Maybe I should start by putting a disclaimer on the name. I spent a good part of my day thinking of one and Afro Asian came to mind. Why? You might ask, well it is because I have an Afro and it’s in Asia now!
Get it?
(Not as funny as I thought it would be 🤦🏿♀️).
I just recently moved to Asia, well Japan to be more specific. This has been nothing short of a culture shock. I was warned about this but a girl did not listen.
The Job Call
I must say, I made this decision on a whim so you can about imagine the shock of getting a call from “the job I applied for in Japan”.
At that point; I had been throwing around many CVs and something definitely stuck. Might I also add that the caller had a UK number? This made me even more confused!
The alarms in my head went off.
Scam Alert! Scam!
If this had been a cartoon red and blue emergency lights would have been seen above my head. Although, a part of me was super excited; it was going to be my first time out of Africa.
The road to ‘Yes’
So, being the Zimbabwean I am also known as being a (certified) lover of things; I decided to agree to the first interview. Now back to the interview, The first one was just a chat via Skype more to just let me get relaxed and get an idea of who I am as a person, it was not too formal and I was quite grateful for that. I do not know if there is a choir I am preaching to but formal just has a certain pressure to it.
The interviews went great, the recruiter was very friendly (phew!).
I think I should mention this was a position to teach English as a foreign language. I had been a tutor online for two years and that worked well for; although this was a completely new thing. I had to get out of my comfort zone for the demo lesson which involved demonstrating how you would teach English to a 5-year-old. Granted, it was odd having an adult pretending to be a 5-year old but the harrowing part was waiting for a response.
Sure, it took two days but honestly, it felt like two months. This was a whole “gara ndichauya” from a job interview! Finally, I got the email saying I would get a response via a scheduled Skype call. The day of the call finally came. I was nervous and already giving myself the “we move” pep talk to soften the blow.
The call came in and it took donkey years to get to the news I needed to hear. I must give the recruiter props for suspense. I just sat there looking like the Chrissy Teigen meme thinking;
“get on with it woman, end my suffering”.
Finally, the good news was delivered and frankly, I was too excited to hear anything else after that, which was not so smart of me by the way (more on that later).
Anyway, it is now time for me to go make something to chow some ramen and fried pork perhaps?
It’s more exciting than it sounds, I promise.
Welcome to my musings, catch you on the next one.
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