I went and done something dumb…

My computer was acting freaky and I decided to reinstall windows. It came with a recovery DVD, so I backed up all my stuff onto another drive and let the formatting begin!

Unfortunately, the drive I copied all my backup files to was actually the same drive it was formatting.

You see, my C drive is far too big to just hold a simple operating system and some programs… So I put a partition down the middle of it (effectively creating 2 rooms (drives) from one big room.) So, I had a C: and an E: drive.

It was to the E: I copied all my backup stuff.

So along comes the handy dandy recovery disk and says, “ALL PARTITIONS OUT!!! WE’RE PUTTING THIS ROOM BACK THE WAY IT WAS!”

So, that’s how it happened…

Now, before I go filling up the disk with new data (reinstalling programs) I’m going to see if I can dig up some buried data…

This is poopy.

In the last year and a half, I’ve taught hours upon hours of private classes to over 50 students who I have never met in real life. This is because I give a good chunk of my English classes over the telephone. Most people find this odd, but there is actually a rather high demand for this type of class. They say that a large percentage of comprehension is due to body language and not to the actual words coming out a person’s mouth. When talking over the phone, you take out body language out of the equation and any and all comprehension depends on those little floppy things hanging off the sides of your head.

Since it’s a bit more difficult to follow a book during these classes, most people choose to have conversation classes using articles I send them as a way to improve vocabulary and conversation skills. One great website (www.breakingnewsenglish.com) is a bountiful source of short and sweet articles that provide enough fodder to get me through each 30 minute lesson.

This week’s article resounded with me as it not only talks about the field in which I work, teaching English, but also, more specifically, about the company my brother Chris works for in Japan and all the hubbub surrounding the recent mess they’ve gotten themselves into. This should be a fun week’s worth of conversation.

Any points of interest you can add Chris?

Japan’s biggest English school in trouble

Nova Corporation, Japan’s largest English conversation school chain is in serious financial trouble. The company, which employs some 4,000 non-Japanese English teachers, was given court protection from creditors on October 26th. It has debts of around $357 million and has given up any efforts to try and clear them. Nova’s directors are hoping to find sponsors to keep the majority of its 900 schools operational. The company’s disgraced president is nowhere to be found. Nozomu Sahashi, 56, owns a 16 percent stake in the company but was fired on Thursday. The board accused him of financial wrongdoing, as he could not give an adequate explanation for his “opaque way of fund-raising and negotiating with potential business alliance partners.”

Nova’s collapse has angered thousands of teachers, many of whom have not been paid. A union representative, Katsuji Yamahara, expressed his concerns saying: “This is a serious development that could force many students, instructors and employees to suffer losses.” Some teachers now face eviction from their company-provided accommodation. There have even been cases of Nova deducting rent from teachers’ salaries and then not paying landlords. Teachers at the scandal-hit school went on strike last week to protest against the company’s malpractices. The final nail in the coffin for Nova seems to have been a discovery that its advertising lied to potential students about its services. Nationwide ads claimed students could take lessons any time they wanted, which proved to be untrue.

Well, there’s no point in putting it off; sometime soon I’m going to have to write the dreaded “No-I-Haven’t-Fallen-Off-A-Cliff-And-Died-So-Here’s-What-I’ve-Been-Up-To-For-The-Last-Two-Months” blog post. Better now than never, they say.

As much as I’ve wanted to drop in and say,

“The craziest thing happened today, I saw a woman get hit by a car and then get yelled at by a group of old Spanish people who wanted to know, “Why the hell did you cross the street when the little green man wasn’t lit up? Don’t you know to wait for the little green man?? What were you thinking???”

But I suppose that would have gotten the ‘single eyebrow raise’ and a ‘We haven’t heard from this guy in almost 2 months and THIS is what he has to say for himself???”

So here it goes, I’ll just get this update business out of the way and we can move on to posting about the regular banalities.

(By the way: That story about the chick and the car? True story. Swear to Dog)

Sooooo… Let’s see… Where did I leave off… Ahhhh yes – Almost two months ago in the Canary Islands. Yeah… That was a nice trip. ::unfocuses eyes and starts the Gladis’ famous 1,000 yard stare::

(15 minutes later…)

Huh? Oh. Sorry ‘bout that. Yes – SINCE the Canary Islands…

Well, to be honest, it’s been quite the blur. Work and school both started off slow – A few English classes in the academy and a few lessons at the music school. Before I knew it, it was October, I had every morning hour filled teaching classes and then running out the door to get to one of my 7 music classes. Offers to give private classes soon popped up and my evenings were spent in a quite bar, sipping on beers, teaching my students how to swear in English.

I was rapidly approaching maximum capacity and vowed that I would not take on another class – that is, until I got a phone call from my friend Andy who works at the American School of Madrid. Turns out they’re looking for Guitar teachers and he’s already put in a good word for me. If there was one thing I would give up my diminishing free time for, it would be doing exactly that. If I’m going to be a music teacher, I had to start somewhere.

So, as October began picking up steam and me burning holes in the soles of my shoes, I dropped everything for a week’s vacation back in the states to be best man at Jon Murray’s wedding.

I was there for 9 short and sweet days. I decided not to announce my homecoming to many people as I knew trying to see everyone would end up more headache than I wanted. So most of my time was spent hanging with my family and helping Jon with the wedding, topped off with a few run ins with a few old friends – Justin, Shazdeh, Sarah and her adorable babies…

Spending time with Jon before the wedding, preparing for the wedding, talking about the wedding and joking about the wedding yielded some of the more poignant memories of the trip. Listening to him talk about Steph, his fiancée, with such unfettered, unconditional and seemingly doubtless love took me by complete surprise. It’s not that I ever questioned the depth of their love for each other; it was just odd for me to be hearing it firsthand.

More often than not, it’s the Problem-Resolution Chats, the Catch-Release Gossip, and the Insecurity Hunt/Consolation coffee sessions. It wasn’t like he had overdosed on love muffins and could see no fault in her; it was just that he knew her strengths and her faults and still loved her to death.

He almost made being in a relationship look simple. (I see you snickering out there…)

But all was well and good and the wedding went off without a hitch. A few of Jon’s firemen buddies picked him up in the ladder truck. Jon got up to the altar without looking back and I didn’t lose the rings. Sarah accompanied me to the reception and stopped me from freaking out before giving my speech (which started out a 2 pages the night before, 1 page the morning of and ad libbed as soon as I got up there.) And no one got SO drunk as to make a complete fool of themselves, although I’m sure there were quite a few who had to ask for recaps the next morning.

And then I woke up and headed off to the airport. And then I landed in Madrid. And then I went back to my chaotic schedule – this time jet lagged. Funfunfunfunfun.

But I’ve loosened the straps a bit since I got back. I’ve let a few classes drop off and I’ve made it a point to sit back and turn off my phone once in awhile. All’s peachy here on my side of the pond and now that I’ve got internet again, I can go on rambling – and dumping more photos into my gallery.

Thanks for coming back,

-peace

I have internet again…

All is well and good in the world…

Now back to normal blogging…