Job Discussion Forums

seklarwia · Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 7:15 am Post subject:

Interac is alreay sorting through the accomodation arrangements. He might be taking over a well established placement from a prior ALT, in which case they can tell him where he is going to live now.

Matthew H · Joined: 08 Mar 2009 Posts: 28 Location: Kashiwa

when they phoned me up to offer me a location this was the one they gave me and i accepted so i believe this is where i will be living aand working. however i am getting worried as some people have said that upon arrival interac have moved them to somewhere different, so i hope that dosn't happen.

but hopefully my luck will hold.

seklarwia · Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:37 am Post subject:

They told me that once you have received a definate placement, changes were quite rare.

Either way, you will only find out for sure after your arrival, so try not to let it jinx you. Otherwise, in your worrying, you might forget something vital.

One of the guys I travelled with to China was so concerned about a possible placement issue that he forgot his passport at home. Luckily his mum (gotta love mums!) was able to drive up in time to give it to him.

Matthew H · Joined: 08 Mar 2009 Posts: 28 Location: Kashiwa

thanks for that.

i'm not really worried abotu it too much. i want to go to japan and i want to teach the location really is not that important as long as it's not atrocious.

anyone else who is going next week flying to narita airport. thats where i'm landing

seklarwia · Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 2:09 pm Post subject:

That's the spirit Very Happy

I'm pretty excited. I'm picking up my passport on Monday and will also be flying into Narita although landing a few days later. So not sure whether you'll still be around then after looking at the arrival info I received this morning. The bit about about carrying a set of business attire in your hand luggage incase your hold luggage should be.... I'm not even going to finish that sentence and am grabbing wood as I type Shocked

I'm hoping that since I'm avoiding the dreaded terminal 5 at Heathrow, I should be okay.

Matthew H · Joined: 08 Mar 2009 Posts: 28 Location: Kashiwa

yeah i wanted to ask them about that but i always seem to have a question when it's the weekend
anyone know more about the luggage situation. what exactly is happening with our luggage as i'll be getting it from the plane and then going to the hotel so what do they mean it will be sent to your accomodation.

@sek: yeah i agree hopefully heathrow will be okay but i'm having a stopover in germany so they should be "efficient" and japan should be pretty safe too...hugs trees.

seklarwia · Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:59 pm Post subject:

I think you miss understood. Americans especially might have had huge amounts of trouble getting to a hotel if the had to take say... the tube, for example, since they are allowed two huge hold luggage cases plus hand luggage Shocked

All they are saying is not to worry about having lots of cases, since all they need do is get on a direct shuttle bus - we won't be having these issues with a 20kg limit and 1 piece of hand luggage (well 23kg for me. Big whoop! And I'm queen of using their hand luggage rules against them.)

And if you want to have stuff delivered from your home country instead of paying excess on the flight, then wait until you have moved into your apartment before doing that. With some of the recruits only spending 3 days at Narita View, there is no way they can send stuff to the hotel.

They don't take any luggage from us at all.

Why are you going via Germany? Did you actually want the stopover or was it cost? Some told me it was cheaper to go indirect, but I got a Virgin direct flight for �330 and most of the indirect flights I looked at were �420 and up (way up).

Matthew H · Joined: 08 Mar 2009 Posts: 28 Location: Kashiwa

thanks for helping clear up the lugage issue for me.

the cheapest flight i could get when i looked was the one that had me stop over in munich the direct virgin flight for me was �660. i didn't book very far in advance though.
i think i might appreciate the stop over though with it being such a long flight as i have about 2 hours to stretch my legs and use a decent toilet what with the long flight and me being 6' 4"

seklarwia · Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 7:40 pm Post subject:

Actually virgin has a special contract with STA, so even now they have tickets for both of our travel days for �330. But you have to be either a full time student under 35 (n/a to us) or under 26 (like me!).

Ahh Munich... Great city. It was my home away from home, especially during the last World Cup. But yeah, at 5'6" I don't have so much problem on long haul flights. How long is the Munich-Tokyo leg?

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Luggage delivery from the airport is very common in Japan, and fairly cheap. Depending on what time you arrive, it can often be delivered the same day. Lots of people do it rather than carry luggage on the trains when they might be crowded- even just from Narita to their Tokyo hotel for example.

Matthew H · Joined: 08 Mar 2009 Posts: 28 Location: Kashiwa

well it happened, i got a call from interac this morning saying that my postion in futtsu hadn't come through and they have to find me somewhere else, which could be anywhere.

ripslyme · Joined: 29 Jan 2005 Posts: 481 Location: Japan

seklarwia · Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 9:27 am Post subject:

Oh my! I haven't even arrived in Japan yet, let alone in my placement, and they are already trying to get confirmation on attendence at an orientation meeting in Kofu for Nagano and Yamanashi ALTs on April 4th.
Well at least it doesn't seem like a difficult journey to make from my city albeit a 3 hour one! (At least its paid with reimbursed travel)

starteacher · Joined: 25 Feb 2009 Posts: 237

My experience with Interact is that they simply like to amass as many resumes in their books, use you when they want and let you go when they want.

Whether you are a serious genuine teacher looking for a long term career type or simply one who wants to to try to start off and see and who knows type, they'll just use you regardless. i.e. don't expect much personal service with big companies, you may even have trouble getting references later after you left because the person whom you were best acquainted also left. It is also quite easy for big companies to on and close offices even in the same locations.

However, maybe other peoples experiences are different.

El_Mero_Mero · Joined: 27 Jan 2009 Posts: 45

I still have received no placement, but I am expecting to attend the training in under 2 weeks. I guess when I send them my next email, I'll ask them what's up with that.

Wouldn't I still get paid though even if I don't have a placement?