Just One More Working Stiff

There are 66.07 million poor working stiffs here in Japan. And now you can add one more. My first day of work is tomorrow. Let’s begin at the beginning - not my usual starting off point, but then again, I like to be unpredictable.

I’d been personally applying for teaching positions here in Japan for about two weeks now, and had been getting pretty discouraged. The people I spoke to had all warned me that finding a teaching position with a company that could sponsor my work visa would be difficult for two reasons. The first being that the school year began on April 1st and the majority of teaching positions had already been filled for the next 6 months. And second, a few months before I came to Japan, one of the major chains of conversation schools had closed unexpectedly with some controversy and the job market had been flooded with English teachers looking for employment. So, I was still looking, but I was also looking for jobs back in the states and was working on a backup plan for when I had to leave Japan in two months when my temporary visitor’s visa ran out.

And then fate intervened. Nobie was on one of her interpreting jobs when her boss, through the company she contracts out from, asked if she knew of a native English speaker interested in teaching in a nearby school district. She said she just might know of someone ;)

The company both Nobie and I now work for is called OWLS Co. Ltd. They employ English interpreters, translators, and - most importantly – teachers. They employ almost 100 teachers, called ALTs (Assistant Language Teacher). These ALTs are sent out to a number of school districts to assist the Japanese teachers. The teacher OWLS had set up for the Kikuchi school district had to leave unexpectedly and his post needed to be filled immediately. They were discouraged as the Kikuchi area is kind of rural and they were finding it difficult to find someone who would be willing to go there.

So with Nobie’s recommendation, which Stewart said is the most important thing here in Japan – resumes and experience do not count as much as who you know, I headed to Kokura, a large city on the northwest shore of Kyushu, for an interview. This called for me to travel by train for the first time, not counting my small trips to town on what is really more like a subway. Nobie took me to the Suizenji Station early Tuesday morning and helped me by my round-trip tickets to Kokura and back. Luckily, I was able to stay on one train the entire way and didn’t have to worry about switching trains halfway. The trip took about 2 and half hours, but felt much longer with all of the stops we made. The train itself was very nice, however, and as I got on at one of the first stops, I was able to get a seat in the front with lots of legroom.

I arrived in Kokura a little more than an hour before my interview, so I grabbed a bite to eat from the food court in Kokura station. I went to what they call a deli / bakery which has all kinds of baked goods, sweet and savory. I grabbed what was basically an individual pizza with ham, onions, and spinach and a bottle of water and ate in the cafeteria area. Also in the food court was a Mr. Donut and a Mo’s Burgers. These establishments can be found everywhere in Japan.

Slight tangent: My culture shock comes in small waves rather than one big surge. One such wave came in the food court with the pandemonium around me. Most of the din came from the workers at Mo’s Burgers and is indicative of much of Japanese customer service. They certainly seem to equate loudness with enthusiasm. There were three women working the counter and at least one worker visible in the back, and ALL of them would welcome a new customer… very loudly and repeatedly. In fact, they will start greeting when a person is halfway across the room if they so much as look as if they are on a trajectory towards the vicinity of the Mo’s counter. There is also a lot of bowing going on. And for Japanese, to do something once – bowing, greeting, thanking, etc. – is never as good as doing it three or four or even five times. It's unsettling.

Tangent over.

So, I grabbed a bite to eat and headed towards the building in which my interview was being held. I still had about an hour and the building was said to be very close, but I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get lost once or twice. Turns out, there was a skywalk that took me straight to the door of the Asia-Pacific International Market (AIM building) where OWLS has their office. It only took about 4 minutes, so I sat in the lobby reading – I am halfway through Camus’ The Stranger, which I am enjoying tremendously – until about twenty minutes before my interview time when I headed up to the 8th floor and found the OWLS office. Before I could even introduce myself, they knew whom I was and ushered me into a small interview room and the woman I was meeting, Ms. Konishi, was right in and we got started. First, I had to take an English test which was kind of fun to be honest, at least I knew I would do okay on one portion of the interview. When she returned we talked for about an hour and when I left, I was fairly confident that I would be offered the position.

