An Edited Version of the E-mail I sent my family
So, last time I sent an e-mail I’d JUST become settled into my new apartment, I’d just started my blog (leslieinjapan.com), and [INCOMPETENT EX-MANAGER] had just been demoted. So, in order:
My apartment is great! I’m just waiting to buy the perfect couch for it, and after that I’ll consider it fully furnished! I keep spending money on organizers (for papers, for dirty clothes, for clean clothes, for dishes, etc.) because buying them makes me feel like an adult. It’s nice to get to try these new ways of keeping my life together and then discarding them when I find they don’t work the way I want them to.
In my apartment, I’ve been sleeping in the ‘living room area’ because that’s where the cold air from the air conditioner hits, and I NEEDED THAT during the 30 degrees Celsius nights. Thankfully, the weather seems to be cooling down, and I can soon start sleeping in my loft again! I’m looking forward to it!
My blog is updating about once or twice a week - normally with pictures of things I find interesting, or snippets about my life! It’s mostly for you guys and family, so that I can easily post banal stuff as much as I want, without annoying people on my Facebook. I’m probably gonna put this e-mail on the blog as it’s own post, but I wanted to sent it directly to you all. [lol, I did.]
Finally, my ex-manager has been FIRED! Well, not fiiired, but he was “repeatedly asked to resign”, until he finally “agreed to”. “[ex-manager] will spend the final month of his contract at home, and we wish him the best of luck in securing his next job”. There were a couple things that struck the final blow for [ex-manager] - after everyone realized that he had no idea how to be a manager or run a school or really do anything well at all, he was demoted to a teacher. We put him in charge of teaching 'High School Exam Level English’ and, considering he didn’t even try to make a schedule for the classes to follow, those classes were consistently disorganized. He was then asked to teach a make up class for two of my students - two high energy brothers who even I struggle with. He was given a month to plan a lesson and use the system (that I regularly use with an hour’s warning). After weeks of coaching from Current Manager, he showed no signs of improvement, but we went along with the class anyway and he did one of the few things that you should never do in a Japanese English school; he yelled at the kids in Japanese. Current Manager interrupted his class and then taught the rest of it. That itself wasn’t enough to nail his coffin shut, soooooo we left [ex-manager] in charge of teaching the school’s CEO’s eldest daughter, and [ex-manager] did not last long after that.
I’m not saying that I’m happy that he doesn’t have a job anymore, but the atmosphere at work is soooo much improved that I really can’t say that I’m sad for him.
In recent news, I finally got a Japanese bank account! Annnnd, apparently I’m gonna have three cards from it - a Japanese credit card, a Japanese debit card, and a Japanese cash card. (I had to have a coworker explain what a cash card was, and I’m genuinely still confused why I can’t just use my debit card to withdraw money from an ATM instead.) I’m still waiting to receive anything other than the debit card and my temporary cash card, but the interesting thing about mail here is that for any kind of personal card or mail, I have to be here to sign for it. They won’t just drop the letter with my credit card into my mail box - they will ring the doorbell and require my signature. Considering the hours that I keep, and the fact that I’m awake and writing this at 1:30 am, maybe I’ll never receive it. (This is a joke, I’ll totally get it sooner than later.)
In total, things are going well! I’m having a great time over here now! [I miss all of the people who I liked in Canada, and none of the people I didn’t like!]