But wait!

There's more!

I got moved from one school to another school this week - and now that school is closing next week! Yeeesh.

More Nova stuff has hit the English language press. Some of it is hearsay, but since no one up top is contactable or saying anything, there isn't much else to go on at the moment. Even the people who work in Head Office have as much clue as anyone else. It really is a shambles.

I've been reading up on my Japanese regulations and working out the best course of action.

There are "End of Nova" parties springing up spontaneously all over Japan as the foreign staff do what they do best when faced with stress- they drink!


When all else fails, I don't turn to the bottle (thankfully!), I turn to the Internet! Aah, the Internet. Teacher, mother, secret lover.... provider of work (hopefully!).

For Japanophiles and linguists here's a list of English words in Japanese. Anyone who's taught English in Japan may have a chuckle at this.

I found out that Jackie Chan has pretty good taste in movies. But also I found out that Lois Maxwell (*the* Miss Moneypenny) has passed away...

I found out that Subway can be worse for you than McDonalds - steer away from the cookies people!

I found out that boyhood is slowly, but surely, being banned. We're about to see a generation of tubby Emo-kids with no balls come through the system. Is that REALLY what we want?!?

Oh, and Yay! George Bush is gearing up to attack Iran updates! More on the war on terror, the war against the people of the Earth, the war against Nature, the war against freedom (not Bush's definition)... Oh it's so good to be alive right now!!

But some guys in Paris are fighting a war against the desecration and destruction of that city.

And anything that includes the figure, "The amount of energy thrown out by the burst was 10exp33 joules or the equivalent to the amount of energy that around 185.3 billion average Australian homes would use in a year," has got to be good!

Peace, Love, and Blue Smarties to you...

Waiting...

Still haven't been paid.

This blogger sums up the situation quite well.

I'm looking for a new job while suppressing the knots in my stomach and the rising tide of rage and cynicism. Cynicism is winning. Rage is simmering. The knots won't go away.



In America you're more likely to be tasered and beaten by a police officer than attacked by a terrorist - and it's getting worse. Thank you George Bush and the New Police State.

In China, the Three Gorges Dam is turning into an ecological disaster. Thank you Communist Dictatorship and Blind Progress.

In New Zealand some idiot tried to lower their Mitsubishi Lancer by loading rocks into the boot. Thank you Rampant Stupidity.




Update: We got paid on Friday afternoon. In full. I'm amazed...

More stuff

But no news on the Nova front.

A Colorado university has come up with a new and cheaper way to mass produce solar cells.

The Japanese tradition of using proverbs based on the gut is disappearing...

Sealand is in the news again - this time over a plan to launch its own communication satellite. Legal downloads of copyrighted material anybody?

Want a Dead Body Diploma or join the Order of the Octopus? Come to Japan!

Tuesday...

... is D-Day for the company - as well as my (apparent) pay day. We. Shall. See.

More reports have been popping up in the mainstream press here in Japan and the boards are the usual frenzy of rumour-mongering and doomsday scenarios.

There may not be so many people left in Japan to teach by the time I want to retire anyway...

I think I slept last night for a while...

Some quickies.

This certainly made me smile (and even laugh) amongst all the stress and strain of the past few months. I might try some of these in the 100yen shop and see if they cross cultures!

Do travellers who boycott countries do any good?

A quarter of Africa's GDP ends up in the pockets of its leaders...

It's always interesting for me as a linguist and pop-culture fan to find out where the two meet. Here's the origin of the phrasal verb, "to jump the shark", or the moment when something loses its credibility and sinks into the abyss of mediocrity... 30 years ago this month.

In the end I end up dreaming of finding a big pile of money outside my front door one morning and travelling the world...

Dream on.

"A state of flux"

That's the best phrase I've heard to describe what's happening at the moment.

The news about Nova closing branches has finally hit the mainstream Japanese press. Included in that are also reports about Nova getting evicted from its schools as well as evictions of teachers due to non-payments of rent.

The main thing the press is picking up on is that they are closing around 200 of about 900 schools. Nova's press releases have denied that the schools are closing, but are 'merging' and this is not part of an 'organizational decision' . That sounds like doublespeak to me.

The Australian press has also picked up on the story. Given that a major proportion of recruits come from Down Under, it is a worthy news story.

So, in this state of not being paid, I find myself thinking about what will happen next. I want to stay in Himeji, my home sweet second home, but realistically, the chances of picking up another regular job are slim. The best I could hope for is to become an ALT - working in the school system. That takes me back to school, which was something I wanted to avoid. Another alternative is to move 'close' to Himeji - like Kobe.

I could just pick up private students and open my own school! Hmmm.... no. Risky with a capital 'R'.

While the Japanese private English education industry is going through tough times, closer to my real home things are also not so good. Recent figures show that Australia spends less on publicly funded education than most other OECD countries. Also Australian school students spend less time on learning core subjects such as mathematics, science, languages etc. than most other OECD countries. No wonder parents are trying to send their children to private education in droves.

