So after much deliberation, phone calls and looking at dirty, poorly kept apartments I have managed to find something. Have signed the lease and will move in gradually over the next week, if I ever find the time between work and my assignments. This is one of those times where it sucks not having a car as I'll have to make several trips in taxis to get my stuff there. I'm paying more than I wanted to but am happier and happier the more I think about the apartment. There's heaps of space so I'll be able to really settle in and get some work done now.
Am starting back at work tomorrow, which is usually something people dread after 3 weeks off. Me? I can't wait. Admittedly I've been in at work several times over the past week or so, including being there all of yesterday afternoon. My new schedule is exciting and my days off work much better for me. Previously my days off were Sunday/Monday but now I have a "normal" weekend which is great for however long that lasts.
Out for drinks a few nights back, I ended up meeting and drinking with a group of regional tobacco salesmen. Talking, talking, talking and then the most senior of them asked me what I did for a living. When I told him I got this pained look that said "Oh my God, you're the scum of the Earth and how can you afford to drink in this expensive bar". I have to love the irony of being looked down upon by someone that sells tobacco in Asia. This guy was the stereotypical rich, white expatriate. Flush with funds, always eager to take a hooker home and an automatic authority on every possible subject known to man whilst being exceptionally close-minded when it comes to any kind of alternative opinion. I do know quite a few lovely expats (outside of my co-workers who are generally very nice) but many of the others are just know-it-all alcoholics with a penchant for SE Asian pussy. Excuse my French.
My friend's wife arrived yesterday so I am theoretically trying to finish up all my work so we can go for a couple of drinks later this afternoon. Obviously, my sitting here typing isn't even subtle procrastination. More like very direct avoidance.
Showing posts with label The Great Property Hunt of 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Great Property Hunt of 2008. Show all posts
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
House-hunting
The Great Property Hunt of 2008 is going somewhat disastrously. Despite having numerous agents searching for me, none are able to come up with anything. Many of them just blatantly don't call back after saying they will. Admittedly I do have two guys out there hunting who seem to genuinely want to help me which is lovely. That said, I'm beginning to feel that I may in fact have to resort to that most dreaded of options - sharehousing.
Now I have been in sharehouses in Wakayama, Shizuoka and Melbourne. The Melbourne experience was the only positive one and that was largely due to me living with a good (and very chilled out) friend. The two Japan experiences have ranged from average to horrendous. There was one guy I lived with that was a devout Christian and quite possibly the most boring individual I'd ever met. The one nice thing about being an ex-pat is that you get to have opinions and people want to listen. The result of this is that you also listen to other people's opinions, disagree boisterously and then laugh and buy one another a beer. Even though people disagree there's still a mutual respect for where someone is coming from and what their life experience has entailed. Of course I have my rose-coloured glasses firmly in place and am ignoring all the gigantic assholes who are unable to accept any opinion that is not their own. By and large though the life of an ex-pat is a fascinating one because you interact daily with people from all over the world. This particular housemate though was something else. Utterly unable to accept any other kind of lifestyle or opinion our relationship was handicapped from the start because I got *that feeling*.
I may not be very bright and I may make some very poor decisions in my life, but the one thing I can, and have always been able to, rely on is my initial instincts when I meet people. They rarely fail me and when I met this housemate I just knew there was something "off" about him. I had to be taken from the room by a friend one night when he entered into a conversation about porn in Japan that I was having with some friends. He told us very seriously that porn was adultery. While I would definitely argue this point I also knew there was little point with a guy like him. And fair enough anyway, as a religious pundit he's entitled to that opinion - after all, it's not really one that hurts anyone. He then went on to expand his idea to include the very notion of thinking about another woman was adultery. Yes, you read right. By this logic one is committing adultery every time they see a hot girl on the street and their imagination kicks in for a few seconds before the mundaneness of everyday takes hold once more. My friend knew me quite well and could see the anger in my cheeks after he had said this so I was taken to the balcony to cool off and have a cigarette. Mission accomplished.
A postscript to all this is that directly after I left Japan, and I'm talking less than a week, he was found to have a Japanese girl stay over in his room. The girl was one of our students, no less! I have very strict ethical rules about dating students (I teach adults btw) and they basically amount to : UH UH, NO WAY, NOT EVER. Besides which it was actually a fireable offense with our employer at the time. To cap all of this off, he had a girlfriend in the States the entire time (I think they were engaged, iirc, despite her only being 19). So my instincts about that particular one were correct.
The point of all this? Wish me the biggest luck because housesharing is just so much pot luck and I never want to be in a situation again where the thought of going to my own home turns my stomach.
