A New Year, the New School & the Rest of the Week
As I mentioned in the last post, typhoon season is upon is. The good news is that the painfully hot and humid weather has (for the most part) subsided, but the season also brings with it almost nonstop rain (I should take a picture of the weather forecast and post it here to show you the little row of thunderbolt clouds lined up next to pretty much every day for the next week). If it's not rain, it's strong wind around this time of year, too. It's times like this that make me wish I had a car again :-P Still better than some of the snowstorms I grew up with, I suppose, but griping about the weather seems to be an international phenomenon.
Despite the nasty weather, this week has been an unusually fun one. It's the last week of summer and I know I am not going to be this free for a while once things ramp up next week, so I'm taking advantage of the time while I can!
Budget Woes and the First Day at Harima Minami High School
On Monday I went to my new high school, Harima Minami, for the first time. I am basically still doing the same job that I've been doing for the past two years, but there have been some government budget restrictions in the last year due to Hyogo Prefecture's financial issues and going to another school one of the ripple effects of those changes.
As I am sure you are aware, Kobe was hit by a massive earthquake (7.2 on the Richter scale!) about 14 years ago. The prefecture received a lot of support and financial assistance at the time, but the majority of the burden of rebuilding a major city (infrastructure is not cheap!), as well as providing memorials and information through museums after the actual recontruction, fell onto the local goverment.
So, when the loans came due last year, the prefecture found itself in sort of a tough situation. I was surprised that there wasn't more planning for when the loans would be due, but as a result of this situation, all government offices were forced to make pretty deep budget cuts accross-the-board. I think this is pretty public information how much the cuts were, but just in case it is not, I won't tell you the actual figure that was set for the reductions. I will tell you, though, that all goverment employees (poeple working in offices, schools, hospitals; everywhere) were forced to take a 3-9% pay cut beginning last spring. Losing almost a month's salary a year can have some pretty big consiquences if you have a family. A lot of people were not happy about it... but there is nothing we can do.
I technically work for Hyogo Prefecture, but since I was hired on a different type of contract from most employees (negotiated at a higher level), the salary cuts did not affect my pay. The changes did, however, affect the number of people like me they were paying. So when a few people left Japan this past year, they were not replaced, but rather those of us still here (or the few that have arrived since) are filling in the gaps.
Whew, long story short... I have two high schools this year.
I have really enjoyed working at my "base school" (another public high school) over the last year, and I hoenstly wasn't very happy when I first heard I would be "out-sourced" to a second location. I've warmed up to the idea since then, however, and I think it will be good to see a different working environment outside of the one I have become accustomed to. The new school's culture is really different from what I am used to, but the campus is also really close to my house, I'll have a foreign coworker at the new school and it's only once a week.
So far I have only been to Harima Minami one day and was only there for about an hour to meet my coworkers before they let me head out for an English Camp at another school in the area. It seemed pretty alright, though. The principal (a woman!) used to work with a close friend of mine at another school so I felt really comfortable with her off-the-bat, too, which helps. Since this friend was one of the only things we have in common, she basically just brought up my friend being sick sometimes (safe topics?), but the entirity of our first conversation was conducted in Japanese... also a bit different from my regular school, where I basically only use English. I didn't remember that the principal used to be an English teacher until later on, so I should have probably have used English, but I think everything went alright and she is now telling everyone that it is "OK to use Japanese with me." Um, just going to say that is sort of not true because I still can't speak it that well (and because I should be using English)... but I'll just go with the flow for now.
Monday was a pretty good day and not exactly difficult as far as "getting back into the groove" is concerned. After spending most of the day at the English Camp, I spent the evening with the 9 other foreigners also present, having dinner at a local restaraunt I had never been do (pretty good sukiyaki).
BBQ at Maiko Park
On Tuesday, I was back to school at my regular school. I had plans to go to a BBQ with a group of other young, female teachers in the afternoon (thankfully no rain!), but two of the girls approached me to go grocery shopping with them about an hour after I had arrived. So we left!
After going to about three different grocery stores and one of the girl's houses, we ended up at a BBQ area on the beach, next to the Akashi Pearl Bridge. It was actually really beautiful and for about $8, the staff at this place would provide a clean dining area, light your giant grill and keep it going if you needed help for about 5 hours. There were a couple other big parties near us (one with water guns... pretty sure they were wasted!) but the 5 of us basically just sat around talking and cooking all the food we made until they kicked us out at 7. None of the girls really spoke English (two days in a row!) so I was a little confused by some of the stories, but it was a blast and afterwards two of the girls and my neighbor came over to hang out for a nijiikai (afterparty).
