This week has just been flying by. With my students busy handling some customers visiting the factory, I was juggling classes because of all the time switches and student swaps. The way I’ve designed the lessons for most of my students allows a lot of flexibility, however, and it doesn’t affect my day to day plans that much.
Yesterday a former student asked for my advice. She has the opportunity to move to the USA with her boyfriend for five years. Her boyfriend is being assigned to a branch office (in California) of a Japanese company, and my ex-student was trying to figure out what she should do. She could quit her job and live with her boyfriend (who she had planned on marrying in Japan this year), or she could stay with her current job and continue her career. Changing jobs is still not common in Japan, so it is tough to leave a lifetime contract on the table and become dependent on someone else for your income (for the rest of your life). This situation suddenly came up and took them both by surprise, and my ex-student needs to figure out what to do with the rest of her life within the next month or so. Crazy!
She came to me because I am from California and she was hoping for some insight into life there, and so I gave her the best information I had about it, and listened to her description of her quandary. She will consider the matter for now, and hopefully she’ll be happy with whichever decision she made.
As for me, it is not often that people come to me for this kind of advice – so it was nice to give my opinion. I wonder if the California I left has changed so much that I wouldn’t recognize it – short visits every 2-3 years aren’t really enough to know what things are like to live there now. My ex-student is pretty clever and she understands the power of independence, so I’m sure she’ll be fine.
This weekend Kuniko will be at work both days, so we decided to go catch some sushi on Friday night. I’ve been craving crab and this sushi place really has some great presentation and delicious fish. After eating and drinking we have to walk by a large import food store (danger!) and then walk by a huge liquor shop (double danger!) to get to the train station. I hope I don’t spend too much money on the way home…
