Working Abroad...

Interesting Audio from the One Life website from the BBC on working abroad

• AUDIO FROM BEEB

NOVA CORP...

Surfing the net again, and came across the corporate site for Nova. It's kinda interesting, especially the link below to a "few words" from the CEO, entitled "Don't let your dreams go unfulfilled"....

http://www.nova.ne.jp/english/corporation/04spirit/spirit.html

Solar Car

Solar Car
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

Toyota reveal their new car...

Big Fish

Big Fish
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

Look at the size of the Goldfish in Japan!

A little bit of heaven

A little bit of heaven
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

And I am gonna see this

New Links

Not much to say today. Held little William today and yesterday. He's so small, that it seems strange how big he'll be when I get back from Japan

The astute of you, who have visited this blog before will notice a change in look. For the better I say, but I'd love your views, on the look of this blog. Email is JediJuzi@Aol.com.

I've some new links to check out -

http://www.jetprogramme.org/

My fellow blogger, Lydia, is on this programme, and their site is well worth a look.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/onelife/travel/atoz/japan.shtml

A fun, informative look at Japan from the view of the excellent Radio 1, OneLife people.

http://www.jnto.go.jp/

The Official Site of the Japanese Tourist Org.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/index-e.htm

Another excellent source of news in Japan.

Peace out peeps.

Domo Arrigato

News from Nova

Had an email back from Nova today, which is included below. Doesn't say much, but means another phone call. Are the refusing to put anything down on paper ? (Well email in this case ?)


NOVA GROUP, UK
Carrington House
126/130 Regent Street
London, W1B 5SE
Tel: +44 020 7734 2727
Fax: +44 020 7734 3001
tefl@novagroup.demon.co.uk
www.teachinjapan.com

Dear Mr. Buckley,

Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding Nova’s policy of socializing with students outside the branch.

Would it be possible for you call our office to discuss this matter with our Office Manager, Patricia Morrin, in more detail?

We look forward to hearing from you soon.


Yours sincerely,

Donna Clarke
Overseas Recruiter
Nova Group UK

Good News

My ickle sister (11 months younger than moi) gave birth to a healthy baby boy yesterday via Caesaren. Weighing in at 8lbs 10oz, little William Rueben James Bisset is now brother to Daniel John. Good luck to the family.

Its odd really. I've seen Daniel grow up so fast, and when I return from Japan, little Will, will be a whole different person....

Dan!

Dan!
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

The Bisset Bros!

The Bisset Bros!
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

Grandma and Baby

Grandma and Baby
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

Mum and Newborn

Mum and Newborn
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

Grandparents and Will

Grandparents and Will
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

My sister and William

My sister and William
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

Theatre

Theatre
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

Nice!!!

Nice!!!
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

Nice!!!!! x2

Nice!!!!! x2
Originally uploaded by renegadese7en.

Fellow Blogger, Brit and Teacher...

Some good news today, in between the horrid experience of the Dentist's drill. I had an email reply from Lydia, a fellow blogger and teacher on the JET programme. I had emailed her with some rather geeky questions about using my computer in Japan. See her reply below....

hey justin, thanks, glad someone other than those who read it out of obligation is enjoying my blog!
well done on getting on NOVA, do you know what prefecture youre going to yet?
re bringing your laptop, i brought a laptop which didnt need a transformer as people usually will warn you about, mailny because i dont know of any laptop that doesnt have its own transformer built into the power supply. i have an internet connection in the house which isnt difficult to set up i've heard, but i had the luck of moving into an apartment which already had it. my internet is a fast connection but sadly i cant tell you more than that as i get it free by some glitch in the phone company so i dont want to ask and have them realise their mistake! haven't heard of anyone with a 56k connection, everyone is running on some random version of broadband, so you;ll likely need an ethernet card connection with the laptop or a socket that will take that sort of cable.
re keeping the blog up to date, my situation is standard of JETs (a program like NOVA) that we have an easily accessible internet ready terminal at school and copious amounts of free time during the day to write it and just attach a photo at home and set it online, but lately i have been doing it mostly at home. i dont actually know what the NOVA workload or internet access conditions are like, but with internet at home its not too hard. i tend to update on a monday as the gym is closed and i have nothing better to do, and all my mates are still nursing hangovers.
anyway, congrats again on getting on NOVA, hope its been of help, lemme know if you need any more info etc.


She is based in Toyama, which is a prefecture north of Tokyo and number 19 on the map of Japan which you can access from the link below

http://gojapan.about.com/cs/japanmaps/l/blprefecturemap.htm


Not much more to say about today.

NovaGate

Worries have begun to set in. Nerves. Fears. The loss of the familiar. All of this seems to stem from one source. Perusing the web, in an attempt to add to my knowledge of Japanese customs. traditions and news, I was disturbed to say the least, when I discovered the following news story in the Japanese Times from June 1 2004.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20040601zg.htm

The article details, how NOVA, my new employers ban any form of liason between teachers and students. Now this is an obvious and correct measure to put in place, one would think, especially in respect to professionalism. However there is a follow up article from NOVA employees that outlines their unfair treatment from the company.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20040622zg.htm

I have emailed the company about my concerns, and hopefully these will be cleared before I go.

Preparation. Preparation. Preparation.

