Tuesday 25 October 2011

Interview terror; Afternoon tea; Giant brooms

Last Friday, I went for an interview as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) within Kyoto City schools. Most (all?) junior high schools and high schools in Japan will have an ALT come to help out with teaching the classes. The position started in under two weeks so I guessed they were desperate - an ALT must have dropped out. It was also the dream job.

Perhaps I should back-track here. I turned down Berlitz because of the hours - 3 evenings a week and 12 hours on Saturday would leave little time to see Calle, who studies 8:30am - 18:30 on some days. This ALT position with 7 hour weekday working hours was therefore like a dream come true.

And the interview was a nightmare come true.

Calle navigated me to this council building next to a huge, imposing Victorian-style building that stood out like sore thumbs amongst the ugly, modern buildings which dominate central Kyoto. Turns out the council building was somehow joined to it because I ended up inside it. By going to the 5th floor of the council building, following labyrinthine passages down a ramp and ta-dah! There I was on the 4th floor of the creepy mansion place.

As to the interview itself, I guess I can only describe it as one of those "lost in translation" moments. I was sat in front of a panel of 5 Japanese men who spoke little-to-no English and an American interpreter, who looked a little to smug at this position of power. Perhaps that's because I have a bone to pick with him over the fact he didn't translate my answers in the great depth and length with which I gave them. But perhaps that was the least of my worries.

They asked me very few questions about my experience. In fact, they seemed more bothered with things like this: "What types of people do you get on with?", "Who do you not get on with?" and "A lot of taxpayers money will be going on your salary. How will you be a good public servant?"

To which my answer was, "Not go out and wreck the city?"

Unsurprisingly, I haven't heard back.....

After being thoroughly traumatised by the psuedo-psychological test, I need a good dose of British culture. And so Calle and I set off to the Kobe Afternoon Tea Club!

Kobe Afternoon Tea Club was founded by Richard Mort, an English Afternoon Tea lover. He originally ran the group in Tokyo but since life has brought him to Kobe, the club came too. I met him back in August 2009 as he is a CouchSurfer. We shared a sophisticated tea and cake session.

This month's club was held at the Oriental Hotel, a modern yet swanky affair which provided us with a fancy yet restrained function room.

The menu included a variety of British
"delicacies", such as scones with clotted cream and jam, Cornish pasties and flapjacks. Yet they were not quite British: they were distinctly Japanese in size. The most interesting interpretation had to be the Cornish Pasty - it was minuscule, shaped like a gyoza, with very thin pastry and neatly layered meat, carrots and potato. It was pretty tasty though!



On the way back, we discovered a cake palace on a quiet street. Can't wait to go there for cake!


Sunday was the Kyoto Jidai Matsuri. One of the three largest festivals in Kyoto, it was created in the late 19th century in response to fears of Kyoto's declining glory after it lost its status as capital to Tokyo. The festival features a procession of historical costumes from each era in Kyoto's history, from 794 to the more recent Meiji period.

It takes over two hours to go past. And the participants look far more bored than the spectators. Many are teenage boys who clearly look coerced into it and carry their swords without the relish one expects from males when presented with a weapon.

My second favourite part was the giant brooms, which were tossed in the air. It prompted me to remark クリーニングをします!(I do cleaning!) which turned a few heads in the nearby crowd.


My favourite part was the horses, which no-one had trained. The very first horse in the parade refused to pull the carriage and the other carriages had to overtake. Others had to be continually calmed down and a few kept whinnying and tried to bolt! Given that this festival happens annually, I wonder how no-one thought to bring in trained horses?!

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