Close to home

Only having been in Osaka a week when looking for my apartment I nonetheless already had a good idea of where I wanted to live. Anyone who has lived or travelled with me will be able to attest that mornings are not my best time of the day. Well to be perfectly honest I have a tendency to run late at all times of the day, but more so in the morning. So I am now intentionally living quite close to school. Even then, I still have some close calls in the morning. My upstairs neighbour, a colleague, has witnessed me, as he puts it, "legging it" to the bus on more than one occasion. Any closer though and I wouldn't feel like I ever left school.

Not only do I live close to school but close to a large-ish shopping area with all the necessities and a subway station. However, I'm not the only person who values convenience. Lots of others from school, both staff and students, live in the area. Within a three minute walk from my place are the homes of three of my students. It has a nice community feel as occasionally I run into people when out shopping or walking through the shopping area.

Walking home tonight I was reminded of my lesson from last weekend- that this neighbourhood atmosphere is a double edged sword.

After coming home on one of the last trains last weekend after a night out I ran into not one but two people ou the subway station- a colleague and a class parent / colleague. There was nothing too shocking about my state, of dress or otherwise, however it was a good reminder of the small community I live in.

Oh sure, Osaka prefecture has a population of something like 8 million. How can I say it's a small community? I forget sometimes that I'm obvious, I don't blend in. I'm easily spotted in a crowd and so are lots of others from school and that makes it a small community.