Decisions and Okazaki

I have decided to keep working through this blog as I continue with my travels in Japan. If I decide to put out for a real website, I will be moving to Squarepace, but that will be until I decide to lay down some coinage (Something like $16 a month doesn't sound too pricey, but it does when you are in the negative in funds).

So, to continue with my pre-departure adventures, I have decided to fill in some questions my mom was asking me today: Where in Japan will I be working?

I will be working in the city Okazaki, in the Aichi Prefecture, which I  shall let Wikipedia fill everyone in with the rest of the information:

Okazaki (岡崎市 Okazaki-shi) is a city located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It is located in the coastal plains of southeastern Aichi Prefecture. The ground rises to undulating hills in the former Nukata area to the northeast. About 60 percent of the city area is forested and remains sparsely populated.The area around present-day Okazaki has been inhabited for many thousands of years. Archaeologists have found remains from theJapanese Paleolithic period. Numerous remains from the Jomon period, and especially from the Yayoi and Kofun periods have also been found, including many kofun burial mounds. During the Sengoku period, the area was controlled by the Matsudaira clan, a branch of which later rose to prominence as the Tokugawa clan, which ruled Japan during the Edo period. During this time, Okazaki Domain, a feudal han was established to rule the immediate area around Okazaki, and was entrusted to a daimyō. Several smaller domains were also located within the present-day city limits, including Fukozu (later Mikawa-Nakajima), Okudono Domain and Nishi-Ohira Domain. The town prospered as a post station on the Tōkaidō connecting Edo with Kyoto. Following the Meiji Restoration, the modern town of Okazaki was established on October 1, 1889 within Nukata District of Aichi Prefecture. On October 1, 1914, Okazaki annexed neighboring Hirohata Town. Okazaki was proclaimed a city on July 1, 1916. The city suffered damage in the 1944 Tōnankai earthquake (which killed 9 people) and the 1945 Mikawa earthquake (which killed 29 people). During World War II, the July 19, 1945 Bombing of Okazaki killed over 200 people and destroyed most of the city. Okazaki was considered an important military target because of its central location, providing food, shelter, and communication to neighboring towns which contained small factories and plants. The attack was meant to destroy industries and decrease Japan’s recuperative potential. Of the .95 Sq. Miles of the city at that time, 65% of Okazaki was destroyed.In 1955, through a series of mergers and consolidations, the area of Okazaki expanded considerably. The former towns of Iwazu, Fukuoka, and Yahagi, and the villages of Honjuku, Yamanaka, Kawai, Fujikawa and Ryugai were all merged into Okazaki. The 1959 Isewan Typhoon caused considerable damage, and killed 27 residents. On October 15, 1962, Okazaki annexed the neighboring town of Mutsumi. Okazaki was proclaimed a core city on April 1, 2003 with increased autonomy from the prefectural government. On January 1, 2006 the town of Nukata was merged into Okazaki.


Local attractions in Okazaki

Okazaki Castle was originally built in 1455. Captured by the Matsudaira family in 1524 (and probably relocated from the other side of the river), the castle remains associated withTokugawa Ieyasu, even though the latter transferred to Edo in 1590. During the Edo period it served as the seat of the Okazaki Domain and dominated the city until the Meiji Restoration.

Okazaki is famous for its fireworks. The Tokugawa Shogunate restricted production of gunpowder outside of the immediate region of Okazaki (with few exceptions), and even today, more than 70% of Japan's fireworks are designed and manufactured here. A large fireworks festival, which people from all over Japan come to see, is held annually on the first Saturday in August in the area surrounding Okazaki Castle.

Hatchō Miso is a dark miso paste made using a process of steaming soybeans (instead of boiling) followed by maturation in cedar barrels under the weight of 3 tons of carefully stacked river stones for at least 2 years. Located 8 chō (Hatchō, or approximately 900m) west of Okazaki Castle near the Yahagi river, the old tiled buildings are heritage listed and one company (Kaku) has been a family business for 18 generations. It is one of the most famous miso producers in Japan, supplying the Emperor by appointment, and popular as a health food. The 2006 NHK morning drama serial, Junjo Kirari (Sparkling Innocence) was largely filmed in and around the Hatchō Miso grounds. Tours are available every 30 minutes and free samples are provided. Hatchō Miso's health properties are so great that it was donated to Chernobyl's citizens following the disaster, to help prevent and treat radiation sickness.

