Archive for February 27th, 2006

Cheque follow-up — “Are you serious?”

Published by
jessi
at February 27, 2006 in The Misadventures: Japan Chronicles. 2 Comments

Okay, so I called freaking American Express and all they told me was to sign them, date them with the day I got them, and take them back.

You’ve got to be kidding me! They made it seem like I’d have to go back to America and have someone watch me put my signature on the top line.

*grumbles irritably*

Anyway, since I’m posting again, out of curiousity, are people still having trouble with the password for my address? Let me know.

I’m trying to write in both my fic and in Lint Wars. I’m not having much luck. I think I’m too distracted by all the shiny new things that are around me. Goo.

Cheque mishaps and plum blossom souls

Published by
jessi
at February 27, 2006 in The Misadventures: Japan Chronicles. 2 Comments

I had my first traditional cultural experience today.

Since it was my “Saturday” I pretty much ran a bunch of errands. I was thwarted by the damn Travelers’ Cheques, but other than that, it wasn’t all that bad. If anything, seeing the Plum Blossom Garden of Osaka Castle made up for the harrowing experience trying to get money. And yes, I took pictures. Now it’s just a matter of figuring out how to post them. *smiles innocently at Press Master Mark*

I met Darya in OCAT after doing a few things around the apartment. Together, she and I went to the currency exchange since she needed US money and since I needed Yen. She’s going home tomorrow and will be in San Fransisco for a nine hour layover, so she decided to get US currency instead of Canadian money for the time being.

There was a mishap with my Travelers’ Cheques, however. When I bought them at Chase, they didn’t say I had to sign them with the teller as a witness or anything, so I just took them and left. When I got up to the exchange lady, though, she said she couldn’t take them because they weren’t signed. I was just going to sign them right then and there, but she said she still wouldn’t be able to accept them. She sent me to a different exhange on the lower level. Unfortunately, they couldn’t do anything for me either, thus leaving a very unsettled feeling in my stomach. Did this mean I was screwed out of $1,200.00? I had been counting on that money for various odds and ends, considering I wouldn’t be paid until March 15th. The second exchange place told me to call American Express.

Turns out, it’s not that big of a deal after all. I just have to sign them and take them back with my signature already present, then sign them again before I exchange them. I was pretty annoyed, if anything, because this is becoming way too much of a hassle. If I ahd known that it would be this much trouble, I would have just taken this amount in cash instead of paying the extra fee to get cheques.

We were supposed to meet Angela, Darya’s friend who ate with us at AsianDayz, but Darya wasn’t sure if she really wanted to go to Osaka-jo to bother seeing the blossoms since she had to be back at work at 5:30PM — it was somewhere around 3:00PM. She had asked my opinion and I told her it honestly didn’t matter to me what we did.

We ended up going, which I must admit, I’m glad we did. I would have been happy either way, but after walking through the garden, I think it’s a good thing to have gotten my first taste of Japanese culture.

The garden was indescribably beautiful — hence the pictures. I could walk around the grounds of Osaka Castle for an entire day, and I plan on doing so some time when it’s not quite so chilly out. I took a few shots of Osaka Castle, as well as several different trees, and closer shots of particular blossoms. And yes, I’m even in a couple of the pictures, much to my grumbling and protestations. I can’t promise that the pictures are any good, though.

I keep thinking I’ll have someone to show these things to when they come to visit me. Am I crazy for thinking like this, or what?

Three and five (and three)

Published by
jessi
at February 27, 2006 in On Teaching. 1 Comment

‘m backtracking a little…

I had my first full day of teaching yesterday (Sunday the 26 of February 2006). I think it went all right. Nothing too bad happened and no one fired me yet. In fact, they asked me if I wanted overtime. Based on the title of this post, you can see I took them up on it.

The way the schedules work is you teach a total of eight lessons, but they’re split by a break. So I taught three, had lunch, and then taught five. I think they go three and five, four and four, and five and three. Personally, I think I prefer a four and four, if anything because the break would fall on a more typical lunch time. Then again, my hour schedule is all over the place that I really shouldn’t take particular notice.

Sunday: 7:30AM - 2:50PM
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: 6:40PM - 10:40PM
Thursday: 3:10PM - 10:40PM
Friday: 6:40PM - 10:40PM
Saturday: 10:00AM - 5:40PM

I was literally in the middle of a lesson when one of the LS (MultiMedia office workers) ladies came running up to my booth waving hastily written message beside me. I was a little flustered because my students were in the middle of dialogue practice, thus I wan’t on camera, but because I was distracted, I didn’t change the text fast enough. There was silence over the “class” and I was thrown. After a hasty click of the text, I read the message. “Can you stay until 17:40 and teach three extra lessons?”

I stared at the woman blankly, while at the same time realizing my students were once again sitting in silence. I turned back to my class and threw up the dialogue again, telling them to switch roles. I frantically wrote down, “What’s 17:40?”

Needless to say, I was barely aware of what was going on in my class…for all I know, they were speaking Japanese (which, for the record, they’re not supposed to do). I think I ended up having them practice the dialogue one last time before I remembered I could mute my mic.

“How late do you want me to stay?”

“Until 5:40.”

I shrugged, “Why not? Sure, I’ll do it.” The way I figured it, the more practice I got, the better.

I felt really bad for that particular class; I wouldn’t be surprised if they called in and complained.

That’s maybe one of the harderst things for me to remember about Nova. It’s not a school the way I think of one. It’s still a corporation. These students are paying a lot of money to practice their English with a native speaker. Get this, I found out that for having my degree in education, I get an extra 5000 Yen. That translates to about fifty bucks. Can you believe that?

I actually liked the last two classes I taught — the first of the three was just run of the mill. I had a lot of fun teaching my first M2M (man-to-man) lesson. Kenji was a Fox, as in rank, not in “a catch”; so it was pretty easy striking up a conversation with him. He and I ended up having some similar interests, which was what the lesson was on. Then the lesson after him was a group of Golfs on a lesson in pop culture. They made me laugh. I filled them in on some American trends and they helped me with the Japanese ones.

At the end of that particular lesson, when I was telling them they did well, Hisami laughed and said, “No we didn’t, but it was nice of you to say so.”

I was really surprised by her comment. I wasn’t kidding when I told them they did well. They’re pronunciation was pretty good and while the lesson wasn’t without the usual minor glitches, I really enjoyed teaching it.

I’ll be having my one week observation soon. I hope I don’t suck.