The bank has erupted.
Last night my school received an e-mail about an important webchat scheduled for tomorrow morning (i.e. this morning). So, in accordance with the strange and cruel dictates of the Head Office overlords, I woke up incredibly early this morning and dragged myself to work. Upon arriving, the first thing the manager said to me was:
"The company is bankrupt."
Bankrupt is a rather funny word, but at the time I was in no mood to appreciate that. One quick bullet train to Nagoya and one long, long conference later, I learned that:
- I am now unemployed.
- GEOS is sorry about that.
- I won't be getting paid for the last month.
- The schools were bought by a corporation called G-Communications Group, aka: Big ConHuge Co. which basically owns almost everything in Japan.
- G-Com is looking to re-hire most former employees.
- Some GEOS schools will be reopened this week.
- Mine (and many others) won't.
- They'll get contact info for all employees who are interested in working for G-Com and contact them... eventually.
So, maybe this won't be the end of the world. I don't know if G-Com will work out, but (1) I have plenty of teaching experience at this point, (2) I'm willing to relocate anywhere in Japan and (3) I already have a VISA. Those three elements make me pretty employable by any English language school. Worst comes to worse, I'll have to start job searching in major cities. I've always heard that it's not too hard for foreigners to find work teaching English, and I can only hope the rumors are true.
And despite the fact that I realize, on some level, that this represents a big change in my financial security, part of my brain can't stop thinking "Huzzah! More game time!" Alas, part of me is incurably optimistic and laid-back. It's the Californian Curse.
"The company is bankrupt."
Bankrupt is a rather funny word, but at the time I was in no mood to appreciate that. One quick bullet train to Nagoya and one long, long conference later, I learned that:
- I am now unemployed.
- GEOS is sorry about that.
- I won't be getting paid for the last month.
- The schools were bought by a corporation called G-Communications Group, aka: Big ConHuge Co. which basically owns almost everything in Japan.
- G-Com is looking to re-hire most former employees.
- Some GEOS schools will be reopened this week.
- Mine (and many others) won't.
- They'll get contact info for all employees who are interested in working for G-Com and contact them... eventually.
So, maybe this won't be the end of the world. I don't know if G-Com will work out, but (1) I have plenty of teaching experience at this point, (2) I'm willing to relocate anywhere in Japan and (3) I already have a VISA. Those three elements make me pretty employable by any English language school. Worst comes to worse, I'll have to start job searching in major cities. I've always heard that it's not too hard for foreigners to find work teaching English, and I can only hope the rumors are true.
And despite the fact that I realize, on some level, that this represents a big change in my financial security, part of my brain can't stop thinking "Huzzah! More game time!" Alas, part of me is incurably optimistic and laid-back. It's the Californian Curse.