Again, feeling better than I did yesterday. And so does my little laptop. Bless 'im. I suppose what has crept up on me today is the need to get myself organised. I know that I don't leave until June, but preparing myself both emotionally and materially can only be beneficial. This has meant that I've scoured the web for sites on Japan, and it's culture and language; purchased some books on the language (although I need to track down something on the customs) ; have found a fellow blogger who also happens to be a teacher in Japan (on the JET scheme) ; and finally attempt to make some sort of list for items I need to buy.

http://www.jref.com/

This link has loads of useful information on Japan as a whole.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/

Japan's top newspaper

http://www.japanese-online.com/

Learn some Japanese!!!

http://idlebloo.blogspot.com/2004_07_01_idlebloo_archive.html

Fellow blogger!!!

I'm off now, to attempt to make some sort of list!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Sympathy Virus...virtually!

Feeling better today. Had the best night of sleep I have had in over a week. I am not sure if this was the antibiotics or the fatigue, but slept for about 13 hours. My infected face doesn't feel so swollen today, but I had the day off work to try and get over the infection.

Sadly my computer didn't fare much better. For a few weeks now, it has shown signs of being sick that I thought were just glitches in the machine. The only thing I could do for it in the end was to reboot my entire system, which in a way has proved to be a good thing, as "he" is now functioning pretty well, and it freed up some space on the memory for the Japan trip.

Thank God for my I-Pod which had saved most of my digitised music.

On the Japanese front, I had a letter from Nova today, which confirmed they had all the paperwork and would now help arrange my visa. Some good news then!!!!

Wierdly my Mum and Dad, have purchased a fax machine/phone which i suppose can only be beneficial to them and me <>....

Swollen faces, old loves and more bloody paperwork

I am not a happy bunny. To be more precise, I am not a well bunny. The lower left side of my face is painful and swollen due to some wierd infection, and I am now on a course of antibiotics. This not only extremely uncomfortable during the day, but almost agony at night, turning me into some kind of sleep depraved lunatic. Let's just hope for the goodness of those antibotics to work their little magic!

I have also recently been showered with strange nostalgic feelings for an old flame. Certain things have happened that have coincided with my golden ticket out of this town. Believe you me, my feet are firmly on the path, but my heart aches slightly. I think this is just out of a memory of a time of contentment in my life, when my world is about to change completely.

Finally, more headaches with paperwork. Apparently my "head" was chopped off in my passport photos, making them useless. Even though I could see nothing wrong, I still had to get more photographs taken. And then there was the issue of missing paperwork....OOPS!!!

Forms filled in...

So, I spent a small part of yesterday afternoon filling in various forms for my Visa, that'll allow me entry into Japan. Whilst most of my time was spent trying to remember exactly when I finished Junior school, it really was mostly common sense and repetition of information.

Today, I had to pop into work at 8, on my week off, because I don't have a printer or photocopier at home. This trip into work, despite the early hour, did bring me into contact with work colleagues who showered me with "well dones" and "how exciting". I know that they were all sincere, but it left me cold, which only reinforces the fact that it still hasn't reached the deep recesses of my brain....

I AM GOING TO JAPAN!!!

However after posting all my documentation off and ringing the NOVA group to accept the job, I was informed that my degree certificate needs to be resent, because the photocopy taken at the time of my interview isn't clear.

Ah well.

I hope that is the worst of my headaches!!!!

To dream the impossible dream....

It still hasn't sunk in yet....

It feels like some hazy, distant dream I had where the promise of adventure beckoned like a priceless jewel. But it is real.

At the moment, there is a lot of paperwork and various bits and pieces that need to be taken care of so that things go without a hitch. In the meantime I'd thought I'd put the Nova Group web address up here so you can check it out for yourselves...

http://www.teachinjapan.com/

See you soon

I-Pod it!!!!

It's late and I the news that I'll be working in Japan in June just hasn't really sunk in yet. Perhaps it won't until nearer the time, like the first rays of sun coming up over the brow of the hill.....

In the meantime, I thank the good lord and the genius of Steve Jobs for my 20GB I-Pod. This tiny device is gonna be my best friend for a while in the Land of the Rising Sun, so the tunes I cram into it's memory are going to have serve my every mood. I have already been busy digitising my huge collection of albums, making them kind of obsolete and redundant in a strangely heartbreaking way. I love the concept of CD's. Just as the LP was a massive part of earlier generations, the the CD is to me. Perhaps I'll always remain with this slightly luddite ideology, but I love the tactile and emotional thrill of buying a new CD, and the anticipation of getting home for the first listen.

Anyhow, my little I-Pod, is my Musical buddy, and will be for the best part of 12 months. Athlete, Avril Lavigne, Bloc Party, Coldplay to name few have filled up it's digital innards. I love you I-Pod....Keep me sane....

And so it begins

It's amazing what significance an A4 envelope can have. In my case it has changed my life. I don't really know for what purpose, but consider it a key, an opportunity, a gold bricked chance to find myself.

This blog, I hope will, by the very title, be self explanatory. I applied for a new job a couple of weeks back, in the vague of hope of escaping both the humdrum of this town and finding the purpose of my life.

So, I am off to Japan. And here I hope to record those adventures.

So I'll update this site as often as I can with news and my ongoing escapades.