Work Woes...

Today is my two week anniversary of living in Tokyo.  Maybe its just today, but aside from the fact that I have found some great chocolates, it feels like the honeymoon phase is over.

At first things seemed to flow smoothly.  My classwork seemed doable, I had uploaded my resume and a cover letter on to the Japanese job website and I was starting to send them out to several job postings. Right away I got interviews.  How exciting.  Afterwards, I walked away from both interview experiences with mixed feelings.  On the positive side, I am definitely well qualified to work here.  I have plenty of classroom experience to draw on.  But each job opportunity had its flaws.  One of them wants you follow a very rigorous and structured English language curriculum to support all ages of students in small hour-long weekly sessions.  The other site is only just starting up and is still trying to build a student base!
Then I looked at applying at the large international schools.  They have a very strict hiring process (before the school year begins in August), and did not have any openings at all.  It seemed like I could apply as a substitute, however since I don't have a work visa, I was told that I could not be added to the substitute list.  However, those school settings match up the best with what I am interested in and where my strengths lie!

Then again, it's only been two weeks.  I still have two more weeks of guaranteed housing.  My perfect scenario would be having a job set up before the end of this month so that I could then look for housing in that location.  If that is not possible, I would have to look to something temporary and cheap and decide how much longer I want to pursue what is out there, before returning to California...or taking a go of it somewhere else!

Maybe this whole "teaching abroad" thing needs to be postponed until next academic school year?