The temple of Takisanji (7th century) includes several Important Cultural Properties of Japan. The main hall is from the Kamakura period and is the location of a fire festival held each February on the closest Saturday to the lunar calendar New Year. The distinctive Sanmon gate and the main image are designated as important cultural properties. Adjoining the temple is Takisan Tosho-gu, a Shinto Shrine built in 1646 by Tokugawa Iemitsu.

More to come. :)

Update for Japan and applying for Amity Aeon

Well, it has been awhile since I gave my acceptance speech, if I can even call it that.

I will be leaving the terrain of the United States on October 12, and be taking an overnight flight to Japan. I still have a long wait ahead of me to spend with loved ones by taking pictures, sharing memories, and eating yummy hamburgers and such. Even though I have been putting restrictions on me for certain days to limit my eating habits, it's not really working as well as my mother hoped. What can I say? This mouth was made to ingest delicious calories.

A little more information for those that are thinking of teaching in Japan: No, I have not began teaching, but so far, I know a bit of the acceptance process, at least for the Eikawa I have applied to.

If you decide to teach abroad in Japan, look into the hiring process, what the people want from you in the essays or paperwork that they want you to fill out. This is your first impression: on paper. As scary as that sounds, don't be afraid, suck it up and just jot down proper vocabulary, good grammar, and correct spelling. Depending on how well they liked your presentation of the essay and/or your other paperwork will determine whether or not you will be invited for a group interview.

Applying for Amity means meeting up for a group interview before you are granted a private one on one interview. What I did to prepare was read up as much as possible in the forums at Dave's ESL and had Google sitting in the passenger seat the whole time. The internet is a massive database of information, and with great power comes great information is what I learned through this trial.

First is dress code: Japan (especially if you will be going to work for an Eikawa school) likes their people to dress conservatively. This means black, navy, dark brown suits with an undershirt. Ladies, pant suits or skirts, your choice, just if you plan to wear a skirt, don't forget hosiery, and not the ones that are fishnet stockings, regular and nude. In other words, be as plain as you can be.

When going up for the group interview, you will be in a room with five other people or just three people. It all depends on how many people were invited for the interview, just be sure you have enough supplies for everyone. If you have left overs that's better than coming up short. They (the people or person that will become your future employer) will come in the room where all applicants are and begin discussing who they are as a company and what they have accomplished and even give a 10-15 minute presentation of a day in the life of an employee. Be sure to take notes throughout the entire time they are talking, don't sit there dumbfounded; look interested.

For the thirty minute lesson plan and the five minute presentation of said lesson plan, do your best. I can't really give much information on the lesson plan, so long as you don't come up short on the five minute presentation and have a clear view of what you wanted to show in the presentation from the lesson plan you should be fine.

Once everyone has done their presentation of their lesson plan, they will give you a grammar worksheet, which should not take you longer than the time given. Afterwards, they will either hand you an envelope or tell you if you will be invited for a second one on one interview.

On the one on one interview, you will be taken to a room to set up a ten minute lesson plan. On the spot, sure, but not that difficult, because it is dedicated to children. Short and simple should do the trick. Afterwards, they will tell you how you did, ask you how you think you did, and then continue with the interview process with questions like why do you want to work in Japan and such. Have a calm complexion and feel prepared to answer their questions. Show confidence mostly.

After that, you have three to four weeks of free time, so my advice is go have some fun and relax, and get ready to bite your nails after three to four weeks are done. If you have been considered for a position, you will have to submit a background check which you will pay for out of pocket, and soon after (literally for me it was the next day) you will be offered a position or an extended invitation, and put on a waiting list.

