Yesterday, I had a chance to have a job interview for the first time in a long time. It’s a job offered by an organization called Language Club. The organization is based in Nagoya, and it offers speaking chances to Japanese people who struggle to find opportunities to use their English, without going abroad. They also have many events where both Japanese and non-Japanese people can meet and enjoy communicating together. Language Club has been around since 2014, and I’ve been subscribing to their newsletter for the last few years.
Although I’d been aware of their activities, I had never wanted to join them nor had I even paid attention to them until just recently. That’s mainly because I thought I was not an active type and I was not sure if I’d feel comfortable with being surrounded by many people as I’m with HSP or “The Highly Sensitive Person.”
People with HSP can be overly sensitive about sound, light, or information, and they are easily overwhelmed by them. HSP is not unusual. In fact, it is pretty common – one in five people could be categorized as HSP. I just happened to be one. However, thanks to my counselor’s advice and some experiences with people through my English lessons, I finally began to feel more outgoing to take part in some communication activities.
I decided to apply for the job because it was a part time job that didn’t seem to require many hours a week. The best part was that the job seemed to allow me to use my English. I only have a little over a month before my current English course finishes, and I want to find some other opportunities to keep honing my English.
Anyway, I visited their office, which was located in a very busy area near the city center.
After I got off the subway, I hurried to walk there so that I would be there in time. I’m easily lost, so I couldn’t have made it without the google app on my phone. I went up to the eighth floor, and when the door of the elevator opened, I was already standing right in front of their office.
There seemed to be no door bell, so I had to gather my courage to open the door myself saying “Hello.” Inside the room, I was able to see some foreign people engaging in a lively conversation together, but no one seemed to notice or care about me. Then I said that I was there to have a job interview starting at 2:30 in English. A woman in charge noticed me, and she introduced herself to me.
It was the time when I began to feel that I was fish out of water…
To be continued…
※ This essay was originally written in May, 2018 for my essay course. Future modifications can be added later.
ako's English Diary 