Michael found me next from the dating website. He is also an Aussie. He taught English in Japan before, and now lives in Australia, although he is planning to return to Japan this summer.
He doesn’t have any male friends, but he seems to have many female admirers on Facebook, loving every word he says.
He doesn’t have a bachelor’s degree but he has tried everything he can, persuading me to help him land a university teaching job here in Tokyo. He doesn’t have the money to rent a place here, so he suggested that we have a house swap, after he realized I was not interested in him at all.
Ehhhh, excuse me, I understand moving to Tokyo is his dream, but tell me again, please, why shall I move to a small city in the outback?
I have met quiet a few Aussies, and I must say I do admire their raw ambitions. And they always make sure they get what they want, one way or another.
Next I met an Italian programmer called Lou. He works in a bank here and flies to a village in west Japan to visit his children every 2 weeks. He hates his job, and lives for his kids. He wore a pair of bight yellow sneakers when we met one evening for a drink after work.
I still don’t know why he needs a woman in his life, and I am sure he doesn’t really know the answer either.
William also found me at that website. He is a programmer from Belgium, very sweet and polite. We enjoyed our Skype chats, but when we finally switched to video, I was surprised to find that he is deaf, although I didn’t mind at that time.
So later we met for coffee and cake. Well, I still think he is great, but I simply can’t communicate with him!
We had to write down everything, even when we were just discussing what to order, on his notebook:
Me: I like their café mocha here, it’s much better than Starbucks’.
He: Oh really?
Me: Yes, really.
And so on…