After that, it's paperwork after paperwork to send back and forth. I have no complaints so far as to how I have been treated in getting everything ready, because the people that I have been in contact with is the best. I have a question, I get on the phone, and I get the answer right away. :)

Well, that's all I got to say about Japan, the application process at Amity, and will write more in the future to keep those that are interested in teaching in Japan an open door with me.

Thoughts on Japan and Amity

I have weird moments when I like to type something online and looking through threads to have my questions answered. Like when I want to know how to breed some dragons in my Dragonvale app that I have in my iPad, or if I can take my little Roku player overseas (that is, if I get offered the job to work overseas).

Currently, I have refrained from expressing anything to anyone about the Amity Aeon position, except my mother, because she was in the Suzuki when I received the email saying that they are requesting a background check. I can only assume that I am keeping a calm exterior due to the fact if I am denied, I won't take it as hard as the time I was not offered the position for Aeon, their sister school.

But in retrospect, as I am trying time and time again to recount where I went wrong in the Aeon private interview, and where I went right, I see that I did more wrong than right. I stalled, I didn't understand how to properly teach the lesson plan, the answers were wrong, I was gasping and taking time simply because I didn't know how else to continue with the ten minute lesson plan.

In short, I choked because I never had the practice. Sure, I read about it in the forums and what to expect, but I was sweating as much as a horse when I was put on the spot like that.

I felt that with Amity, for the private lesson, I was more prepared. And it wasn't as difficult because I was just teaching simple phrases and animal vocabulary. I thought that I did better, and planning out the lesson plan felt more mature.

The one on one interview also helped me out a lot. And now that they requested the background check, I cannot help but think that this can only be a good sign. Wherever they decide to place me, I already told them that I was an open book and don't have any specific preference, because I have never been to Japan and I know that wherever I go will be a beautiful adventure.

I wasn't planning on blogging two posts in one day, but the turn of events and a sudden rejection letter waiting for me at home had me feeling as though I should talk about it right away, unlike how I put off all feelings like I did with my grad school rejection letter. And I have less than five minutes to pour it out so here I go.

I decided to get spruced up for our invited author that we were going to have dinner with tonight so I went home. I got there and my mother told me that I received a letter from AEON, the company that I applied for my job in Japan.

Because it was light weight I automatically assumed that it was a rejection letter, and I wanted to hold off on opening it because of that feeling alone. I decided against that feeling and tore it open to read that I had been rejected.

My feelings about it are abnormal. I want to cry, because this was something that I was passionate about  but at the same time had to face facts that I screwed up in the interview process because I had clouded moments of delaying, which could not have been good. Either way, the other reason that I am not so forlorn is because I have another opportunity to teach with them. And if not them, then wherever in the world will take me.

That is the only way I am able to contain my tears: Keep looking on to the next adventure. If all else fails, I can just come back and work at school while I attend grad school here and get some teaching under my belt.

There are many other places that I can go, I just have to look for them.

I need to keep up with the blogging.

Man, I feel like I don't have much time to do anything when the family comes over. I am always busy having a blast with them. But at the same time, I feel as though my time (as in my personal time) is limited. Therefore, I feel like I can't accomplish anything.

I feel as though I should let everyone know what is going on in my mind right now. At the moment I am one month away from graduating so please excuse me while I bite off the remainder of my nails to the brim that I have hang nails on each one. One month and I will be clutching onto my Bachelor of Arts in English Writing. And more so, I have back up plans left and right to see where my life is going to be headed. Because, I have to face it: I don't want to live my life in just one setting. Even more so because I have nothing to settle me.

I recently went on an interview with an Eikawa school in Japan called AEON (pronounced EON, which was weird to say, and I felt like a klutz when they gave the proper pronunciation of that school). I put on my pretty granny stockings, ripped off the ticket prices on my newly bought navy suit, whined as my sister pulled my hair back like a stewardess in an airline, and was off. On the way over I took the wrong turn and went into the south bound instead of the north bound freeway (or I think the other way around. Point of the matter is I went the wrong way) but luckily I was there an hour early and arrived in time. I hopped into the elevator after asking the front desk for directions and waited upright because if I didn't stand upright, the skirt would have sliced me in half.