Now I have been in sharehouses in Wakayama, Shizuoka and Melbourne. The Melbourne experience was the only positive one and that was largely due to me living with a good (and very chilled out) friend. The two Japan experiences have ranged from average to horrendous. There was one guy I lived with that was a devout Christian and quite possibly the most boring individual I'd ever met. The one nice thing about being an ex-pat is that you get to have opinions and people want to listen. The result of this is that you also listen to other people's opinions, disagree boisterously and then laugh and buy one another a beer. Even though people disagree there's still a mutual respect for where someone is coming from and what their life experience has entailed. Of course I have my rose-coloured glasses firmly in place and am ignoring all the gigantic assholes who are unable to accept any opinion that is not their own. By and large though the life of an ex-pat is a fascinating one because you interact daily with people from all over the world. This particular housemate though was something else. Utterly unable to accept any other kind of lifestyle or opinion our relationship was handicapped from the start because I got *that feeling*.
I may not be very bright and I may make some very poor decisions in my life, but the one thing I can, and have always been able to, rely on is my initial instincts when I meet people. They rarely fail me and when I met this housemate I just knew there was something "off" about him. I had to be taken from the room by a friend one night when he entered into a conversation about porn in Japan that I was having with some friends. He told us very seriously that porn was adultery. While I would definitely argue this point I also knew there was little point with a guy like him. And fair enough anyway, as a religious pundit he's entitled to that opinion - after all, it's not really one that hurts anyone. He then went on to expand his idea to include the very notion of thinking about another woman was adultery. Yes, you read right. By this logic one is committing adultery every time they see a hot girl on the street and their imagination kicks in for a few seconds before the mundaneness of everyday takes hold once more. My friend knew me quite well and could see the anger in my cheeks after he had said this so I was taken to the balcony to cool off and have a cigarette. Mission accomplished.
A postscript to all this is that directly after I left Japan, and I'm talking less than a week, he was found to have a Japanese girl stay over in his room. The girl was one of our students, no less! I have very strict ethical rules about dating students (I teach adults btw) and they basically amount to : UH UH, NO WAY, NOT EVER. Besides which it was actually a fireable offense with our employer at the time. To cap all of this off, he had a girlfriend in the States the entire time (I think they were engaged, iirc, despite her only being 19). So my instincts about that particular one were correct.
The point of all this? Wish me the biggest luck because housesharing is just so much pot luck and I never want to be in a situation again where the thought of going to my own home turns my stomach.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Back to the Gym
For the first time in 2008 I visited the gym. Of course I can detail how busy my life has been over the last few months or how the thought of going to the gym at night with the sweaty crowds makes me nauseous but the fact is I've been lazy and unmotivated. Seeing as how I'm not there to lose weight or to train for the next bodybuilding championship its often hard to find a reason to get up out of bed in the morning.
But oh, what I'd been missing! The nice thing about going to the gym mid-morning is that you always see the same people. The woman in her late-40's who dances around the gym listening to her iPod inbetween sets is a favourite. This is a woman whose face is set in a permanent grimace. Yes, she's actually scary. But the moment she saw me her face just lit up completely and she waved frantically as though I was a long-lost friend rather than the guy who pretends not to look at women inbetween sets. It's honestly one of the most bizarre and lovely things seeing this women actually dancing around the gym. It's the last thing I would expect to see in the gym, or anywhere else for that matter, but she's so into it that I can't help but love her honesty of expression.
The rest of this afternoon was spent fielding phone calls from agents as I begin the Great Property Hunt of 2008. Like many major cities the world over, Singapore is experiencing a real estate boom utterly out of proportion to the rise in most people's wages. That said, I set April as my move-out month and will hopefully have a nice little place to myself by the end of the fourth month. Am going to get a cat-friendly apartment just in case I bow down to my ever-growing desire to co-habit with a new kitty. I love living by myself but having a cat there would take the edge off the days where you sit thinking Geez, here I am by myself eating for one again. I've grown up with cats (and dogs) all my life so whenever I'm living overseas it's a hard slog to be without a pet. Seeing as how this appears to be my most 'grown-up' experience as an expat I figure I an have a cat and then take it with me when I leave.
But oh, what I'd been missing! The nice thing about going to the gym mid-morning is that you always see the same people. The woman in her late-40's who dances around the gym listening to her iPod inbetween sets is a favourite. This is a woman whose face is set in a permanent grimace. Yes, she's actually scary. But the moment she saw me her face just lit up completely and she waved frantically as though I was a long-lost friend rather than the guy who pretends not to look at women inbetween sets. It's honestly one of the most bizarre and lovely things seeing this women actually dancing around the gym. It's the last thing I would expect to see in the gym, or anywhere else for that matter, but she's so into it that I can't help but love her honesty of expression.
The rest of this afternoon was spent fielding phone calls from agents as I begin the Great Property Hunt of 2008. Like many major cities the world over, Singapore is experiencing a real estate boom utterly out of proportion to the rise in most people's wages. That said, I set April as my move-out month and will hopefully have a nice little place to myself by the end of the fourth month. Am going to get a cat-friendly apartment just in case I bow down to my ever-growing desire to co-habit with a new kitty. I love living by myself but having a cat there would take the edge off the days where you sit thinking Geez, here I am by myself eating for one again. I've grown up with cats (and dogs) all my life so whenever I'm living overseas it's a hard slog to be without a pet. Seeing as how this appears to be my most 'grown-up' experience as an expat I figure I an have a cat and then take it with me when I leave.
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