Turns out my confidence was well-founded as by the time I returned home about three hours later, Ms. Konishi had already called with a job offer which she then emailed to me hoping for a response that evening. I called back and accepted. And though I knew they were in a hurry to fill the position, I am still kind of surprised at how quickly everything is happening. Tomorrow, I will go to meet with the Kikuchi Board of Education and a few of the teachers with which I will be teaching, then my coordinator with OWLS will drive me up to Kokura where I’ll first go through my contract and get all of the paperwork in order, then I will be taken to a local elementary school where I will observe another ALT teaching in a classroom. And that will conclude my training.

My first day as an ALT in the Kikuchi school district is Friday. Yes, Friday the 18th. Immediately. Eek.

A little bit more about my job. I’ll be traveling between four elementary schools in Kikuchi. My day will go from 8:15 to 4:30, Monday through Friday. And though I won’t be teaching the entire day, I will have to be in the school working on materials and my preparations. I will also be able to look in on some of the other classes as well, which I am pretty excited about. Ms. Konishi mentioned a cooking class, and Nobie went into more detail about it later. She said it’s basically what we would consider Home-Ec for sixth and maybe fifth graders. They learn how to make rice, fried eggs, miso soup, etc. That’s what I want to learn how to make! I have a feeling I will become very familiar with the cooking teacher.

And about halfway through my interview, Ms. Konishi went on what I believed was a slight tangent asking if I liked Japanese food. Turns out, she had a very valid reason for asking. The students eat their lunches in the classroom and the teachers are expected to each the school lunch with them. She wanted to make sure that I didn’t have a problem with that, which I assured her that I didn’t believe I would.

Anyway, I’ll be teaching mostly 3rd through 6th grades, and occasionally 1st and 2nd. And I won’t be teaching them English. Rather, I will be instructing them on how to interact with foreigners in English. Basically, the difference is that in elementary school, they are not graded on this. It isn’t until Jr. High that they must take English classes for a grade. This all means that elementary school kids love English time and activities, as they don’t have to worry about taking any tests on it. Which is nice. The more they enjoy it, the more enjoyable it will be for me as well.

Ms. Konishi said that my primary job is to be a good example of an American and Westerner to these children that have most likely never met a gaijin before. She said that everything I do or say will be interpreted as what all Americans do and say. That’s somewhat intimidating, but I’m not too worried. My parents raised me right :)

The school year started on April 1st, so I am coming in a few weeks late. And their school year is year round, so my contract ends with OWLS on March 31, 2009. I’ll have the entire month of August off, though unpaid, which I can do whatever I want. Perhaps, I'll take that time to visit Seoul or Taipei.

The other school breaks I will have to work, but I will be given 10 paid holidays, which I am encouraged to take during the Winter Break (Dec. 25 – Jan. 7) and March Break. I also get the 20 national holidays off. And speaking of national holidays, perhaps the biggest string of these comes April 30 – May 5, which is called Golden Week and has about four holidays grouped together.

And that’s all the information you’re going to get for now ;) Basically, because that’s about all the information I have at this time. Suffice to say, I have a lot of things to take care of in the following weeks including how in the hell I’m going to get to these schools. If I haven’t mentioned it already – and really, at this point you should have looked it up – Kikuchi is very near where I am staying right now. I am going to look for an apartment, so I don’t impose on Stewart and Nobie for much longer, but it’s not necessarily an urgent matter. No matter what, however, I need to figure out where these schools are and how to reach them: be it by bus, bicycle, or something else. Nobie knows someone that might, emphasis might, have a car that they would be willing to give me, which would have many advantages as well as disadvantages. The option of buying a used scooter is also being bandied about. I like the scooter idea for just the romanticism of it more than anything. They make me think of the movie, Roman Holiday; and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, then run don’t walk to the nearest video store and rent it. Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Rome, scooters, nuf said. The reality of Kyushu and the rainy season is not quite as romantic, unfortunately.

It’s getting late and I need to get ready for tomorrow, so I’ll finish this up. Next time, seriously will be about poor man’s Reno.

No new food updates, but I did see a fun t-shirt the other day. ‘General Thinking, My Mind Killing.’ Ummmm…. Ditto?

- Jenny