update with substance! *gasp*
Okay.
This is a post that actually has real content. I promise. I guess it's good to do a recap of events, and how i got to where i am presently. Then I'll do story-telling about how my past week has been.
10/21 - GEOS Language Corp interviews in NYC for 3 days.
10/27 - GEOS calls to offer me the job in Japan, I take it. I have 2 and a half months to prepare for my training in vancouver starting january 7th.
10/28 ~ 1/6 - lots of preparing, talking to people about junk about the job and whatnot.
1/7 7:20 am - say goodbye to my dad and andrea and go into Newark Intl. Airport to get on my first flight to seattle at 830.
1/7 3:30 pm - get on plane from seattle to vancouver
1/7 5:30 pm - arrive at hotel and wait for training to start the next day.
So I've been in vancouver for the past 4 days and it's been a pretty strange experience. There are 4 people from my training/interview session in NYC (including me) out of 14 people. The average age of all the new teachers is about 24 years old. So basically I've been hanging out with a bunch of people around my own age who are pretty much in the exact same situation that i'm in for the past few nights. It's been training during the day, walking around the city and bar hopping most nights with the other people. I've been having a really great time being all grown up and being on my own in canada.
There's a few things that have been going through my head during all this time of work, new people, and excited anticipation.
I guess I'll start there, the excited anticipation. I've never been so pumped to go to japan since I learned that I'm going to actually be IN nagoya and working outside of it. It's really great to learn some more specifics about what the job entails, even if it is a fair amount of work and strict regiment and whatnot I'm still super-duper excited. We taught a japanese student a lesson yesterday and today with minimal success due to our own inexperience as english teachers. I'm pretty close to using the structure perfectly well for how they want us to teach the lessons. Unfortunately I'm still having trouble with a few important parts in the beginning and my confidence and whatnot but I'm sure I'll get better as i go on. Besides I haven't been told to go home yet, so i guess i can't be screwing up that badly.
Tonight I went out to drink with a good number of my fellow teachers and a few of our bosses and interviewers which is a really good experience. In japan, it's very common to go out and drink with your coworkers, bosses, students and friends after the work day is over or on weekends. This was kind of a good way for me to release some of the stress of their position vs. mine and get a chance to really not be put on the block in their presence. One of our interviewers, Tomoko, is from Japan (obviously) and I had a good chance to practice some of my japanese with her and she said that my pronunciation and accent was extremely good. surprisingly so, apparently. That made me feel really good about the language barrier I'm going to experience when I get there. Of course i still know shit about how to speak in japanese, but I have a BIG leg up on a lot of the other teachers.
I've been pretty cut off from those back at home. I've spoken to my dad infrequently through emails and mostly just about business related junk and bills. I've talked to pete a few minutes in the mornings when I get up before i leave to go to training, which is nice but I'm really out of touch with those I just left behind. That brings me to the point that i've been COMPLETELY unable to get in contact with andrea for the past 4 days. The last actual response I've gotten from her is a simple "K" when i texted her about landing in seattle and that I was getting on my next plane to vancouver. I've tried to send messages online and even wrote a long email to her but I've gotten no response at all. Not a very good start :-\. I hope that once i'm settled in in japan with the internet and the time difference gives us time to catch each other at opposing times of day I'll be able to get even a few words in before she's unavailable again.
Vancouver's pretty darn cool. It's got a fair amount of bars, places to eat, arcades, and things to keep me interested while i walk around on my way to training, lunch, home, and to the activity of the evening. I'll post a few pictures that have occurred in my facebook. No real pictures of me yet except for a group photo, but I'll have more time to take pictures when I'm not so focused on training like crazy. I've figured out that i have a fear of "can you take a picture of me and ______". Stupid non-out-going-ness. I'll have to kick that habit if i'm going to survive the isolationism in japan. I've already asked people to kick my ass about getting pictures posted and show that I've actually gone out and done something while i'm away from home and I intend to keep my end of the bargain.
So, I'm going to bed very soon. I'll probably do another weekly update next week when I'm actually IN japan. hopefully I can set my internet by then if my apartment has wireless ready (which i've heard many of the kind of apartment I'll be staying in do). Anyway, I'm doing well all. I miss people and places, but I'm having a good time on my adventure.