Wednesday
I spent Wednesday evening in Sannomiya. I met Dave and Chris in Oppaiyama Koen (the name of a popular meeting spot by the JR station) and saw my friend Leighanne, who had just come back from the Olympics with a friend, for a few minutes before dinner. We did cheeseburgers at Polo Dog, a cheap and sure choice, and hung out at the Amagasaki local, Ranman, for a while afterwards. Long, but fun night.
Thursday, Friday & the Rest of the Weekend
This post is getting too long so I'm just going to combine the rest of the weekend into one little bit. On Thursday, I met up with a friend, discovering a new favorite sushi restaraunt in Kobe (huge California rolls... for cheap!) and then went out to all-you-can-drink karaoke with Leighanne, her friend & a small group of people from my area on Friday. I think all the drinking events are starting to get to me, and Friday was pretty rough. I hadn't really eaten much all day, and the spring rolls at the karaoke place didn't do much to divert the beer from hitting me hard... BUT I was up early on Saturday to meet the old ladies, go for a run and then to hit up the outlet malls with some other girls. I didn't buy much, but it was fun. In the evening, I went to a Beer Garden (outdoor all-you-can-eat/drink events held outdoors in the summer) on the roof of the SOGO Department store in Sannomiya. The event was sort of a welcome party and there were a lot of people I knew there, but I ended up going to Hobgoblin and then back to Amagasaki with a group of people afterwards, where we proceeded to talk until about 7 or 8am! It was sort of funny going to a nearby convenience store for food on the way home at 12:30 and then seeing the look on the clerks' faces when we went back for more food around 6am, and it was a lot of fun... but Sunday was pretty much shot (either sleeping during the day, watching movies with the same friends or just too tired to do anything else).
Otsukaresama!
So, yeah, three chapters of my future book later (kidding, but this was a lot...), there you have it: proof that I wasn't kidding when I said I was trying to "take advantage of the last days of summer." The running around is fun and I'm not tired yet, but I am looking forward to spending the week in the area and working out a bit more. We have a couple long weekends this month, too, but I think I am going to stick around Kansai to see some festivals.. I'll keep you updated :)
Despite the nasty weather, this week has been an unusually fun one. It's the last week of summer and I know I am not going to be this free for a while once things ramp up next week, so I'm taking advantage of the time while I can!
Budget Woes and the First Day at Harima Minami High School
On Monday I went to my new high school, Harima Minami, for the first time. I am basically still doing the same job that I've been doing for the past two years, but there have been some government budget restrictions in the last year due to Hyogo Prefecture's financial issues and going to another school one of the ripple effects of those changes.
As I am sure you are aware, Kobe was hit by a massive earthquake (7.2 on the Richter scale!) about 14 years ago. The prefecture received a lot of support and financial assistance at the time, but the majority of the burden of rebuilding a major city (infrastructure is not cheap!), as well as providing memorials and information through museums after the actual recontruction, fell onto the local goverment.
So, when the loans came due last year, the prefecture found itself in sort of a tough situation. I was surprised that there wasn't more planning for when the loans would be due, but as a result of this situation, all government offices were forced to make pretty deep budget cuts accross-the-board. I think this is pretty public information how much the cuts were, but just in case it is not, I won't tell you the actual figure that was set for the reductions. I will tell you, though, that all goverment employees (poeple working in offices, schools, hospitals; everywhere) were forced to take a 3-9% pay cut beginning last spring. Losing almost a month's salary a year can have some pretty big consiquences if you have a family. A lot of people were not happy about it... but there is nothing we can do.
I technically work for Hyogo Prefecture, but since I was hired on a different type of contract from most employees (negotiated at a higher level), the salary cuts did not affect my pay. The changes did, however, affect the number of people like me they were paying. So when a few people left Japan this past year, they were not replaced, but rather those of us still here (or the few that have arrived since) are filling in the gaps.
Whew, long story short... I have two high schools this year.
