August 29, 2006 – Bike ride in humidity
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Teaching English on November 27, 2017
The main themes running through my summer are teacher shortages at my branch and the insane humidity. Today I got to experience both of those things! Hooray!
Tuesday is usually a less busy day at NOVA, but today we only had 3 teachers on the evening shift, which is about 3-4 people short of fully staffed. This meant that during our dinner breaks only 2 teachers were available to teach lessons. I ended up doing Voice (the open conversation room) 4 times! Fortunately I had some chatty students, so the 160 minutes I spent in the room were not just an extended staring contest.
The humidity was so bad today that the 4km round trip bike ride to and from work actually made me feel crappy. Japanese summer humidity is NOT for Canadians.
August 28, 2006 – Bad form
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Teaching English on November 24, 2017
Today is one of my scheduled days off. This morning I was woken up by my phone. I got a call from NOVA asking me to work an overtime shift in Fujinomiya.
Numazu to Fujinomiya (thanks Google Maps)
I was totally caught off guard by the overtime request and still half asleep so I almost said yes. Somewhere in the back of my brain an alarm bell started ringing, reminding me that Fujinomiya was about a 40 minute train ride away and that the school was full of group kids classes. I like extra money, but I needed the day off more so I declined and went back to sleep for a few more hours. I found out later that the overtime shift came available due to a teacher calling in sick the day after a party.
One of the annoying things about being a conversational English teacher is that everyone has different days off. This allows the branch to be open 7 days a week, but guarantees that no matter which night of the week there is a party, someone is going to have to work the next day.
Drinking is part of the English teacher culture – many of the fun events after work involve alcohol in some way. In time you either learn how to moderate your intake on work nights or how to work through a hangover. Calling in sick the next day is universally considered to be bad form among teachers, and will make you very unpopular with managers and branch staff (as I learned first hand).
It should be noted that “not drinking” is always an option, but then you risk truly hearing how bad everyone is at karaoke. I don’t recommend this at all.
If you are teaching English overseas, always make sure you can get into the office the next day!
August 27, 2006 – State of the Union
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on November 22, 2017
Today was a rare Sunday shift, working on a shift swap to help another teacher. I had forgotten how busy Sunday was!
In the voice class, I had yet another student asking questions about the state of NOVA and our branch. All of the schools in our area are seriously understaffed, short of both teachers and the Japanese branch staff. Students are finding it harder and harder to book lessons, and the staff are always extra busy.
As a teacher we are not supposed to talk about school business or policies. However, this is a topic that keeps coming up regularly. A few students have told me that I’m one of the few people who will actually have the conversation and they appreciate it. I sympathize with the students – they have all purchased large lesson packages that expire in time, but the shortage of teachers is preventing them from getting what they paid for.
I could be getting myself in trouble talking about the school, but at the same time I’m leaving in two months so I’m not as concerned as I would normally be.
(2017 Note) The financial situation for the company was MUCH worse than anyone knew at the time. The students were right to be concerned.
August 26, 2006 – Cool biz where are you?
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Teaching English on November 22, 2017
In case I haven’t mentioned it a few hundred times already, I really dislike summer in Japan.
Realizing that Japan is hot and humid in the summer, the government introduced a new business dress code called “cool biz” this year. The idea is to reduce electricity use by setting air conditioners to 28 degrees C (that’s 82 F for my metrically challenged friends) and allowing people to not wear ties.
The private sector is slowly adopting the idea, but NOVA is still insisting that all male teachers must continue to wear ties in the office, even thought the air conditioner is now set to 28. Ironically we are now less comfortable than we were before.
Today, like other summer days, I got out of a cool shower, put on my shirt and tie, and then rode my bike to my branch through scorching sunlight and sauna-like humidity. My ride to work, combined with reduced air conditioning in the office and 3 group kids classes left me as a sweaty mess for much of the day. Hopefully my very professional looking tie distracted my students from the sweat stains on my shirt. Urgh.
August 25, 2006 – Plane ticket home – for real this time
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on November 22, 2017
Today I bought my plane ticket home, for real this time. I will be leaving Japan on November 15. For as much as I have been talking and thinking about leaving, this really makes it official.
