Sunday, 26 September 2004

I'm alright now...

Just spoke to Tim and he said it takes more than that to be fired. And here I was actually looking through classifieds for jobs! If I got fired, my working Visa is still valid until next year anyway, so I can still live here. ;)

Today was a bit of a bust (in more ways than one). The famous Japanese model/ actress/ singer signing I took today off to go to was sold out. Did do some random shopping though.

SIGH...

FUUUUUCKKK!!!

I'm really pissed right now! I had planned to swap shifts for my shift today with a guy at work. He would cover my shift today and I would work for one of his shifts. We didn't fill out the paperwork because he hadn't decided what shift of his he wanted me to cover. But he assured me that he was up for covering my shift today. I even double checked several times on that day to make sure!

Anyway, I guess you can see where this is going... Yesterday I mention this swap to Tim our manager and I rang the office this morning to make sure they had been notified. I rang this guy and left a message on his mobile just as a cautionary reminder and guess what? He never showed up to cover my shift! I got a call back from the office telling me he never showed up and they couldn't get in contact with him because his mobile phone was just taking messages! I couldn't get through either! This is all at 10am by the way, the time when the shift starts!

I appologised for him and said I did have plans today but they didn't matter and that I'd be right in to work the shift. They said they'd try to contact him again and call back in 10 minutes. They did and they said that they had found someone else to cover the shift. Some of the staff are nice people so they may have done this because I said I had plans, but I feel really bad because I know this must be frustrating for them and also that this will show on MY records.

I want to stay in Japan for at least 2 years but we have to get our contract renewed at the end of each year. This could seriously put my renewal in jeopardy. I guess I'm going to hold off on any more sick days (I've only taken 2 which is good) and put myself in for some more overtime (which I am doing anyway).

I'm just really paranoid now. Some people have been threatened with cancelation for being 5 mins late. I just hope we can chalk this up to confusion (I don't want this guy to get fired either).

I did just have my 6 month review though and that went really well with Satisfactorys and Greats. (Unsatisfactory and Excellent were the other options and it's impossible to get Excellents in your first year I've been told).

Wish me luck.

Thursday, 23 September 2004

Oops, I Did it Again!

Had an early shift today and completely forgot (it's normally a late shift today!) good thing Tim woke me up whe he did, but that still only gave me 20mins to get to work! I rang the office and told them I'd be late. I managed to have a shower, get dressed and get to work all within 24 minutes! Not bad!

Tuesday, 21 September 2004

Smell!

Japanese people are crazy. They say that white people have to use deodorant because we smell (Japanese people don't use any) but then they use chewing gum INSTEAD of brushing their teeth! Bad breath everywhere!

Autum's coming up here soon. Apparently all the tress, etc look amazing when they redden.

Monday, 20 September 2004

Conflict....

Starting to feel a bit of the duplicity of the Japanese staff today that a lot of people have been talking about. On the surface they smile and pretend to be your friend but... something else is going on. It's just the culture I think. Japanese people consider it rude to say what they think, so a lot of people (moreso the women) tend to lie when talking to you. Of course they don't consider it lying. Hmp.

Sunday, 19 September 2004

Overtime!

Not sure if I made the right decission but I signed myself up for 2 extra days of overtime today for next Tues and Weds!!! Overtime is hard to come by and we get paid about Y20,000 per overtime day, approx. Too tempting so I said yes to not one, but two days! Ugh... great money though, but I'll be working 8 days straight with no no day off. I've done worse though, plus I'll be Y40,000 richer next month! That's about AU$500!!!

P.S. Added some more music to my blog radio to your right!

Saturday, 18 September 2004

MWA!

Man, I was sick yesterday! About half way through my shift I started getting headaches and by the last lesson, I was burning up! Another teacher had similar symptoms. Probably because noone covers their mouths when they SNEEZE!!!!

Rant over.

Wednesday, 15 September 2004

Am Lovin' Japan!

