Third (and Final) Interview at Gaba

The day started nicely. Tokyo had one of its two days of snow a year. Unfortunately, it wasn't heavy, or cold, enough for it to settle. But it was still nice to see some snow. It was very peaceful and relaxing to see.

I spent the afternoon preparing for my interview - showered, shaved, deoderised (I know it isn't a word), read the information Gaba gave me at my previous interviews...

Then the time came. It was raining so I hurried as quickly as I could to my second closest subway station on the Hibiya line. And then the sign said 'Not in Service'! And I was like "Nooo! I have 40 minutes to get all the way to Ebisu!". But the train arrived anyway, and I got on, terrified the whole way that it wouldn't stop at Ebisu for some reason. But it ran as normal... how odd.

I got to Gaba five minutes early and sat down in the lobby area. Ten minutes later, the man who took my first interview came out and said that the Senior Manager was going to do my interview and he'd be out in a few minutes.

So I waited nervously, and he came out to meet me. He seemed very nice, not as scary as I expected him to be!

He asked me similar questions as in the second interview, but there was much less pressure on it. Oddly, it seemed like I'd already got the job, just as long as no problems cropped up in this interview.

He asked why I'd come to Japan, how long I'd been here, how long I intended to stay, why did I want to teach English, did I anticipate any problems I could face? That sort of thing.

He said that my age could be an issue, and I should be prepared for that, but Gaba's clients are much more concerned with the quality of the instructing, rather than the instructor. He also told me that 12% of Gaba employees are under 2o, which surprised me.

And then closed by saying that they would contact me to arrange a contract signing date and the date I would start training. Looks like I got the job!

So I rang home from my new phone and spoke for about 3-4 minutes, which only cost me £2.50, which is cheaper than from a public payphone. Then took the Hibiya line back to my guesthouse.

At Ebisu station, I heard a bang very similar to the one I heard when someone collapsed on the train last week. And it turned out that that had happened again. In exactly the same part of the train. On the other platform, at the very front of the train, someone had fainted and people were crowding round, either trying to help or see what was happening. The driver came out and helped the person off the train, but the train blocked the rest of what happened. I assume the person was okay. Twice in one week! I wonder how common it is...

Then, I got on the most crowded train-ride yet. I was sitting, because I got on before Tsukiji and Ginza, but after that, it was very busy. Again, not shoulder-to-shoulder morning rush hour, but still very busy. I guess morning rush hours are worse because that's when the vast majority start work, but people finish at different times, and might not go straight home. That was about 18:30.

The girl sitting opposite me looked suspiciously like she was taking photos of me on her phone. I don't know if she was, but I wasn't too unhappy when the people started crowding in and I couldn't see her anymore!

So I'm very pleased with today's outcome. Tomorrow I think I will try to sort out the account at Gaba's recommended bank. Let's hope there isn't too much trouble there! Although, come on, this is me we're talking about... something has to go wrong!