I have purchased three plane tickets to Canada during my time in Japan. The first time I brought The Penpal as a translator and the second time I used only English. This time I was able to make the entire purchase by myself in Japanese, which made me feel pretty good. I’d be feeling even better if the ticket was a bit cheaper…
August 24, 2006 – Swords, sandals, and suckitude
Posted by Barniferous in Movies on November 20, 2017
After a long day of teaching English, this evening’s activity was watching Mystery Science Theater 3000. I don’t think I need to mention that we also drank beer – it’s pretty much impossible (and not at all recommended) to watch MST3K without some kind of cushioning for your brain.
Tonight’s bad, bad movie was Hercules from 1958. It was a low budget Italian movie that somehow was popular enough at the time to start the “sword and sandal” genre. The movie industry must have been pretty awful in 1958 for this bomb to become popular. Even the MST3K crew couldn’t save this stinker.
Perhaps we needed more beer.
August 21, 2006 – Working overtime
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English, The Penpal on November 2, 2017
A few days ago, my area manager came to my branch and asked very nicely for me and another teacher to work overtime today.
When I first started at NOVA, there were overtime shifts available regularly, especially in the bigger cities. In the past year, overtime has become rare in an effort to cut costs, resulting in cancelled lessons for students. I was asked to pick up an extra shift because there were only 2 teachers available, which wouldn’t cover the schedule at all.
I don’t like giving up my days off, but I do like making some extra money. Not only that, but my OT shift was an early shift which made for an easy day of teaching English. After work I got some food and played Mario Party with The Penpal. Best overtime day ever!
August 20, 2006 – Like part of the family
Posted by Barniferous in The Penpal on November 1, 2017
Recently the Penpal’s family bought a new house, just down the street from the house where they have lived for over 20 years. Today I went over to help with their move.
Some of the Penpal’s relatives were helping as well. I got to meet an aunt, uncle, and cousin that I hadn’t met before. They had spent a few years living in the United States, so they could speak a bit of English. They also told the Penpal’s parents about how nice Canada was. The parents have been worried about their only daughter moving away to a strange, frozen country, so it was nice to have some extended family who could put in a word on our behalf.
I helped move boxes, trimming the giant hedge in front of the house, and then while The Penpal and her mother cooked dinner I spent about an hour chatting with her father. Somehow we managed to keep the conversation going the whole time. The whole day felt like I was becoming part of the family.
August 15 – 19, 2006 – I’m becoming boring
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on October 31, 2017
It’s finally happened – after living in Japan for almost 3 years and having tons of adventures, I have finally become boring.
For anyone arguing that I have been boring for a while, the joke’s on you: you’re reading this blog!
The only thing notable from August 15 – 19 was a lack of kids classes. Other than that I go to work, eat, sleep, and play video games, just like I would anywhere else. I didn’t even have any crazy beer fueled karaoke adventures!
My adventure away from Canada has become ordinary. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just a thing.
August 14, 2006 – Shopping in Tokyo
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Tokyo on October 26, 2017
Today I went to Tokyo to do some shopping. From Numazu to Tokyo station it’s only about an hour on the shinkansen, or about 2 hours on the Tokaido line.
My first stop was the wonderful Blue Parrot book store near Takadanobaba station, home to used English books, movies, and CDs. I really should have done this last because I ended up carrying heavy books around for the rest of my day.
My next stop was Ginza to look for a long overdue sympathy card for a friend of the family who had passed away recently. Sympathy cards are very different in Japan – I hadn’t had any luck shopping in Numazu. I had heard good things about Ito-Ya, the 100 year old Stationary store in Ginza. It’s located between Tiffany and Co and Bulgari, both stores that I can’t afford to window shop in. Ito-Ya’s selection was HUGE – I never thought I would be entertained looking around a stationary store. After some searching I found something that would work as a sympathy card in Canada.
My final stop was Akihabara, which is always a fun place to explore when you have free time. I was trying to find stores that sold English language video games. It’s very easy to find places to buy games in Japan, but there are only a few places that import English language versions of games. Finding these is not easy, but it’s still easier than learning enough Japanese to play RPGs.
I’m lucky that I live only a few hours away from one of the worlds biggest and most exciting cities. Not everyone can just hop on a train for a shopping trip to Tokyo!
Drinking in Japan 
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