michaelz
New Member
Length warning but I'm sure if you read it all, it'll make your day seem a lot better in comparison.
Last week I accepted a new job from a little known company who employ native English speakers in Japan and place them in schools. They provide the housing and I pay rent to them directly. Overall I was happy with the school, the conditions of the contract and the location wasn't bad either (just an hour outside Osaka). All said and done though, I didn't see the apartment they were going to provide but they assured me "it was a cheap but excellent place to live and we've had people living there with great success." The norm over here is to move you into a apartment only after you've signed up with them first. You don't exactly get to see or check out the places they have before agreeing to work for them.
- Saturday 9th: spent the day packing up all my stuff and managed to get it all into the teg. Thank god it's a hatch. It was filled so tightly I couldn't see out of the rear or the passenger side.
- Sunday 10th: left @ 8AM and drove 400 miles to my new job location. Got there 7 hours later and since it was on a Sunday, they told me to go straight to the apartment, it's left unlocked for me.
At first sight the apartment looks kinda run down from the outside, ok I won't judge a book by its cover...
Walked in and the floor is covered in tarps... it hasn't been cleaned and there are dead insects everywhere. We're talking big ones too, there's even a couple of roaches. So it needs a good clean I thought...
Checked out further and the fridge + TV which they emphasised they were going to provide for free was nothing more than a tiny bar fridge and a 10" tube TV. Both of which looked more than 2 decades old.
Bathroom and toilet were equally old and reeked of sewage. At this stage I'm ready to flip and get straight back in the car to go home. Only reason I haven't done so yet is the fact I actually wanted to work for the school they recommended.
Went to the car, took out the sweeper and actually tried to clean the place up a bit. Last straw was when live spiders crawled out from under the tatami (reed mats) which covered the floors instead of carpet. I lifted the tatami up and there were gigantic gaps in the floor boards. I don't see a bed in here so I'll be sleeping on this s***. Not only are you exposed to cold drafts but also all the insects at night.
That's it, f*** it, I'm going home.
Jumped back in the car and went back to my old place. In the space of a day I drove 800 miles, halfway across Japan with all my belongings blocking my view out the back and side. It's amazing I didn't have a fender bender and made it through the whole thing in one piece.
- Monday 11th: Luckily for me I hadn't yet quit my old job. Got back around 12AM, had to unload everything and basically move back into my old place. Went to bed in the early hours of the morning and had to be @ work for the old company at 8AM. The new company called me up and asked why wasn't I @ school? I told them to f*** off and go shove their 3rd world shack. It's unfit for humans to live in.
Still recovering from the weekend. Last few days as soon as I got home from work I've gone straight to sleep. On the plus side I've finally learnt the art of hyper-mileing by slipstreaming behind other cars. I managed to get nearly 32MPG despite sitting around 4000rpm-4500rpm on the freeway due to the R's gearing. Was trying to save every cent on the return trip home since these bastards have cost me a lot in road tolls as well as 3 tanks of gas.
Last week I accepted a new job from a little known company who employ native English speakers in Japan and place them in schools. They provide the housing and I pay rent to them directly. Overall I was happy with the school, the conditions of the contract and the location wasn't bad either (just an hour outside Osaka). All said and done though, I didn't see the apartment they were going to provide but they assured me "it was a cheap but excellent place to live and we've had people living there with great success." The norm over here is to move you into a apartment only after you've signed up with them first. You don't exactly get to see or check out the places they have before agreeing to work for them.
- Saturday 9th: spent the day packing up all my stuff and managed to get it all into the teg. Thank god it's a hatch. It was filled so tightly I couldn't see out of the rear or the passenger side.
- Sunday 10th: left @ 8AM and drove 400 miles to my new job location. Got there 7 hours later and since it was on a Sunday, they told me to go straight to the apartment, it's left unlocked for me.
At first sight the apartment looks kinda run down from the outside, ok I won't judge a book by its cover...
Walked in and the floor is covered in tarps... it hasn't been cleaned and there are dead insects everywhere. We're talking big ones too, there's even a couple of roaches. So it needs a good clean I thought...
Checked out further and the fridge + TV which they emphasised they were going to provide for free was nothing more than a tiny bar fridge and a 10" tube TV. Both of which looked more than 2 decades old.
Bathroom and toilet were equally old and reeked of sewage. At this stage I'm ready to flip and get straight back in the car to go home. Only reason I haven't done so yet is the fact I actually wanted to work for the school they recommended.
Went to the car, took out the sweeper and actually tried to clean the place up a bit. Last straw was when live spiders crawled out from under the tatami (reed mats) which covered the floors instead of carpet. I lifted the tatami up and there were gigantic gaps in the floor boards. I don't see a bed in here so I'll be sleeping on this s***. Not only are you exposed to cold drafts but also all the insects at night.
That's it, f*** it, I'm going home.
Jumped back in the car and went back to my old place. In the space of a day I drove 800 miles, halfway across Japan with all my belongings blocking my view out the back and side. It's amazing I didn't have a fender bender and made it through the whole thing in one piece.
- Monday 11th: Luckily for me I hadn't yet quit my old job. Got back around 12AM, had to unload everything and basically move back into my old place. Went to bed in the early hours of the morning and had to be @ work for the old company at 8AM. The new company called me up and asked why wasn't I @ school? I told them to f*** off and go shove their 3rd world shack. It's unfit for humans to live in.
Still recovering from the weekend. Last few days as soon as I got home from work I've gone straight to sleep. On the plus side I've finally learnt the art of hyper-mileing by slipstreaming behind other cars. I managed to get nearly 32MPG despite sitting around 4000rpm-4500rpm on the freeway due to the R's gearing. Was trying to save every cent on the return trip home since these bastards have cost me a lot in road tolls as well as 3 tanks of gas.
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