This is a post that actually has real content. I promise. I guess it's good to do a recap of events, and how i got to where i am presently. Then I'll do story-telling about how my past week has been.
10/21 - GEOS Language Corp interviews in NYC for 3 days.
10/27 - GEOS calls to offer me the job in Japan, I take it. I have 2 and a half months to prepare for my training in vancouver starting january 7th.
10/28 ~ 1/6 - lots of preparing, talking to people about junk about the job and whatnot.
1/7 7:20 am - say goodbye to my dad and andrea and go into Newark Intl. Airport to get on my first flight to seattle at 830.
1/7 3:30 pm - get on plane from seattle to vancouver
1/7 5:30 pm - arrive at hotel and wait for training to start the next day.
So I've been in vancouver for the past 4 days and it's been a pretty strange experience. There are 4 people from my training/interview session in NYC (including me) out of 14 people. The average age of all the new teachers is about 24 years old. So basically I've been hanging out with a bunch of people around my own age who are pretty much in the exact same situation that i'm in for the past few nights. It's been training during the day, walking around the city and bar hopping most nights with the other people. I've been having a really great time being all grown up and being on my own in canada.
There's a few things that have been going through my head during all this time of work, new people, and excited anticipation.
I guess I'll start there, the excited anticipation. I've never been so pumped to go to japan since I learned that I'm going to actually be IN nagoya and working outside of it. It's really great to learn some more specifics about what the job entails, even if it is a fair amount of work and strict regiment and whatnot I'm still super-duper excited. We taught a japanese student a lesson yesterday and today with minimal success due to our own inexperience as english teachers. I'm pretty close to using the structure perfectly well for how they want us to teach the lessons. Unfortunately I'm still having trouble with a few important parts in the beginning and my confidence and whatnot but I'm sure I'll get better as i go on. Besides I haven't been told to go home yet, so i guess i can't be screwing up that badly.
Tonight I went out to drink with a good number of my fellow teachers and a few of our bosses and interviewers which is a really good experience. In japan, it's very common to go out and drink with your coworkers, bosses, students and friends after the work day is over or on weekends. This was kind of a good way for me to release some of the stress of their position vs. mine and get a chance to really not be put on the block in their presence. One of our interviewers, Tomoko, is from Japan (obviously) and I had a good chance to practice some of my japanese with her and she said that my pronunciation and accent was extremely good. surprisingly so, apparently. That made me feel really good about the language barrier I'm going to experience when I get there. Of course i still know shit about how to speak in japanese, but I have a BIG leg up on a lot of the other teachers.
I've been pretty cut off from those back at home. I've spoken to my dad infrequently through emails and mostly just about business related junk and bills. I've talked to pete a few minutes in the mornings when I get up before i leave to go to training, which is nice but I'm really out of touch with those I just left behind. That brings me to the point that i've been COMPLETELY unable to get in contact with andrea for the past 4 days. The last actual response I've gotten from her is a simple "K" when i texted her about landing in seattle and that I was getting on my next plane to vancouver. I've tried to send messages online and even wrote a long email to her but I've gotten no response at all. Not a very good start :-\. I hope that once i'm settled in in japan with the internet and the time difference gives us time to catch each other at opposing times of day I'll be able to get even a few words in before she's unavailable again.
Vancouver's pretty darn cool. It's got a fair amount of bars, places to eat, arcades, and things to keep me interested while i walk around on my way to training, lunch, home, and to the activity of the evening. I'll post a few pictures that have occurred in my facebook. No real pictures of me yet except for a group photo, but I'll have more time to take pictures when I'm not so focused on training like crazy. I've figured out that i have a fear of "can you take a picture of me and ______". Stupid non-out-going-ness. I'll have to kick that habit if i'm going to survive the isolationism in japan. I've already asked people to kick my ass about getting pictures posted and show that I've actually gone out and done something while i'm away from home and I intend to keep my end of the bargain.
So, I'm going to bed very soon. I'll probably do another weekly update next week when I'm actually IN japan. hopefully I can set my internet by then if my apartment has wireless ready (which i've heard many of the kind of apartment I'll be staying in do). Anyway, I'm doing well all. I miss people and places, but I'm having a good time on my adventure.