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Archive for the ‘General’ Category

Bad Communication, More Upheaval, and Other Updates

12 Jul

I haven’t come near this blog in a few months now. I should make a concerted effort to write more, but lately I don’t have much to say that won’t fit in a tweet or a Facebook update.

My friend Hiroki and I have started a weekly video podcast called “Bad Communication,” named after the song by J-pop duo B’z. In it, we talk about stories related to Japan and whatever else strikes our interest. Here are the first and second episodes:

The show page can be found here. Hiroki does most of the heavy lifting with the editing and presentation, I just provide a few stories and some dry wit.

On a new personal note, I am being transfered to the city of Miki, a suburb of Kobe in Hyogo Prefecture. The new owners of GEOS, G.education, decided that the Fukuchiyama school was not worth keeping open and are closing it. It’s tough to be uprooted so soon after settling in here and starting to make friends, but I have to make the best of it and go with the flow for the time being. To be honest, I feel worse for my coworker and my students than I do for my own situation.

 
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Upheaval

22 Apr

Three weeks after moving to Fukuchiyama and still not quite settled in, GEOS Corporation has filed for bankruptcy. 99 schools are closing down. The remaining 230 schools (Fukuchiyama is fortunately one of which) will continue operating under the ownership of a company called G.communication.

So as of yesterday I am unemployed. Tomorrow I will go to the school, sign an employment agreement with this new company, and continue to teach lessons according to my schedule. What remains is the question of when and if I will get paid for the time that I’ve put in here, as the remains of GEOS Corp. likely doesn’t have enough money to go around. I am also unsure of what will become of the company apartment I’m currently living in.

All I can do is go to work tomorrow and try to reassure the students that neither I nor the school are going anywhere. しかたがない, as they say in Japanese.

Anyway, here are some pictures that I took around Fukuchiyama Castle while the sakura were still blooming:

castle1

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Posted in Current Affairs, General

 

Everything In Its Right Place

21 Mar

I think I’ve got the blog looking the way I want it, finally. I found a nice red theme, and there are login and registration links at the top of the sidebar now for convenience.

I am leaving Tokushima next month to take a job with GEOS Corporation in the city of Fukuchiyama, Kyoto Prefecture. Things are going to be quite hectic in the next week for me as I get rid of most of the things I’ve accumulated in the two years I’ve lived here, take off for training, and then move into the new place. I’m also anxious to find out what life will be like in a place even more rural than here.

I’m also on Twitter now. I signed up mostly to follow other people and probably won’t post to it much myself, but you can find me here.

 
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Facebook Connect

03 Mar

I just added Facebook Connect to this blog. Anyone using Facebook is now able to log in and leave comments now.

In the sidebar on the right, under “Meta,” click “Log in.” Then click on the blue “f Connect” button, and you’ll be able to connect your Facebook account with this site.

I think I have a few bugs to work out, but happy commenting!

EDIT: So we’re back to the old Arclite theme because Arjuna X was putting HTML garbage in Facebook users’ names. I would like to put a “Connect to Facebook” button somewhere in the comment area, but I can’t get it to place correctly. This little Facebook status box in the upper-right corner of the page is also annoying me, and I wish I could get rid of it. Unfortunately, the documentation for the Facebook Connect plugin is as clear as mud. :-(

 
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Eikaiwa and Net Cafes

27 Feb

The wheels in my head have been turning over a business idea. There are several eikaiwa (“English conversation schools”) in Japan, but in nearly two years teaching English here, I have yet to see computer-aided language learning really being pushed anywhere. Net cafes (also called media cafes and manga cafes), which provide Internet access at computer terminals and a variety of reading materials for an hourly rate, are also widespread. I’ve been thinking of a way to somehow combine the two.

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In Flux

23 Feb

Tonight finds me fussing with the theme of my blog. I can’t seem to find a theme that I really like. This “Urban View” “Arjuna X” will do for the time being, but I’ll probably change it again soon. I suppose I could make my own theme, but that would require hours grappling with CSS and GIMP only to be unsatisfied with the results anyway.

As some of you know, I’ve been looking for a new job for a few months now. I have a few promising leads in Osaka, but unless one really likes teaching young children the job market for an English teacher in Japan isn’t what it once was. You could blame the sluggish economy, people losing interest in foreign things, or a combination of both. But, I press on. I’m hoping that things will get better for everyone soon.

 
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Two Weeks in Santa Barbara

11 Jan

Here I am back in my apartment in Tokushima, after a long two weeks visiting my family back in Santa Barbara. I had a really nice visit, and it was a bit hard to leave.

Stern's Wharf

As is evident in the photo, the Santa Ynez Mountains and foothills above the city were ravaged last year by not one, but three wildfires: the Tea Fire, the Gap Fire, and the Jesusita Fire. I was able to survey the damage of the Jesusita Fire by taking a short hike up the trail that it was named after.

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Welcome

08 Dec

You’ve stumbled upon the blog of a one Andrew Hawkins, welcome.

I’m starting this “real” WordPress-based blog after years of using LiveJournal, kind of on a whim really. I don’t fool myself into thinking that my daily life is very interesting for others to read about, so here I will likely post things that I find amusing, musings or rants about the current state of world affairs, photos from my travels, or other such things.

I’m still playing around with the WordPress platform, so expect rapid changes as things get going.

 
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