hey all,
We had our monthly meeting earlier today, and I presented a race activity where students fill in base, comparative, and superlative forms of adjectives along a race track. We also discussed contracts for next year. Sadly, mine is still pretty uncertain. My company received the school contracts for my current city again, which is good news for all those who wanted to stay there, but I have expressed interest in moving to Tokyo. They currently have positions in Edogawa, which is a neighborhood in the eastern part of Tokyo, pretty close (geographically) to where Michi currently lives. From looking at actual commuting times, depending on where I live, it might take the same amount of time to go from my place to hers, despite being around 2km away (currently about 25km). But that is the reality of a megacity like Tokyo.
Despite asking several times about whether my company would be able to sponsor my visa for next year, I have yet to receive an answer. The problem is that working in Tokyo with my company is a part time deal, and I feel like the rules might prevent them from sponsoring their part time employees. As I said, I've asked about this several times, and have always been told: "I'll ask." This should not be an unfamiliar situation that requires research and inquiry: my company is in the business of sponsoring visas and finding placements for ALT in Japan; I am not asking them to station me on the second moon of Endor. So, I'm feeling a little uneasy about it. At the same time, I've already received the papers from my company which will enable me to renew my visa. I can always apply for it, and if they say they can't be my sponsor, too bad: they already are because they gave me the papers saying they are.
After the meeting, a few of us ALTs got together at a local bar, drank, and eventually got around to talking about how to get out of the Not-Quite-A-Real-Teacher job (something like Pinocchio before he became a real boy). All told, it didn't add up to much, and was a lot less fruitful than I had hoped. I might recruit a different ALT for helping with the story of the manga, as it seems like the other ALTs are more interested in doing a website type thing, with forums and discussion boards, etc, as opposed to a manga guidebook. Basically, it seemed like it was me and the ALT who came up with the idea tossing some ideas out there, and the other ALTs listening, and commenting. It was good to hear some feedback, but some more ideas would have been better.
Cheers,
