(no subject)
My mom made a very good point today that I found interesting. My family, even at our financially best, has never been particularly attracted to 'luxury' items per se. The bulk of our 'fun' expenses were spent on travel, theme parks, and resorts. We don't make a habit of clubbing, pubbing, karaoke (once every two years with cousins, perhaps), restaurants, local tourist spots, etc. We're basically homebodies, all of us, except when it comes to Vacation Time and then we go on well-planned vacations with relaxed pacing. (Planning and pacing is usually my job, transportation's my mom's job. My brother is luggage labor, my dad the financier, and my sister the comic relief. XD I love it.) We don't collect cars, purses, antiques or anything else extravagant (though my dad and I do indulge in comic books) --we collect passport stamps. My current passport needed pages added, and I've had it only since 2001. Granted, the majority of the stamps come from the same four countries, but it's a good collection nonetheless.
I find the dichotomy of being homebody-travelers interesting. Why don't we spend more time out of the home beyond vacation? Probably some psychological mishmash of insecurity, exoticism fetish, superiority complexes, and laziness.-__-
I saw so many items of good news on my Flist today. And I mean SO MANY. I typed out 'Congratulations' more times than I do in a month. Good things, small and large (A free ticket to Spamalot? Getting licensed for your livelihood? Having a place to live?) I feel...a little left out of the wonderfulness, truth be told. But them's the breaks, and all my friends deserve the rewards of their efforts. Awesome things are happening, and I'm happy for everyone.
Sent out an application for Hess (Taiwan equiv of eikaiwa) as well as a few more apps for Japan (dreams die hard. Le sigh.). One eikaiwa sent me back a response about 15 minutes after I sent out my app. O_o They want to schedule a phone interview, and I'm crazy nervous because what if they hire me?
I want to discuss a good time and date for the interview with my mom, but she's in the living room hammering out details....for an apartment she and Dad are buying. \^o^/ It's in a housing development about forty minutes from Taipei City, but the air is nice, the developers have a really good reputation in terms of ethics and followthrough, and the space we chose is relatively large. Costly, but the same money wouldn't get us much in Taipei City, and it'll be new. Construction is supposed to be completed next year, and there will be eight residential towers, a pool in the courtyard a two story spa, a library...etc etc etc tons of shared facilities. Our tower won't have a storefront on the first floor --instead, it'll have some weird water thing running under it. A major law school is relocating their campus to the area, and there are housing developments springing up left and right. It used to be all tea fields. Our development company is also building a mall, and they also built a student-targeted studio/single housing complex next door to our behemoth. So while she's doing that, I can't really barge in and demand to fidget and faddle over a 'good' interview date and time. But I want/need a second opinion. Yipe.
So...what are some good questions to ask of an employer in Japan? I believe I should ask about housing (school subsidized or are the teachers on their own? Does the school help find housing in that event?), training (how long, what gets covered), teacher support(continued training? problems with students?), transition support (homesickness counseling, moving to Japan, help with banks and registration), holidays (when? how many? paid or unpaid?). I'm excited, because this is honestly the fastest response I've ever gotten about a job (I think. Nova also responded quickly, but that's because they're always in a hiring pinch and now there are students wanting to sue them for unused, nonrefundable lesson tickets because there aren't enough teachers to teach the classes), and the school looks awesome. Doing my best not to get too excitedand failing miserably, though, given my track record. Mew.
In other news, I've been having serious difficulties getting to sleep despite being tired, and I know it's because around this time of year school starts, and every year from preschool until now I've had temporary insomnia resulting from anxiety about the upcoming schoolyear. My body is used to the stress, and not having school anymore doesn't mean eighteen years' worth of behavioral patterns are going to stop just like that. Every cell in my body is pointing me towards the nearest academic resource and my brain keeps trying to set itself into 'academic mode,' which always only lasts the first couple weeks of school but is still a shift of focus and attitude. ARGH.
I find the dichotomy of being homebody-travelers interesting. Why don't we spend more time out of the home beyond vacation? Probably some psychological mishmash of insecurity, exoticism fetish, superiority complexes, and laziness.-__-
I saw so many items of good news on my Flist today. And I mean SO MANY. I typed out 'Congratulations' more times than I do in a month. Good things, small and large (A free ticket to Spamalot? Getting licensed for your livelihood? Having a place to live?) I feel...a little left out of the wonderfulness, truth be told. But them's the breaks, and all my friends deserve the rewards of their efforts. Awesome things are happening, and I'm happy for everyone.
Sent out an application for Hess (Taiwan equiv of eikaiwa) as well as a few more apps for Japan (dreams die hard. Le sigh.). One eikaiwa sent me back a response about 15 minutes after I sent out my app. O_o They want to schedule a phone interview, and I'm crazy nervous because what if they hire me?
I want to discuss a good time and date for the interview with my mom, but she's in the living room hammering out details....for an apartment she and Dad are buying. \^o^/ It's in a housing development about forty minutes from Taipei City, but the air is nice, the developers have a really good reputation in terms of ethics and followthrough, and the space we chose is relatively large. Costly, but the same money wouldn't get us much in Taipei City, and it'll be new. Construction is supposed to be completed next year, and there will be eight residential towers, a pool in the courtyard a two story spa, a library...etc etc etc tons of shared facilities. Our tower won't have a storefront on the first floor --instead, it'll have some weird water thing running under it. A major law school is relocating their campus to the area, and there are housing developments springing up left and right. It used to be all tea fields. Our development company is also building a mall, and they also built a student-targeted studio/single housing complex next door to our behemoth. So while she's doing that, I can't really barge in and demand to fidget and faddle over a 'good' interview date and time. But I want/need a second opinion. Yipe.
So...what are some good questions to ask of an employer in Japan? I believe I should ask about housing (school subsidized or are the teachers on their own? Does the school help find housing in that event?), training (how long, what gets covered), teacher support(continued training? problems with students?), transition support (homesickness counseling, moving to Japan, help with banks and registration), holidays (when? how many? paid or unpaid?). I'm excited, because this is honestly the fastest response I've ever gotten about a job (I think. Nova also responded quickly, but that's because they're always in a hiring pinch and now there are students wanting to sue them for unused, nonrefundable lesson tickets because there aren't enough teachers to teach the classes), and the school looks awesome. Doing my best not to get too excitedand failing miserably, though, given my track record. Mew.
In other news, I've been having serious difficulties getting to sleep despite being tired, and I know it's because around this time of year school starts, and every year from preschool until now I've had temporary insomnia resulting from anxiety about the upcoming schoolyear. My body is used to the stress, and not having school anymore doesn't mean eighteen years' worth of behavioral patterns are going to stop just like that. Every cell in my body is pointing me towards the nearest academic resource and my brain keeps trying to set itself into 'academic mode,' which always only lasts the first couple weeks of school but is still a shift of focus and attitude. ARGH.