (40min by car, forever train) bar hoping and shopping
Kamisu (50min by car) shopping
Kashima (70min by car) baseball games
Yotsukaido (90min by car, 70min train, but who really wants to go there ^_^)
Chiba (100min by car or train)
Tokyo (2hr+ by car or train)

Night life in Asahi is virtually non-existence. There are a bunch of izakaiya, two borderline proper bars but no one hardly goes there, well and your run-of-the-mill karaoke.

6) My position is best for people who have a retirement attitude. By now you must have suspected that there is nothing here, and rest assure, you're right. I've lasted this long for one reason only - I like quiet middle-of-nowheres. Well of course the rest comes with it, to name a few, the nature, nice people, and a cheaper standard of living. Surfing is a pretty big thing here as well. Last but not least it's a great place for some money-saving.

7) In addition to what's been said, one might find my schedule pretty hectic. There aren't enough breaks between classes. I kind of brought this upon myself. I basically let them cramp as many classes as possible because initially I wanted to make some overtime money. I'd worked 6 days plus two public schools for (school owner), averaging 350 minutes of teaching a day, for 18 months.

8) I work in A school on Mon, and B school Tue - Fri. The staff are great. I have no complaints whatsoever. They're very helpful and I have a good relationship with all of them. The A school itself is a little awkward. It's in a tiny mall right next to a bathroom so sometimes it smells funny and a couple of bugs would join the class in session since the room partitions don't go all the way up. Otherwise it's quite alright.

9) You are right about the car. I do think it makes sense in a place like this to have access to a vehicle, although it doesn't have to be a car, some scooter would do, and last time I checked (school owner) has one.