1985/7 Japan

Okayama
4 February 1987
c/o USA Academy, 238-6 Izumida, Okayama-Shi
Posted 06.02.87; received 12.02.87

HI there

It was nice to talk to you yesterday, mom. You sound reasonably cheerful. I hope your holiday did you some good and that you will enjoy this year at Wits. I envy you your tan, but I plan to get one of my own before too long.

Today I put in the kind of effort that means I’m either looney or I LOVE to travel. I arose at 5am. It was dark and very cold. (We had snow on Monday – unusual for Okayama.) By 5.30am I was cycling to the station. En route I saw a real life car chase!! By 6.11am I was on the local train to Kobe – 2½ hours away. Then I spent another 30 minutes on a bus. All this just to get to the Korean consulate in order to apply for a visa. I am still convinced I could have done all this by mail, but the buck passing and red tape I experienced in this regard reminded me – and in Japan one doesn’t often get reminded – that I am in ASIA. An address in Japan defies all attempts to find the place you are looking for as the numbers are not consecutive, but relate to the time when the building was erected. Eventually, however, I found the right place and was asked to fill in a form. Then my photo was too SMALL. So out I went to get another. Then when they discovered I wanted to stay for longer than a month I had to fill in another form and draw up an itinerary. Two hours later I got to start my ‘trek’ home. Without my passport. The visa will apparently take a month. My first lesson was at 3.30. I arrived at USA Academy at 3.10 after a total of 1 hour on my bicycle, 5 hours on a train and another hour on a bus. Exhausting!

I had a bit of a fright this week. My employer has been concerned that it would take a long time to replace me so he put an ad in the paper last Friday. By Friday night they had employed a Canadian fellow who has a work permit and has agreed to work 30 hours per week at almost 1/3 of my hourly pay. He has only been in Japan a couple of weeks and obviously doesn’t know the going rate for teachers. What frightened me was that they said he could start immediately!! And I began to wonder if they intended to get rid of me in order to save money or if they were going to cut my hours in half in order to give him some work or what. It has all been sorted out, however. I was up to 20 hours as of mid-January, but due to a certain quirk in my contract I am better off at 19 hours per week and then again at 22 hours. So they asked me if I would give him ONE hour and then they would give him any new students. Which is fine by me. My weekly wage at 19 hours is ¥63500. +-$425 tax free. So no complaints from me.

Dad – have you noticed as one gets older that one takes fewer risks? I have decided as a result of this observation to set aside certain daring things to do into my 50s, 60s and even 70s. I might try cocaine or hang-gliding. I might take a canoe down the Nile or learn to play the sax. When last did you do something really different or alien or silly or exciting? IN fact have you done anything different, alien, silly or exciting since those days you went cycling with your friends or hitched between Graaff-Reinet and PE to surprise mom? What all this is leading up to is an invitation to join me in KOREA. Korea is cheap. IT has a long and fascinating history, a variety of religions, colourful costumes and festivals, lots of mountains and very garlicy food. What say you give good old safe, secure and well-known Britain a break and take a chance? (John and Judy would be green with envy!!) I hope to be there from the end of March until mid-May. I could pick you up at Seoul airport and you could give me some much-needed moral support on my 30th. Don’t delay, decide ‘YES’ today.

All for now folks
Lotsaluv and kisses
Gail