Denagging Nagoya

Nagging on Nagoya never really happened. Not so much because there was nothing worth complaining about there, but because with 9.5 hour days and an hour commute each way, I really couldn't be bothered to make the time. Oops. I may return one day, at which point I may have more time to reflect. More than likely, though, I'll be working 14 and a half hour days and only have time to complain about that.

From what little I can remember of my time outside the university walls, Nagoya was: cleaner than Busan, didn't smell terrible, had numerous potted plants sprucing up the place, and served absolutely delicious ramen. What it lacked in character and intrigue, it made up for in ... I've got nothing to end that sentence with. Nagoya lacked character and intrigue, is what I came to accept after about 5 minutes there. It wasn't a total loss, though. Potted plants and bikes are pretty nifty.

Thanks to my hard earned yen, I've been enjoying something like a vacation in Canada for the last month and a bit. I was supposed to be in Moscow right about now-ish, but the VISA process has not decided to complete itself just yet, so I remain in Canada for the time being. It was roughly -65 degrees outside today and I probably have frostbite on my lower legs, so I should be good and ready whenever it is that Moscow rolls around.

I chose Moscow as my next location for a couple of reasons, the primary one being that they were kind enough to acknowledge my application and (eventually) offer me a job. Having reached the point at which I have more than a couple of years experience teaching and a CELTA qualification, I have too much self respect to go back to the type of job I was working my first year in EFL, but not enough of anything else to seriously compete for a great job. I'm very charming and all, but, tragically, nobody seems to give much of a shit about that. Hence, 14 or so interviews later, I accepted a job to work in Moscow. I'm not even going to pretend that I mind the fact I will be getting paid in peanuts. I have a job. In Moscow. Every thing's coming up shiny for Barbie in 2011.

Once the Russians approve of my eagerness to work there and grant me with a VISA, as I expect they will sometime before 2014, I'll be making weekly posts again. Except this time I actually will, because Russia is new, shiny, and exciting. By the time I landed in Japan this past fall I was so burnt out from the traveling I'd done that year, that everything sort of lost it's lustre. Not this time. I'm pretty Moscow will be super shiny; I can already feel the glare.