I finally made it into the office that I’ve been working at for the last two years. It’s located in the Akasaka district, which is a pretty nice area of town. My visa status allows me to work up to 4 hours a day, which is about as much as I can handle anyway. I doubt I’ll wind up working all five days per week, but I intend to spend a good deal of time working in order to offset the cost of living here. Most of my guilt felt by spending money over here is not because I’m cheap, but because I have absolutely no source of income. This might change that, and I’ll be able to spend a little more money on things like food and entertainment.
Today, I just went into the office and met with Peter. He’s of course ultra nice as he has been for years over the internet, and seems really happy to have me here. He took me out to a nice shabu-shabu restaurant for lunch as soon as I arrived. I then met some of the co-workers, and spent most of the afternoon talking to Keith, who has been working in-house on video stuff recently. The other video guy I’ve yet to meet is Phillip, who I know reads (or at least read) this blog. He comes in on Wednesdays.
All in all, it’s a really nice working situation. I’m racking my brain trying to think of a better situation to be working given my current situation and I’m drawing a blank. I’ll have the opportunity to do a lot of cool things with the team while I’m over here. And it really doesn’t feel like work. That’s the goal I set for myself back in junior high: pick a job you love and you never have to work a day in your life.
I can’t officially start working until I get my foreigner registration card, which I’ll try to pick up tomorrow. Mostly I’m just trying to get acquainted with the work flow in the office and what all the responsibilities of the various staff are.
School continues to truck along. I have to be careful that I don’t let work, this blog, and my wanderlust get in the way of the real reason I’m here. So I’m going to end this entry earlier than most and study for the rest of the night. (It seems like my blog hits are inversely proportional to the length of my posts anyway)
Here’s a better picture of those grapes.
Erica
/ July 13, 2009That’s great that work doesn’t feel like work… what’s that like?? I do like my job, but putting in catheters and wiping people’s bums is something that will ALWAYS feel like work.
Dad
/ July 13, 2009After your first week, how do you feel about the opening comment on 6 hours of homework a day? Nice picture of the grapes, any chance we will ever see a picture of you over in Japan?
Kathy
/ July 13, 2009Glad you like the people you work with – I agree with Erica, I love what I do, but it still feels like work some days – - the nice payoff for the work though is definiteyl the check!!! Hope your studying is going well!
Matt Henry
/ July 13, 2009Six hours of homework is probably a really high estimate. Maybe if I had never covered the material before, and I was studying for two tests, it might take 4 hours. So far I’ve never had more than an hour and a half of homework.
I’m in no rush to get a picture of myself, and since I’m usually alone, it’s kind of difficult to get one anyway.
Dad
/ July 13, 2009I understand that you are in no rush to get a picture of yourself………..but there are people that are very close to me that are very eager to see a picture of their son/brother/grandson/nephew in Japan. If you don’t want to do it for the people in your life, do it for Petuna and Allie!
Kathy
/ July 13, 2009I’ll “ditto” your dad – this aunt would love to see a picture of you in Japan, and I know Randy would as well. Come on, you can do it – PLEASE!!!