Working

So while I've been primarily studying for the past year, I've also been goofing off to do some 'work.'

This has involved everything from writing to visiting a tourist area in the south.

While it has become clear that I will never be a linguistically agile person, what with it taking so long to learn Japanese, I've found that I'm decent enough at dropping in and out of a variety of situations to do a variety of jobs.

I'm coming to the end of my language learning, having spent the last of my saved money on this terms tuition.  With that, my options are basically as follows:

Sponge
Mooch
Work

I don't really have it in me to sponge any more than I already have been.

I don't really know what mooch means.

I guess that leaves work.

So the next question is, where to work?  I still don't have the necessary language qualifications to work full-time at a 'real,' company, so it's probably going to be a part-time job somewhere.  If you will indulge me patronising the reader a little, if you are under 50 or so years old, you might misunderstand the term part-time here.

It used to mean fewer than X hours a week (depending on country, somewhere around 25 hours a week).

Part-time now means a job that pays terribly, has zero benefits (health insurance, pension, etc) and can be any number of hours a week.  To put this in perspective, I was a part-timer while I was teaching, because I was paid for X number of hours despite working much longer.

At this point you're wondering what on earth I'm talking about and why I've written this confusing screed against the current state of employment law around the developed world.

Don't worry about it.

This post is entirely for me, reminding myself why I quit my previous job and am working to improve myself.  Everyone has to write something like from time to time.

Jobs

So I was officially offered the English department head teacher position yesterday; along with the highest class in the school.

The caveat being I have to renew my contract.

They offered me some more money, and the additional pay that goes with being the head teacher.

It would be nice to stay for the following reasons: more money, a couple of good co-workers.

That is all.

It would not be nice to stay for myriad reasons.

I also had some time to make a wishlist, for the computer I would like to have.  You can see it here.  There are two problems with it.  Firstly, it's been this computer for about three months, which means that it's probably only three months away from being updates in some way.  Secondly, there's a component that's not up to scratch.  Everything is completely top-end, except for one thing.  You can try to figure out which one it is.

It also doesn't come with a case or peripherals.  These would put me over two thousand pounds, which is a ludicrous sum; I'd prefer to just have it resting on a table instead of inside a case.

The wishlist isn't under my name - by the way.

The Great Job Hunt

I'm at a slight disadvantage job hunt wise, because contracts begin between early-mid April in Japan.  I become available at the end of April, which might be detrimental as the market is flooded with teachers.  We are all disposable commodities in EFL teaching; not like back home at all.

There is one particular job, teaching bi-lingual students literature, that is particularly interesting.  If I could get this job, I would probably wet myself with excitement.

Obviously, I don't have the necessary qualification - I'm shy a recommendation they make regarding teaching experience.  (Two years seems to be the norm for high-end jobs).  That won't stop me applying though, as it seems to be the perfect stepping stone for my future ambitions.

I don't know what my future ambitions are yet, but I'm sure they're somewhat related.

 

And a silly picture.