Had the best day ever today in Japan! The whole day was just great and had that special feeling. It was strange but I felt like I did in my first few days in Japan. There was some level of excitement in the air. I don't know whether it was because I had the BEST cup of coffee (tried Linda [from Nikko]'s suggestion about buying special disposable drip filter coffee) or because Tim's on holiday in another country (I have the house to myself) but today I just felt great!!!

Headed into Tokyo at around 2pm and stopped by Tokyo first to check out the Pokemon Centre. Today was the last day to get a special ticket downloaded to my game boy so I can get a special Pokemon! Got that and also did some multi-playing with some other Pokemon fans. Picked up myself a plastic print of a kick arse Pokemon artwork for a mousepad (discovered that my mouse has started wearing down the polish on my counter!!!).

Next stop was Shibuya where I picked up (finally!) the two Tomb Raider 2 soundtracks. One has the instrumental score, the other the vocal tracks which has one of my favourites by the Dandy Warhols; The Last High (now on my radio to the right!). While in Shibuya I also picked up some comics from Comix.

After Shibuya was Harajuku! I can't believe I'd never been here! This is my kind of town! 100s of unique stores with a kind of underground feel with some designer labels thrown in! I really splurged today, picking up 4 t-shirts (they were on sale!) a cool pair of gold/brown designer jeans (cheaper than Australia) and a trendy Japanese style jacket! I just hope the temp drops below 25 degrees so I can wear it!!! Autum's here, and apparently it snows in winter. Looking forward to that!

Oh, met a lot of nice Japanese people of all ages today! No bad experiences at all! LOVE IT!!! It's a shame I have to work tomorrow, or I'd go back!!!

Tuesday, 14 September 2004

Radio Online!

Just tired in every way today. Laying low and chilling out. Found a great site: Radio Blog Club which allows me to create my own internet radio station on this page! No copywrite laws being broken, you can't download the songs, and you get an idea about my taste in music! It's pretty varied as I like almost every genre.

Let me know what you think!

Sunday, 12 September 2004

Fast!

Had a great time today. Went out after work for some drinks with a few guys and gals from work. When I got back home I had a package from Amazon.co.jp waiting for me! I ordered this on Friday night and I paid for normal delivery (4-5 days) and I got it within 24 hours! Tim had a similar experience last week, which is why I decided to try it. Amazing! Free delivery in Japan too!

I ordered the Lonely Planet Peru book by the way. Much thinner than the Japan one but has some great info and pics! Can't wait to teach there in 2006!!!

Friday, 10 September 2004

More Training...

Got a call from Tim (manager, not flatmate) yesterday, telling me I had training today in Shinjuku with Carmen. It was in the same building as my Orientation so it was nice to reminice. We stopped by a food court I found last time I was in here and had a Tai lunch (Carmen was adamant about Tai) and did some window shopping on the way.

Also at the training was Eric's flatmate (one of them anyway) who was sitting at the table in front of us. I'd never met him before, bot we found out about our connection while talking about the usual things; where do you live, what country are you from, etc.

Okay training, but went a bit overtime.

Wednesday, 8 September 2004

Hurry Up!

Just got back from the 7/11 and am motivated to talk about the level of slow and incompetent service that is in Japan. When you take your food to the register, not only do they drone out a welcome message that goes on for about 30 seconds, they don't wait for an answer, but simply keep their head down and start scanning your purchases. Okay, not that bad, but then they feel the need to read out aloud the price of every product you're buying despite there's a crystal clear monitor displaying the information for you. Then of course, there's the total, how much money you give them and then every coin and note in change being counted twice by the worker and then handed to you individually!

It's very Japanese and VERY frustrating.

There seems to be a trend in Japan of implementing ideas simply because they see them done in andother country or because that's they way they've always been done here. i.e. Merchants YELLING at you in a shopping centre to buy their products. This isn't the fish markets people! Noone seems to stop and think if they idea is practical. They just do it because they do it and it's studip as Hell.

zzz

I slept in until 1pm today! That's got to be the most I've slept in months!!!!

