Let's Japan.org Debunking Eikaiwa and Ramblings in Japan

Guest post by Brett Tompkins

I couldn't quite get a handle on my role as an English teacher at the Sakai Eigakuin. For one, the students' range in ages was vast. One moment, I'd be teaching a gaggle of giggling high school kids, and the next, a group of somber housewives.

Guest post by Brett Tompkins

Masako, the girl I'd met at Lynn's party, was a willowy, quietly intriguingly sly creature who winnowed her way into my affections within minutes, that night at Lynn's. And within minutes, we were off to the sake machine around the corner to fetch a "last-call" sake before the automatic shutoff at 11.

We hit it off pretty much immediately. She was tall for a Japanese girl, lanky and demure. She laughed at my jokes, encouraged my poor Japanese. I was smitten.

Guest post by Brett Tompkins

The first notion that I could get into real trouble was the uniformed officer who was waving people forward to enter the security line for the boarding gate area at Seoul's Kimpo airport. I couldn't tell if he was military or regular police, but he was wearing a gun, so I decided not to chance it.

First of all, I want to thank Shawn and Chris for giving me the space on their site to tell my side of the story. I know that Chris didn't even believe I existed. He wouldn't agree to letting me put a story on the site unless he met me! We met at a bar in Kawasaki and he was like majorly shocked to see me.

Guest post by Marth Reynolds

Even before I left England for Japan my brothers warned me about Nova, so I expected the worst. However, my first impressions of the company were good. They took the time to pick me up from the airport and escort me to my impressive, expensive apartment. It was three days later at orientation when the alarm bells started to ring.

So, you're thinking of working at NOVA and want to know what it is like. The first question to ask yourself is, "Am I a people person?" No, I'm not asking if you like socializing with your friends. Let's take an imaginary trip to the bus station to find out the answer.

I had decided not to renew my contract at Geos. It was made clear to me that Odawara Geos didn't want to hire me back but head office wanted re-hire me and transfer me to another school.

The best thing about working at Geos was meeting all the really nice students. That's probably the only redeeming quality of the place. I got to meet a lot of very nice people.

Sometimes I was asked to do things above and beyond the call of duty and I was very happy to oblige. One of my students worked for an insurance company. They had just bought and moved into a smaller regional office and they wanted some English on the huge windows facing the street to ad a certain air of sophistication to the place. My student asked me to compose something suitable for the front window.

After Chris left GEOS, I began to wonder what caused the whole commotion with him in the first place. Was GEOS really that bad? Sid, our area trainer, seemed like a decent guy to me. Molly, though she hated our manager, was telling me to not let "those GEOS bastards get to you." We would go over the Monday Japan Times behind closed doors like two plotting thieves and look at our options.

Dear Chris,
Spent the last couple of hours reading the site. Some pretty funny stuff! I was thinking of going to Japan via Geos in the near future but after reading the stories and the message board I'm getting second thoughts. Is there anything good you can say about Geos? If you were given a second chance, would you do Geos again?
Sincerely,
Rudy Blundell.

Dear Rudy,