As we, (another interviewee and I) stepped into the waiting area, I looked around at my competition. I noticed two people (asian descent and no this isn't me being racist, their eyes were slanted) in black suits, and two more in a grey suit and a nice dress shirt. If there was one thing I learned from the forums is DO NOT WEAR BLACK. They are not fans of black suits and even state in their dress code pamphlets they had laid out for us is to not wear black. Good thing I went into those forums and went with the navy skirt dress suit.

After the initial background information and the break time, we were given the floor. We had to prepare a 30 minute lesson plan and present a five minute portion of it to the recruiters. The first one that went up was so nervous that he couldn't control himself from shaking. The lack of smiles doesn't help. One thing that I also remember from the forums was the fact that they like to have the students talk more than the instructor, and also to be very energetic and smiling the whole time. When the nervous shaker's time was over, I decided to step up and present my lesson plan. I initially forgot to give them my lesson plan but was promptly reminded to do so. When I did, I began with a smile plastered on my face. The game was simple enough, I grabbed the tape they provided and played a "Who am I?" game, in which the students had to ask around the other students what animal was on their backs. It looked fun enough and I made sure that I was smiling and saying as little as possible. Once my time was up, the other presenters came and went, still with not as much energy as I assume AEON enjoys.

After the initial five minute presentations were done, we had a few more information announcements for what we should expect if we leave to Japan, and finally we were given a short quiz, in which we had to spell some words and describe the difference between certain words. I vaguely remember some of mine: describe the difference between lay and lie, I'll be there in 10 minutes vs. I'll be there within 10 minutes, describe the difference between pick up and pick out, and the most dreadful one: describe the difference between effect and affect. I pulled a blank but still managed to give out the most of my knowledge on the two. After our twenty minutes were up, we were asked to wait while they went to get the results and give it back to us.

We were each handed an envelope and asked to not open it in the building but rather when we were alone. I was hopefully wishing one of us would be begging to open them at the same time while we were in the elevator, but unfortunately, nobody was feeling impulsive. And with good reason. I was nervous more than anything. I didn't waste anytime, as I was alone in the elevator for the parking garage and opened the flap to read that I had a following appointment at 1:15 for a personal interview. I was beyond ecstatic.

I returned on the following day an hour before I was scheduled to arrive, and walked into the waiting room and listened as I waited quietly for the interview to begin. I've been to interviews before, such as like the one that I went to for my tutor supervisor position but for this one, it was a bit more demanding. They put me in a room and gave me the floor to ask for any questions that I had, and all I could think of was whether or not I could take my iPhone (selfish and possessive I am about that thing, I know) and if it would work there. I also asked if he (the interviewer) had any special place that he liked in Japan, and he said that he never went anywhere past Tokyo, such as Hokkaido, which is the coldest place in Japan.

After a few more questions, he then asked me if I was ready to teach something from their lesson plan and I told them I was ready. The lesson plan was simple: adjectives and superlatives and comparatives. Big words that basically mean, "This is the biggest of all the things (biggest being the adj) and this thing is bigger than that thing (showing a comparison between the two objects)." They left me in a room for ten minutes to prepare and had another person join him, who was to be my "student" that I was teaching the lesson plan to. I was comfortable teaching and listening to make sure that they were answering it correctly but took too long before I was able to go into the next lesson (I must admit I did that on purpose, I didn't know what I was planning to do for the second part of the lesson). They gave me my feedback and then gave me an example of how they would present the lesson to me, where I was the student learning English. Afterward I put on the teacher hat again as I repeated the lesson that I was just put under to give the "student." I stumbled twice and got through it simply at the same time.

After the mock lesson was over I was given a few questions and was asked the regular, how did you hear about us? Why do you want to work for us? Why do you think it is good to teach/learn English? Those types of questions. By the time we were done, they said that they would notify me in two weeks to see if I got the job.

It will be one week on Tuesday. I don't know how I am going to wait any longer after that. My finger is itching to dial that number to see how I did.