Here is a very well written article about problems with children these days - namely being disrespectful to elders and undisciplined. It firmly points the finger at parents (thankfully! As a former high school teacher I am truly tired of teachers being burdened with child-raising duties) who lavish their charges with excessive praise and few limits.

Enough heavy stuff. I'm getting exhausted with wondering if I'll have a job next month...

Here are some awesome examples of 3D paintings in public places. There are some amazing optical illusions here!

Also (with apologies to Adam and Jodi) Coldplay is torture.

Catching up

And what a week it's been so far.

If you haven't heard, our pay has been delayed. The English-language Japanese press has been largely silent about it which has been rather disappointing. Then again, with so few actual facts to go on it's been especially frustrating for all of us as well. All the regular instructors were paid today (5 days late) and us slightly up the ladder should be paid tomorrow.

The internets have been filled with rumours and speculations about the demise of Nova.

My hope is that we pull through - for my own selfish reasons (I don't want to have to pull up roots and relocate - plus I like the job) as well as for the sake of the students and staff. Realistically I'm preparing myself (and K) for anything. As one of my friends said, the company is in a state of flux, and 'flux' means 'change', which means we have to keep our options open.

Games. Fun and.

So I turn to the internets for info, but also escape.

So I found this uplifting story of a family who jettisoned their car and ended up with 35% more money from what they didn't spend on it!

I found a nice little list of places to avoid for my next holiday - except perhaps Chernobyl...

And finally, it wouldn't be a week in Japan without finding out something incredibly weird as well as something very indicative of the culture here...

Sometimes the posts just write themselves.

Here's hoping that the Vietnam/Cambodia thing is still a 'go'...

Ladies and Gentlemen

We have a new definition of 'loser'.

Life. Get one.

Haircut. Get one.

Well....

....maybe not as tasty as it seems.

Healthy? Well.... I'll let history decide.

Errrrmmmmm......

From the 'Only in Japan' files, comes this delightful story about soy sauce that you can put on ice cream.

That's right.

wow

35 years of development in Shinjuku, Tokyo, compressed into 10 seconds. Wow, indeed!

At last...

(Yummay!)

In the light of last night's crushing loss (88 points was it? Why, yes, 88 points. 88 points you say...) in the rugby and the poor showing at this year's World Athletics meet in Osaka (one bronze medal was it? ...) it's good to see that Japan can be the world champion at something other than producing beautiful women (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Say hello to Ochi Yosuke, your Air Guitar World Champion for 2007! Maybe it was that sweater that got him over the line. Raaawwwrrr!

Best. News. Ever.

Gawd...

Will someone please just bite the bullet and impeach Bush already!? Or perhaps just send him off to The Hague?

At least before he does something really, really stupid (as opposed to everything else he's done so far) like this. Or this.



At least the Australian government are now trying something to entice the Japanese back to Australia - apart from fixing the horrific exchange rate (hmmm???). The "Where the Bloody Hell are you?" campaign didn't exactly translate well into Japanese ('so, where are you?') and I think I only saw the ad on Japanese TV TWICE in the past year. Not exactly spending big on getting it out there...

Also, let's face it, for such an outwardly polite and genteel nation (at least the ones who have enough money to spend on big overseas trips) that kind of invitation wouldn't go down well at all.

So, it's back to the drawing board and time to come up with an oldie but a goodie - pawn Australia's World Heritage sites, and likely tack on a few koalas for good measure.

Quickies...

I have this evening to catch up on posting some stuff for the memory hole, so here goes...

(in order of being discovered... excuse the randomness)

It's OK to be a night owl - like yours truly. Now in Europe work hours are being adjusted to suit them. Thankfully!

Japan is weird.

A good article looking at the forgotten holocaust of Armenians by the Turks during World War 1.

The Sexiest Movie Assassins... aaaahhhhh... Miho.....

The top 10 most influential albums that sucked on release. I own two of them, which I thought was pretty good going!

An interesting article about a new type of battery that may finally kill the infernal combustion engine.

But driving would never be the same without Jack.

Australia is continuing to become a nation of idiots. Let's hope our children never learn to sue us.

Actual headline: "The world's leading micro artist has finally made it big"

On September 13, boycott pasta in support of the fine Italian nation. The price of pasta (as well as other basic foodstuffs) has gone up 30% thanks to (you guessed it) bio-fuels.

And I'm spent!

Oooh....

That's tasty!

That's a Woodley Queen Adelaide 1999 Regency Red - Shiraz / Ruby Cabernet / Cabernet Sauvignon. Opened tonight and going to be drunk in a hurry. It's magnificent!

The pasta sauce in the background is onion, bacon, mushrooms, eggplant, tomatoes, red wine and basil. Also pretty spiffy, if I might say so myself!