Tuesday, 7 September 2004

Riiiiiiiiiiiing...

Mum, finally got in touch with me! Great to talk with Heather and Roger and Mum again. Been a long time.

I actually got a pot plant for my room! I think I put it off too long as Summer's almost over. Still have a few hots days though. Hopefully it'll cool my room down a bit.

Monday, 6 September 2004

Earthquake number.....uh, screw it.

Had another earthquake last night, though it was more of a gentle rocking. I've lost count of how many there've been now. ;)

Sunday, 5 September 2004

BLOGGER!!!!!

Well Blogger went offline for a few days so now I have to play catchup!!!

It looks like someone's designated me the Nova Kids teacher as today 5 out of my 8 lessons were all kids classes! I di like teaching the kids but 5 lessons is just too draining. Luckily Andy swapped my last two kids lessons for his regular one and a Voice. Thank GOD.

Got 3 days off, starting tomorrow! Still trying to work out my budget for the next week before I get paid. I want to do a fair bit (see my last post) but I might just have to wait until after pay day.

I've been checking prices for flights to Oz and they seem to be 30% cheaper here than buying a ticket from Australia! Great stuff! I should be able to buy my plane ticket with one month's savings! That leaves me with enough to save up for maybe some traveling after Christmas plus presents for people and some misc stuff for meself!

Kit (friend back in Oz) should have had her baby now. Good luck Kit! Hope to hear from you soon!

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Had a completely random conversation at work today (like that's new) about what we call our relatives. Aunt or Auntie? Granny, Nanna, Grandma or Grandmother? Deep stuff that.

It's amazing how many of our students teach English for a proffession in Japan! No wonder so many people speak broken English.

If you didn't know a lot of English words have been adopted into the Japanese language. They call it Japlish. We call it Engrish. I think our word is funnier.

In Japan, if you don't have time to have a conversation, they call that an "anti-conversation". I've been setting all my students straight with this incorrect use of our language. It's still strange how they call weekends "vacations". Strange, strange, strange...

Friday, 3 September 2004

Planning...

Well, here's my plan for my long weekend. I did some shift swapping with Sally because her sister is visiting so now I have Monday AND the usual Tuesday and Wednesday off!!!

Mon - Going to GET that gym mebership! 5 months of no wieghts is really taking it's toll on me (can't believe it's already been 5 months!!!)

Tues - Checking out Harajuku. EVERYONE says it's a great place to shop and has a park and everything! Can't believe I havn't been there yet! So close to Shibuya too! Need to buy some jeans and aftershave... and SAVE money at the same time! Just realised it's only 4 months until December and I want to fly back to Oz for Christmas!!!

Wed - Chibi City. Havn't been yet. Close to Tokyo and I can get a Chiba Starbucks mug there!!! :D

Wednesday, 1 September 2004

Alrighty...

11:24am and still trying to decide what to do today. Still need to post that form and sign up for a Gym membership... oh, yeah, just remembered I need to ring the city council about Japanese lessons (they're free). Also have to wash my doona (nothing serious don't worry!), vacuum my room and do a general tidy up.... but am having a craving to sit in Starbucks in Shibuya and just people watch. :/

Also back into the Teach in Mexico thing, but have finally decided that I'll do Japan for two years (until April 2006) and then maybe take a few months off in Sydney and then maybe off to Mexico or Peru. If I can get a lot of money together however, I might look into opening that cafe, that I've been dreaming about. Maybe in Sydney (Darling Harbour idealy), but actually I think it'd do very well in Orange who is still very new to coffee and is in need of a good bookstore and comic/anime store (isn't one). What the Hell... I'll open two cafes!

Yeah, right!

In site news, I'll try add a picture gallery, a bit for my fave movies and a special popup section for my growing Starbucks mug collection (have 4 now I think and 1 more next week from Chibi City!).