Thursday, June 26, 2003



The change in apartment idea is stressing me out.

Any move will mean paying a lot more money per month. I have no idea how much Sumitomo is willing to pay, if any. With a change in the amount of rent my paycheck is not going to balance out as well as I would like. Most teachers have most of their rent paid for by their school. In some cases all of the rent. Then their take home is the same as mine. Hmmm.
There is also this ridiculously HIGH down payment thing that you have to pay to rent an apartment here. Basically it is the damage deposit but unlike at home you dont get this money back. This sucks. It will actually be a thousand bucks. Sometimes more.
I have been sitting here balancing risk verses reward. I don’t know.
There are other jobs out there but……
l Here I get a good medical and dental.
l I have free rein of my classes and can set my own schedule.
l I have no annoying supervisor hanging over my shoulder questioning my every move.
l I get 13 paid holiday days a year.
l I am on wage not salary. (this sucks during national holiday times)
l I can take a holiday whenever I want regardless of any holiday days left.
l I have a very cheap lunchroom.
l I have Internet access and email.
l I work officially from 9 to 5 and get paid for my overtime hours.
l I get paid 20$ an hour.
At another school….
l I do not have free rein but classes organized by a supervisor.
l There is a very high chance that the courses are set for content.
l Most places have medical but not all.
l The school sets most holidays and only extreme circumstances let you take a holiday.
l I would most likely work from 11am-10pm.
l Many schools don’t let you do private teaching. Cram schools are ok but all the other ones are a no.
l I get most of my apartment paid for, if not all.
l I would probably get paid more. I know of a cram school who pays their foreign teachers almost 30$ an hour.
l No lunchroom.
l Probably, in most cases, I would be paid by salary.
l Most don’t pay over time.
l Some give you a car.

Augh!!
I am still leaning towards Sumitomo. Many of my friends who work the later day stuff hate it. They say that it wears you down and makes many unhealthy. Many gain a lot of weight because of bad eating habits that set in.
Li and I talked last night about his work. He has to find another job. The Richmond job is just too irregular and is not giving him anything. He doesn’t enjoy it either. He needs to find something, anything that is during the day. It will be difficult. With the economy so shitty companies are even more rude and bias about hiring only Japanese workers. There is something out there though.

I shouldn’t stress about it but I do. That is my nature. Causes me all sorts of problems but I have learned to deal with them.
Li and I have to put our heads together and think some more. It will all work out in the end.
hmmmmm
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Posted by (Top)Andrea::6/26/2003 :: 0 Comments:

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