My first 5 months

May 22, 08 Comments

I got to Japan on December 1, 2007. That was a Saturday.

I started my training at Berlitz the following Monday. That first week I wasn't too familiar with the food, prices, and a few other things. I very quickly got used to these things, though.

I was very surprised to see how many people live here in Tokyo. Even so, the city is very clean everyone's very polite. Polite, not friendly. It seems to me that everyone's just minding their own business; nobody stares or tries to start up a conversation.

The first few days I visited a couple of places by myself, but then I made some good friends from the training and started hanging out with them. We would go out almost every weekend. Most of us were here for the first time and were "discovering" Tokyo together.

I started working on December 12 at Berlitz in Nihonbashi, a business district in Central Tokyo. It's very close to the Imperial Palace and near many restaurants and department stores. It has a very business-like atmosphere to it. Most people actually only work here and commute from other, more residential areas around Tokyo.

My apartment is located in Monzen-nakacho, 20 minutes from work by subway. I walk to work everyday, however. It takes me 30 minutes but it's a great way to exercise and save money at the same time. What I really like is how safe it feels. I can't imagine getting mugged on my way home late at night... One of the things I don't miss about Costa Rica!

I had worked at Berlitz Costa Rica for 3 years so a lot of the things were very familiar. I describe the differences in another post. The biggest difference, though, was size. Both the size of the building and the amount of teachers. My school has over 40 classrooms and about the same number of teachers.

I have been teaching here ever since and have no complains so far. My colleagues are great and my boss is very supportive.

As far as how I feel here in Tokyo, it's a bit of mix feelings. On the one hand, I'm impressed at how beautiful the city is and the weather has been great so far. There are many places to eat and transportation is top-notch. It's actually not as expensive as I expected it to be. On the other hand, it's been kind of difficult living alone without my wife. I've waiting for her to come so we can do more fun stuff and visit many places. We finally have a date for that. Vivi will be here on May 25, and starting then, my situation will change for the better.

Five months down, who-knows-how-many to go... I'm not planning on leaving any time soon, there are way to many things I still want to do and experience. I have a great job with a flexible schedule, a competitive salary, awesome co-workers and many things to look forward to. Let's see what I have to say in the next 5 or 6 months...

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