Seems like the Internet doesn’t like wet weather. It;s been gradually dying as the mist has set in tonight. It happens in Wales too. After a heavy rain shower, one has to disconnect the router from the mains and put it in the tumble drier for a while.
Skype has been fun. I’d call someone and say ‘hello’ as soon as they answered, but due to the 10 second delay they’d hang up before they heard my voice.
It’s not the best of timing as I’ve got my weekly coaching call tonight. Looks like I’ll have to skunk off down the road to our rival, Sheffield Hallam University, and see if their connection is any better.
Condolences to Sophie on not making it through …but wasn’t she fantastic?! I think that with the exposure she’s had and the talent she has she’ll go a long way.
It’s now 7 days until the exam. I’ve started off revising the easiest of the three sections (newspapers). I’m happy with my progress, but am aware that I need to face my fear of the writing section. Tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow; as well as selling my bike in the morning, I have an interview tomorrow for the 4-week intensiveCELTA (Tefl) course after lunch. I tell you, it looks blooming tough. 9.30am to 6.30pm daily, plus a minimum of 20 hours preparation / homework per week. Five assignments too.
Things are slowly progressing on the job front. I’ll be sent a pre-interview assignment to complete for a Tokyo-based English school next week – but I’ve also been put in touch with someone who teaches in a university where apparently there may be an opening. If I were to get that job I’d be living in Kansai (3 hours west of Tokyo on the bullet train), and thus *Twinkle* and I would spend about ten days a month apart when she goes to Tokyo on business. Not ideal. If I wasn’t needing a visa I wouldn’t be having these problems. I need to call the Japanese embassy about the spouse visa option again. It’s finance that’s the problem there (need to show a regular income, not ideal if self-employed as *Twinkle* is).
The British Embassy in Tokyo called *Twinkle* today. She’s applied for a ‘visitors visa (marriage)’ – they want proof of our relationship. My response has been to post about 60 photos dating back to 2005 of us being a couple in a special web album. I’ve suggested *Twinkle* send them the link and the username / login I provided. They may say they want to see printed copies (because printed photos are more real than digital copies of the same photos?!)
I’m enjoying working in the library these days, but it is all a bit surreal. Kind of no-mans land, with routine gone, and the course over, but not over. It feels pretty weird.
Anyway, I’d best get down to the office.
xxx
Reading this entry, I can’t help but feel that you are making the choices you are in regards to work out of fear (surrounding visa issues) rather than from a “good place”.
Considering taking a job which keeps you and your future wife apart 10 days a month in a field you have no intention of remaining in doesn’t seem like a good idea. Please don’t think I’m judging your choice though. I’d probably be doing the same thing in your shows, but I’m a very nervous person who often can be fatalistic about the outcome of a given situation.
It is worth considering though whether or not you are listening to the voice of your anxiety or your intuition.
Thanks for the comment Shari.
I’m finding it difficult to know what I’m acting out of at the moment due to all the changes and ‘issues’. I see what you mean about acting out of fear due to the visa thing though and I think you could be right – I guess I still have some baggage there.
I need to clarify the requirements for the spouse visa. There are a couple of issues, such as *Twinkle* not being in London if I were to apply for it after our wedding. Perhaps we could arrange to have some kind of interview prior to our marriage? I don’t know. Something to check when they open in the morning.
I’d rather be on a spouse visa as I would prefer to be working on a kind of freelance basis. That is, rather than being tied to a contract that demands I work 40 hours a week for X company, I’d prefer to have a few part times jobs that give me the flexibility that I would like in order that I can pursue my own ventures. I don’t know if that’s idealistic or not.
It’ll all work out for the best though, whatever happens.
Thanks for the reminder though. I do tend to get caught up in single trains of thought at times, especially at those times when my thinking isn’t all that clear anyway.