Job Hunting

NOVA's doing poorly enough that I'm hunting for other gigs, while still maintaining some hope they can pull through. This strip perfectly captures my hybrid identity at a crisis in landing work:

Credit to Tak Toyoshima for being brilliant.

Taiwan, Leg Two

So last night I found myself on the dance floor of the swanky club Ziga Zaga at the Hyatt Hotel. Before I knew it, I was dancing with a lady with a nice dress and a figure to fill it out. The zany thing about it all was that she was about forty. Gotta say that it was certainly a first for me, but I'll play Ashton Kutcher to her Demi Moore any night of the week. I didn't realize her age 'til about mid-"Billie Jean" 'cause she initially had her back to me a lot of the time and her hair smelled so nice, but around the second chorus my hazy mind wrapped itself around the realization that the girl freaking me was alive in the 60's!! But hey, in my defense Halle Berry and Selma Hayek are both over forty and I had no problem letting her experience teach me a lesson or two.

My other nights have consisted of much more conventional fun. Sorry, no bar or club pictures, though a few were hit. I'll put up another Facebook album later, I'm too indolent at the moment. Also just kicked it with lots of relatives and consumed pounds and pounds of the finest cuisine in my life. Some random tidbits though from the past week or so:

1. Hangovers hurt as much in Asia as they do in the US.
2. Twist And Shout is the most fun song to dance to, ever.
3. I really, really love my family.
4. Ramen in Taiwan is completely acceptable as breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
5. I'm sporting new glasses.
6. Typhoons are crazy!
7. Must. Get. A. Wii.
8. I am madly enchanted by René Magritte's art right now. Like, deliriously.

Oh, and Nova has since sent me my residential info. I'll be in Sakai, a 'burb of Osaka and living with an American and New Zealander as flatmates.

It's now a lazy Sunday afternoon and I'm on my own. My mom and sister flew back to the States and have landed safely. I hopped a Taipei-Hualien train this morning and three, four hours later I'm laying on my hotel bed, wrapped up in a warm comforter and the smug tranquility of independence.

How's everyone at home doing? Holla atcha boy.

Letter of Death

Check out the recent e-mail Nova sent me:

Dear Vincent,

I hope this email finds you well and that you are excited about your upcoming departure to Japan!

We know you are eager to find out your accommodation information and location assignment. Due to the large number of new teachers arriving in September, our head office notified us that they are still finalizing arrival plans and that the information will be slightly delayed. We expect to receive the information very soon and forward it to you, as soon as possible. We will contact you by telephone when we send out the information. Your arrival and accommodation information will be sent by email as a pdf attachment.

We sincerely apologize for the delays and we look forward to speaking with you very soon.


Kind Regards,

Lindsay Tateishi
The Nova Recruiting Office
Nova Group Japan

Should I be worried? A little over a week left and I still don't know my roomates, my address, and if anyone is REALLY going to pick me up at Kansai Aiport next Wednesday. Things must be going haywire for this company. Time to do some heavy research on other eikawa schools... Ack!

Blastoff!

So this is the official launch of my blog for the upcoming life of mayhem in Japan.

Forgive the title being complete BS at the moment, as there will be no Osaka stuff until Sept. 26th. That is, if the company that hired me (NOVA Group, Japan) can survive until then. The 411 is this: there was a class-action lawsuit against the company. The company has its customers purchase points which they redeem for English lessons. However... ex-students wanted refunds because they were unable to book their lessons (Nova allegedly made the malicious decision to make scheduling classes extremely difficult so people would be stuck with unredeemable points) and Nova refused.

Enter METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry). This arm of the Japanese gov. ruled on the case in favor of the plaintiffs and threw down a six-month ban on signing new students as punishment for the firm. This started in June, and now I'm reading all these articles on how Nova's bleeding money as they continue to try and operate without any incoming cash flow. I've watched their stock drop faster than Linday Lohan's credibility as an actress this whole summer.

I'm cautiously optimistic about the situation though, as the company is basically the Microsoft of Eikaiwa schools in Japan. Friends and family in Asia report thumbs-up on Survival Outlook Watch as Nova's received a fair amount of media attention there. So hopefully they won't go bankrupt and leave me homeless and jobless after I've landed in Japan. Though it could be kinda cool to bum around and get in random adventures...