A place to hear emotionally charged rants, see epic travel pictures, and read about hilarious life out takes as I flounder my way through life in various foreign countries.
I had my second interview with Minerva Intelligence (that's their official name! Spoooooky) last week was it?
I was going to win this battle.
I was told that it was going to be more of a trail lesson to see how I teach and less of a question/answer how do you deal with grumpy customers sort of deal; so I was relaxed. This is my element. I already went through this process with my second interview with Gaba so I was ready.
There were about 6 of us waiting in the little cubical shaped room, and when the nice recruiter walked in carrying purple books titled "Magic Time" with white paper, coloring crayons and safety scissors, you could see the same thought running through everyone's head "uh oh". Our task was to create a full 50 minutes lesson plan introducing shapes, and we had to include a song and a game; all in the course of thirty minutes.
So...are we actually going to be teaching children then?
Recruiter man chuckles (he was rather chuckly actually) and said "weeeell", in his Kansas drawl accent, "yes and no". Yes and no? What the hell kind of an answer is that?
Well, minus the suspenders and
goofy shirt.
He went on to explain that our "children" were in fact going to be all the other "contestants" in the room, including himself and one other guy that worked as a teacher there and looked a lot like Steve Urkle. Depending on where each and every one of us decided to place our maturity level during the lesson was up to us. He himself said, "Tomorrow I turn 63, but today i'm going to be about 6".
Let the arts and crafts commence! We all started frantically cutting out shapes and grumbling about how we didn't know any songs and looking over each other's shoulder to try and steal ideas. At the end of thirty minutes Mr. recruiter comes back in and says "shall we begin?", and we all get commanded to sit criss-cross apple sauce in a circle on the floor by the first one up.
Problem Child's Micheal Oliver
standing in for
Oreo.
I ended up going second, and decided that instead of using a song that everyone knows, I was going to write my own song...about shapes. It's going to go platinum. I think I handle things very well, especially when Mr. Recruiter's 6 year old personality named "Oreo" turned out to be the dreaded "problem child". Needless to say though it was all fun and games; literally, and I don't think i've had that much fun at a job interview ever. This company has really great energy and would be awesome to work for.
So, the million dollar question. Did I get the job?
no.
They were sorry to inform me that they would have hired me if only I were able to stay in the country longer. Please contact us again after you graduate and decide to come back to Japan.
Thank you, I will.
Now i'm just waiting on Gaba to call me back. Said that because I had a schedule conflict with their training days (curse you Japanese final!) they wouldn't be able to let me know if I got the job until February. So i'm left at the edge of my seat waiting, waiting, waiting. I don't see why I wouldn't get the job though so...yeah.
BTW, I really <3 this song.
"The Goddess That Lives in the Bathroom"
Just porcelain holes in the ground.
It's about how this girl was pretty much raised by her grandma and she would always help around the house, except for when it came to cleaning the toilet. To that, her grandma would tell her (The chorus line) "There's a beautiful goddess that lives in the bathroom and if you clean the toilet everyday then you'll become as beautiful as her". I asked my host family if this was a widely spread belief and they said yes because, in the past Japanese homes were equipped with Japanese style toilets instead of western ones and would smell horrendous if you didn't clean them everyday. The song goes through how the singer grows up and away from her grandma and then her grandma dies without her getting a chance to say goodbye. Ends with her wondering if she really has become as beautiful as the goddess or not. Like I said, sad and sweet.
Love you g-ma! (But i'm not going to clean your toilet). <3
Today's interview at Minerva English School for Kids went far better than my interview yesterday with Gaba.
Yesterday it was all business and no play. Suit, tie, shiny shoes and a "go-get-em slugger" attitude. Which is fine for those who wish to work in a big corporation and move their way up the food chain. But that environment doesn't suit me well.
Minerva, although also a big corporation thus having some of the same mentalities, seemed much more laid back. The person that gave the seminar about the company didn't stand in front of us and talk through his power point like the Canadian guy at Gaba (who actually said a-boot instead of about which made the situation even more stressful because I was trying not to laugh the whole time). Instead this nice gentleman from Kansas sat down with us and started off with a short introduction of his life story and how he ended up where he is now. Long story short, it pretty much went like "I found myself here, but then decided I didn't like it so I went here; found myself a lady, had a kid then moved to Japan to help out wife's family thus found myself teaching English to children". A very laid back fellow who seems to just go with the flow but at the same time a hard working individual. Then a little about the company (blah blah, want people who are dedicated, blah blah, loves children, blah) then the individual interviews. Overall I think I left a good impression. The only snag is they contract out for a year instead of 6 months like Gaba in which case I am either going to have to lie and then quit in July, or see about them changing my visa status and staying on until the end of December when my landing permit expires. But, we'll cross that road when we get to it.
Or it could be a complete disaster, but we'll find out!
I think working with children will be exciting and great experience so, once again, FINGERS CROSSED!
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And recently in American News; our children are getting cheated out of their education once again.
"You can't use that word!! That is OUR word!!"
What the heck is this business with Huck Fin? I mean, don't they know that the more they ban a book the more people are just going to read it? And revising it to exclude the 'N' word is just ridiculous!! I mean, yeah it's offensive and no one but black people have the right to use it, but it's an important part of our past that people need to be aware of. This book demonstrates how people behaved back then, so why cover it up and make it PC? Why skew history? I mean, it is adult material (even though it's considered a children's book) and I don't think kids should be reading it in elementary or even middle school because they don't yet know how to appreciate what they are learning about (their brains aren't fully equipped with the ability to understand things like "don't use this word because it's bad" so you'd have kids screaming the 'N' word everywhere just because teacher said it was bad XD).
And what are they going to do about the character Jim? I mean, he's depicted as this dim-witted black dude and paints black people to be stupider than the rest of the world. Are they going to write him out of the book as well? Or better yet, make him white?! I read it in high school (wasn't banned in my district) and think that in every high school English Lit class it should be read as it was meant to be read.
Why are Americans turning into such ill-witted, PC pussies? What happened to the good ol' days of plummeting kids with red bouncy balls and swing sets? I mean, aren't us Americans supposed to be badasses with our guns and straight forwardness? I say we get off our wussy wagon and get in touch with our vulgar sides! Viva La Revolucion!
