Life continued

Alright, so I have decided that perhaps I will give this blogging thing a bit more of a go, an entry a week maybe, who knows.

As for my JET interview on Thursday, I think it went well, I was told to write a two minute introduction in preparation for the interview, which I left until Wednesday night, and it was stressful trying to get it done (kind of reminded me a little of oral com, but I did it and didn't have to use it, but it still helped in my interview as I was able to throw in bits and pieces of it here and there.

I was so nervous as I sat in the waiting room, I almost felt like throwing up. Waiting there, I decided I would go over my intro a few more times to calm me down but before I could even get through it twice I was called into the interview room. I had heard rumours that many times the interviewers can be cruel. saying you wrote things on your application that you didn't write and asking you about them trying to see if you would slip up and think that you had actually written them. (to see how well you actually know what you wrote). I also was told that they would ask awkward questions to see how you deal with stress. things like "what would you do if one of your fellow teachers groped you, what if it was the principal?". Luckily I was not asked any of these questions.

instead I was asked questions like, "what do you think will be most difficult getting used to in Japan", "how would you deal with the language barrier", How do you handle conflict", fairly standard interview questions.

I won't find out until april if I am going forsure, but until then I have many many papers and exams to keep me busy. As well as my practicum two which is going quite well but will soon step up a notch as I will have to teach two classes per week one of these being a group of twenty students. :S

hopefully it will all go well!

~ Justin Goodman

life

Alright, so I haven't posted in a long time, and I apologise. I just got back from work (Starbucks), and it was a really frustrating shift. I used to really enjoy working there, really really, but I haven't enjoyed working there since Christmas. (if you want to skip a very long rant you can move on to the next paragraph) I think part of this dissatisfaction is that we used to use big pitchers which were enough to make like 4 Venti lattes, thus making for a fairly speedy delivery, but now "we" (most of the Baristas not included) thought it would be a good idea to start using little pitchers which are enough to make one venti, any more than this and milk will start flowing all over the counter and make a huge mess. "We" also figured that we would use less milk this way, because we are steaming milk on a per-drink basis. I once was told by my manager to steam up a big pitcher of non-fat and a big pitcher of 2% whenever I saw that we had a huge line so that this way, we would not get bogged down at the bar and be able to get drinks out faster. "sure it may waste more milk if they are getting just drip coffee, but at least this way we are prepared" she said. Now however, our goal is to give customers the freshest milk possible, and thus I shouldn't start steaming milk until I know exactly what kind of milk it is. I can see how this dairy philosophy would work in a store that is less trafficked, but Osborne is the most trafficked store in Winnipeg. I talked with my manager, and now we are allowed to use the big pitchers again, however there are some people who work there who insist on never using them, and they throw them into the sink whenever they get the chance. And so whenever I work with these people, I am either forced to use small pitchers, because there aren't any available big ones, or I feel like I am a lesser barista if I use the big pitchers. It also makes me use much more milk because I always have to dump the excess milk after each drink. This pitcher philosophy also means we have to bend down to get milk 4X more often and clean the steam wands 4X more often, both of which are time consuming, thus slowing us down even more. I almost feel like I am on fear factor, after they have just announced that someone will have to walk across a 400 meter beam carrying an alligator, while eating worms and then they say and as if this wasn't enough, we are going to make it rain on you, though instead of rain, my challenge is "you have to make 100 lattes in half an hour and as if this wasn't enough you are going to have to use the little pitchers. on the bright side it hasn't started raining in-store yet, though I wouldn't be suprised if it did. I'm trying really hard to actually enjoy a shift, but so far they have been tension filled and incredibly stressful. :( I really really can't wait until I am done there. (rant over)

On another note, I started teaching an english class last Thursday. It was AMAZING, all of my students are very fun and very interactive. I am very excited about the possibilities. I also have my interview for the JET Programme this thursday. I really hope it goes well, as it is something I really want to do, who knows though, if it falls through I could always try and apply for another country, Korea is also interesting.

It is also now reading week which is much needed, I have three papers and a paper proposal due following reading week so I need to get my groove thing going. Starbucks is definitely throwing off the groove.

~ Justin Goodman