First, after a significant amount of down time I decided to reinstall a freeware instant messenger, so if you are into that sort of thing you can find me on Yahoo IM under the username: bfredricks_99
I’m usually home most of the day, so I thought it might be good to get it set up again. Let me know if you use a different instant messenger service and I’ll try to get it working! As (some of) my students say, “let’s chatting!”
Today I took a trip to Osaka to meet with the head of human resources for the staffing company I work for, OTC. She wanted to meet me face to face to talk about full time work in the future – and whether it would be right for me or not. The conversation went pretty well, and I learned a lot about full time workers at the company. Even though you are considered a full time worker you don’t get health and pension insurance (which might be a show-stopper right there). The big benefit is a minimum guaranteed salary, which although low is a steady income source. Another benefit is that I wouldn’t need to go to Osaka every day – I would stay in the area and teach. They would try to keep me as busy as possible, but other teachers in the area have reported only teaching 18-20 hours a week, which is pretty light.
The downsides are plenty – if you aren’t teaching you are essentially “on call” from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., so you can’t really do much with the free time that you might have. As well as not paying for insurance the company only gives you 6 paid days off a year, and those must be arranged months in advance to avoid inconveniencing clients. Also there are five teachers in the Kobe area already, and it sounds like they aren’t so busy, so right now it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to add me to the mix. In mid-January OTC will poll all their employees to see who will stay on and who will head home (there is a significant turnover rate) and based on that there might be some openings. But the HR lady seemed to think I could make a whole lot more money finding some steady day job that ends at a normal time and then padding my salary with OTC part time work. She’s probably right.
Just as the conversation ended she added that I was one of the most popular teachers they’ve had – lots of great feedback from the companies that I visit and also the Japanese staff at OTC really look forward to my office visits. She mentioned that now and then they have “in-house” positions, and because I speak Japanese and have a lot of experience I might be eligible for that position. I would work based out of the Osaka office, but the pay is much higher, I would do training of other teachers, and be the “go-to gaijin”. I’ve met the guy in this role and I think if his situation were to change she would want me to take over. Not sure, though.
Anyway, an interesting interview. After her comments I did a lap through the office chatting with the people that I have contact with in my classes, and then hit the road.
Instead of stopping at the Hard Rock for lunch again I caught a train and headed to Kobe. I wanted to get some stuff for dinner tonight (Mexican!), and grab some lunch. The other day one of students had recommended a ramen place in Motomachi, and I went there. It was called Ippudo, and I ordered the dish my student had recommended and really enjoyed it. It has been a long time since I’ve had ramen – it was great! I didn’t have enough stomach space for a kaedama, but I did have a small order of fried rice with it. Yum.
I scored some tortillas at the import food store, but ended up also buying some beer (Anchor Steam, Bia Hanoi, 333), and jalapeno stuffed olives (not as good as the ones in the jar from Sonoma but they’ll do). Then it was home to get the freshies for the rest of dinner.
I’m sipping the Anchor Steam now and getting ready to start dinner. Can’t wait to eat way too many tacos.
