A Job Interview & Kiyosumi Gardens

For the last few days, I've come home and checked my emails and, every night, there's been a new job offer. Most of them have been from the Foreign Instructor Centre that I found through Gaijinpot.com. They send me details of prospective students and I say whether I'm interested or not. And of course I am. I have a thirty minute demo lesson on Monday with one, a couple of hours before I go to my Gaba school to see how it is and meet my colleagues.

I've had offers from several schools that I've had to say no to. Which is crazy! I'm turning down work and three weeks ago I had nothing!

I also had an offer from Riverside English School, who found me through Jobs In Japan.com and asked me to go in today for an interview for a part-time position. They have an international preschool, and also teach children and adults. So off I went to Tsukishima, a short subway ride away. I decided to walk half of the way because I hadn't been to the Kiyosumi area.

This is the funky building virtually behind my guesthouse overlooking the Sumida River.

The river looks just as nice in the sun as at night!
They have manga-inspired boats that do river trips. I should do that one day.

How Japanese... A small residential area with a red-coloured bridge crossing the river, then several towering skyscrapers in the background.
What a nice area! There were traditional Japanese houses everywhere I looked.


I nearly banged my head on this incredibly low bridge.

This was just randomly outside a house! Wish I had one...
Then I had the actual interview. It was all very relaxed and they all seemed really nice. I thought it would be great to work there. But then they told me that they wanted a part-time position from now, covering staff illness and things, and then a regular position every Saturday from April. I said that that didn't really work for me as I was planning to move to Kyoto in early April. Then they told me that they liked their teachers to commit to year-long positions to give the students some stability. They said that they'd love to have me for the job, but I had to decide whether to change my plans and stay in Tokyo to work with them, or not take the job and move. I told them I'd think about it and when they next emailed, I'd give them my decision. But I know what my answer will be. I can't abandon my plans for a Saturday job, even if the environment and people were really lovely. They gave me Y1,000 for the train, even though it only cost about Y400! After that, I was a little depressed because it looked like a fun place to work, so I cheered myself up by going to Kiyosumi Gardens, which is only a 10-15 minute walk from my guesthouse!

It cost me Y150 (75p) to get in but it was totally worth it.


Beautifully big fish! Unfortunately, while I was taking this photo, a bird flew overhead and pooed on my coat.

It was so peaceful! Even some drilling work going on somewhere nearby didn't distract from the serenity of the place.

I have no idea what this says, but it looks good.


This was the front door of the little Ryoutei house built over the lake. Pity I couldn't go inside.

This collection of Buddhist statues was set slightly off the main trail, so I'm glad I found it.

Fearless ducks and fish!
Birds! There aren't any birds near my guesthouse, or at least not ones that sing, so it was nice to hear them chirp away.


An actual bamboo water feature!
There were men on ladders clipping away individual twigs and leaves from the trees, maintaining their shape.

I was still in my business suit, so I'm very glad I didn't fall in. There were lots of stepping stones like these.

I couldn't resist going back to the area where the fish seemed to congregate. Thankfully I wasn't pooed on this time.

Bilingual signs! They knew tourists would come here.

Yep, they definitely did...
This is the front entrance. The Gardens used to belong to a Baron, but the property was damaged in the fires after Tokyo's 1923 earthquake so he donated the area to the government. It was later renovated and the lake was added, using water from the nearby Sumida River.
Then I went to the neighbouring public park (which was free) and was very tempted to go on the play equipment.

A cigarette bin was smoking ferociously so I poured my bottle of water over it. No one else seemed very bothered by the plumes of smoke that were wafting out of it. I don't think my water put it out, but at least I tried.

There's a Coca-Cola bench!
This is an underpass under a main road on my way home. It really makes a difference when it's not a dingy, dark place that smells of urine. Just adding a patterned wall and a mosaic shaped like plants makes it very pleasant. Lots of train stations have patterns on the wall made from recycled materials and lots of roads have mosaic patterns at regular intervals.
I then found myself at my local supermarket, which has this shrine outside.
I popped in to buy a couple of things for my spaghetti bolognese dinner.

This is the apartment building on top of the supermarket. Wow...

The postman tried to deliver my cash card a couple of days ago and, of course, I missed him. So I have to decipher the message he left to collect in from a post office tomorrow (if they're closed on weekends, then it will have to be Tuesday) but they only hold items for 7 days.

One of the companies who contacted me via GaijinPot.com are having their monthly pizza party in Shibuya tomorrow night so some of my housemates and I are going to go to that. My first proper night out here!