Friday, March 6, 2009

Have no fear I is here

I got word a few days ago that I will be assigned to teach in Hitachi, Japan. The city has about the same population as my hometown and is half coastal half mountain in topography. I can't wait to get there.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Finally


Finally after months upon months of waiting I'm finally getting squared away to go to Japan. Interac sent me an e-mail this morning confirming they have sent my Certificate of Eligibility via FedEx, once that arrives I have to go to the Japanese Consulate in SF to get a workers visa. At this point I've been unemployed 2 months. I've never been so bored in my entire life.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Departure delayed


Alright, because of how anal Japanese Immigration is, my departure has been delayed because I missed the deadline to obtain my workers visa to teach during the second term of school. On the bright side Interac has moved my departure date to mid-March so I can begin to teach when the new school year starts in Japan next April 2009. I also requested to be near my pbro Kyle who will be in Takamatsu in Kagawa prefecture so hopefully I can be placed there or at least near him. More bad news though is that my job as a mail clerk at UC Berkeley will end in Decemeber, so I need to find something from January to mid-March, or I can just choose to be a bum for two and half months, but I think I would die of boredom.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

I redact my previous statement that Interac owes me $90

As it turns out it seems that Japanese immigration authorities owe me $90. I received this e-mail today from Interac regarding the fucking bullshit letter that immigration needs and is being so anal about:

Dear JanRussell,
Thank you for your email. I did call the other day to inform you that the second original document provided is in fact not acceptable by the immigration authorities.
The sentence "has completed all requirement to receive a bachelor degree" implies that you have not yet received your degree unless there is a "awarded/ Conferred on (date)" on the same letter. An acceptable statement would be "has been awarded/conferred the degree of xxxx , on (date)". We look forward to receiving confirmation that your university can issue such document.

Wow immigration, I have nothing further to say about what colossal dicks you are being about this letter.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Interac owes me $90

OMFG, I got a voice-mail message last night from Interac's home office in Tokyo, and for the second time they have rejected my Certified Letter of Graduation. This time the problem was the tense of the last sentence of letter. Although previous sentences in letter stated that I have completed all necessary course work for my Bachelor's in Arts for East Asian Studies, they say they can't accept the letter because the last sentence said, that the degree will be awarded by the Chancellor. WTF Interac! The letter clearly states that I have completed all necessary course work. I was told that a Certified Letter of Graduation will be okay since they knew I graduated in June and it would take a while until records were updated showing that I had graduated. So thats two (2) letters they have rejected. The first was rejected because it didn't show that I had graduated. Cost to mail by FedEx: $50, Now this letter got kicked back. Cost to mail by FedEx: $40. Cost of the headache all this mailing is causing my broke-ass: Fuckin' priceless!

Friday, July 11, 2008

Good and Bad News

The Bad News:
is that my departure date was scheduled to be on or around August 17th, but since UCLA screwed me yet again, I missed a deadline to get my workers visa.

The Good News:
is that Interac has pushed back my departure date, which gives me more time to work, save money, and pay people I owe money to. People who I hope won't be trying to find me to take my thumbs, since I had no collateral. =)