Job Discussion Forums

[katk]

Thanks! Hang in there too! I hope things are looking up for you, I give u mad props for being over there, so many people would love to have this chance, so i say take it by the horns and make the best of it! I am very excited and scared about going, i have my moments when i can't wait and then i have moments when i am like WTF was i thinking! UGG! I think it will be better once i am there and i know what it will be like!!! Having contacts will deff make it easier on me!

[stillnosheep]

You'll have agreat time. Just be a/ware the out-of-context precepts.

"Enter the village. Follow the ways of the village" and its like locate newly arrived teachers as individual newcomers to the Aeon village.

With a (FT staff) population turnover of approx 25% p.a. the teachers are the village.

Such precepts from above are not the way of the village. Never were. Never will be.

[guest of Japan]

Stillnosheep, that was more vague than Akira.

[stillnosheep]

Guest: If you'd been through Aeon basic training you would understand...

[guest of Japan]

I have. That's why I'm mystified.

[stillnosheep]

Ah! Then maybe it is only AWJ bootcamp where the training notes are gathered together under such words of wisdom?

[katk]

You want bootcamp, lifeguard with ellis and associates, that training is bootcamp, but looking back on the training and the summers spent, it was my favorite job....as far as this goes i guess it will be hard being out of your element, but try have someone make u run laps and swim for getting something wrong, and being pushed to ur limits.... I think i will be fine, thousands of people do it and love it....

[bzakka]

hello katk

you're going to teach Amity in Hiroshima?? that's too weird I did exactly that for six months. There are actually 3 Amity schools in Hiroshima.. Koi, Yokogawa, and .... uh the other one with the long name that's RIGHT downtown. Which one are you going to be at?

I was close friends with all the foreign teachers and we had a friggin BLAST in Hiroshima.... and so will you. there is no better city to live in Japan, except maybe for Matsumoto. It's very modern, clean, and has that whole trippy atmosphere (at night, anyway) that can only come from a city that got completely obliterated. The A-bomb dome and the peace park are just the greatest places to hang out outside and get wasted, and you're like 2 blocks away from a massive shopping arcade and the entire downtown area. There is a bigass department store (PARCO), this truck is always parked out there in the summer that sells the best goddamn fruit swirly things you have ever imagined. There are a few indian restaurants, a couple good sushi places, fast food everywhere (SUBWAY!!!!) and a couple of good clubs if you like the electronic scene. And of course the baseball stadium!!! The Hiroshima Carps, baby!! You will love Japanese baseball it's so weird.

Personally I wouldn't recommend the A-bomb museum. Due to it's graphic nature viewer discretion is advised. I never went inside but i would always see people coming out of there crying.

Amity is awesome. The staff are super friendly, the students are noticably better than other schools (i taught at a bunch) and the Honbu staff (the trainers, emergency teachers, education coordinator) are super cool and always available. You don't know it yet because you're not there yet, but you got TOTALLY hooked up. I really miss that place.

I know the current Yokogawa teacher... he should still be there in June when you get there (unless he broke contract!). I'm sure you'll meet him and the two of you will have a blast. He still has a bunch of my stuff!!!

-bzakka

[katk]

WOW thanks for the info! I don't know what school i am at yet... i just know it is amity..... I look forward to my new adventure!

[sethness]

Hey.

I live in Hiroshima (and teach English here, like you're planning to).
I don't personally know Aeon/Amity of Hiroshima, but I can tell you lots about life in Hiroshima. Just ask.

I've been here 3 or 4 years, and worked at a pair of schools.

A good resource you should take advantage of is www.ChatHiroshima.com which is a forum a lot like this one, but scaled waaaay down to deal only with English speaking people in Hiroshima. If Dave's ESL were Jupiter, ChatHiroshima would be the size of an asteroid.

Still, it's a good place to ask your question(s) about Amity and Aeon in Hiroshima. Although it's a chain school, the individual managers and other co-workers at the office CAN make a big difference about how comfortable you feel as you work there.

(By the way, if I were you, I'd ignore that pair of posts from people saying "the job is as good as you make it" or other happy horsefeathers like that. Some bosses or work-schedules will make you happy, unless you're suicidal or stupid. Other bosses or work-schedules or physical facilities or even budgets will make you want to scream, quit, and run for cover...unless you're on Prozac (tm), out of touch with reality, or seriously overdoing it with those "make your own reality" Tony Roberts (tm) self-help tapes.

Cases in point: I know employers here who regularly ask employees to commute all over town, but don't cuont the commuting time as part of the work-day. So, imagine you're working the standard deal of 25 classroom hours, but in addition, you've got 15 hours or more sitting on busses, driving a company car, or stuffed into a crowded train. For free. That comes out of your free time, babe. I even had one employer who was famous for making employees scream, go home with stomache aches, and quit. She used to scream in my ear that I was terminally ineducable. Once she did that because I alphabetized her files-- ooh, my ! How wrong of me !

On the other hand, I've worked for employers who were such kind, straightforward people that I didn't mind sharing pizza with the boss and working late into the night (paid) to get the job done.

So, @($&# that "a job is what YOU make of it" horsedroppings. It's not so unless you're heavily medicated or hypnotized by a self-help guru who's out of touch with reality.

Just remember: After you get here, you CAN change employers without having to leave the country. This is something a lot of noobies don't know. The trick is, if you're in Japan on a work visa, and your employer thinks unkindly of you, and there's a gap in your employment, then the employer can rat you out to the government and get you evicted from Japan (because you've got a work visa, but no job). So, the trick is: If you're unhappy with your current employer, find a replacement employer (not hard to do, once you're here and endowed with a work visa) while you're still working for the first company. Then quit the first company and switch visa-sponsors to the new company, so there's no gap in employment.

So, if you come here and work for Aeon/Amity and you DON'T like it for any reason, don't feel your only option is to leave Japan. You can always switch to a new company.

[bzakka]

Some Amity schools have managers that made some of my good friends leave prematurely.... that right pissed me off. Actually, only two of them.

BUT none of the ones in Hiroshima. sethness makes some good points about bad things that happen at some places but don't worry!! none of that will happen at amity!! if you're having problems with your boss, the peeps at Honbu (hq) will help you out. when you go to training you will meet them and they are really great to work with.

also check out a site www.gethiroshima.com. it has a schdule of good things to do and places to go and concert/dj events!!! hiroshima tends to attract some really good acts.