I have really enjoyed working at my "base school" (another public high school) over the last year, and I hoenstly wasn't very happy when I first heard I would be "out-sourced" to a second location. I've warmed up to the idea since then, however, and I think it will be good to see a different working environment outside of the one I have become accustomed to. The new school's culture is really different from what I am used to, but the campus is also really close to my house, I'll have a foreign coworker at the new school and it's only once a week.
So far I have only been to Harima Minami one day and was only there for about an hour to meet my coworkers before they let me head out for an English Camp at another school in the area. It seemed pretty alright, though. The principal (a woman!) used to work with a close friend of mine at another school so I felt really comfortable with her off-the-bat, too, which helps. Since this friend was one of the only things we have in common, she basically just brought up my friend being sick sometimes (safe topics?), but the entirity of our first conversation was conducted in Japanese... also a bit different from my regular school, where I basically only use English. I didn't remember that the principal used to be an English teacher until later on, so I should have probably have used English, but I think everything went alright and she is now telling everyone that it is "OK to use Japanese with me." Um, just going to say that is sort of not true because I still can't speak it that well (and because I should be using English)... but I'll just go with the flow for now.
Monday was a pretty good day and not exactly difficult as far as "getting back into the groove" is concerned. After spending most of the day at the English Camp, I spent the evening with the 9 other foreigners also present, having dinner at a local restaraunt I had never been do (pretty good sukiyaki).
BBQ at Maiko Park
On Tuesday, I was back to school at my regular school. I had plans to go to a BBQ with a group of other young, female teachers in the afternoon (thankfully no rain!), but two of the girls approached me to go grocery shopping with them about an hour after I had arrived. So we left!
After going to about three different grocery stores and one of the girl's houses, we ended up at a BBQ area on the beach, next to the Akashi Pearl Bridge. It was actually really beautiful and for about $8, the staff at this place would provide a clean dining area, light your giant grill and keep it going if you needed help for about 5 hours. There were a couple other big parties near us (one with water guns... pretty sure they were wasted!) but the 5 of us basically just sat around talking and cooking all the food we made until they kicked us out at 7. None of the girls really spoke English (two days in a row!) so I was a little confused by some of the stories, but it was a blast and afterwards two of the girls and my neighbor came over to hang out for a nijiikai (afterparty).
Wednesday
I spent Wednesday evening in Sannomiya. I met Dave and Chris in Oppaiyama Koen (the name of a popular meeting spot by the JR station) and saw my friend Leighanne, who had just come back from the Olympics with a friend, for a few minutes before dinner. We did cheeseburgers at Polo Dog, a cheap and sure choice, and hung out at the Amagasaki local, Ranman, for a while afterwards. Long, but fun night.
Thursday, Friday & the Rest of the Weekend
This post is getting too long so I'm just going to combine the rest of the weekend into one little bit. On Thursday, I met up with a friend, discovering a new favorite sushi restaraunt in Kobe (huge California rolls... for cheap!) and then went out to all-you-can-drink karaoke with Leighanne, her friend & a small group of people from my area on Friday. I think all the drinking events are starting to get to me, and Friday was pretty rough. I hadn't really eaten much all day, and the spring rolls at the karaoke place didn't do much to divert the beer from hitting me hard... BUT I was up early on Saturday to meet the old ladies, go for a run and then to hit up the outlet malls with some other girls. I didn't buy much, but it was fun. In the evening, I went to a Beer Garden (outdoor all-you-can-eat/drink events held outdoors in the summer) on the roof of the SOGO Department store in Sannomiya. The event was sort of a welcome party and there were a lot of people I knew there, but I ended up going to Hobgoblin and then back to Amagasaki with a group of people afterwards, where we proceeded to talk until about 7 or 8am! It was sort of funny going to a nearby convenience store for food on the way home at 12:30 and then seeing the look on the clerks' faces when we went back for more food around 6am, and it was a lot of fun... but Sunday was pretty much shot (either sleeping during the day, watching movies with the same friends or just too tired to do anything else).
Otsukaresama!
So, yeah, three chapters of my future book later (kidding, but this was a lot...), there you have it: proof that I wasn't kidding when I said I was trying to "take advantage of the last days of summer." The running around is fun and I'm not tired yet, but I am looking forward to spending the week in the area and working out a bit more. We have a couple long weekends this month, too, but I think I am going to stick around Kansai to see some festivals.. I'll keep you updated :)
posted by Brenda Ann Elizabeth McKinney @ 9:40 PM
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