Long anwer short: YES.
For those of you who read my August post railing about how difficult it was to get a bank account --- don't worry, I STILL don't have access to it. I do have an account, but my first bank card was stolen before I even received it, my name was spelled incorrectly on my second card, and I haven't yet received the PIN number necessary to access my money!
And I won't even get started on Rob's bank account. His will take even longer - even with a British passport!
So far in the race against Japan, land of bureaucracy (in triplicate, please!) London is still in the lead for the title "The Big Not Easy."
Monday, 24 September 2007
Musings on "The Office"
Office work. It's bizzare. You sit and create documents, make telephone calls which result in more documents, and then pass those documents on to other hands, where they are signed, passed on for authorization, documented in a database, and then filed for posterity (or however many years is legally required) in the appropriate filing cabinet - to sit and collect dust.
Who came up with this idea? It's so strange that the act of someone signing a page is considered "work". I don't know if it comes from growing up in a blue-collar family, but the whole idea of pushing papers is so far from my idea of "work", that I can't believe someone is paying me to do what I do all day!!
And what I do is - "office administration". Which, for this particular brand of "office administration", means that I make flight, cab and hotel bookings for people travelling between the various offices of a particular company. This generally takes up about one hour to one and one half hours of my day. Sometimes, when it's REALLY busy, I even get to do things like order stationery, put out sandwiches for meetings, send reminder e-mails ("Don't forget to order company Christmas cards for your clients by Friday!") or book meeting rooms. And if I'm lucky, I'll even get to change the toner in the photocopier!
Now I understand the the TV show "The Office". I thought that show was exaggerating the amount of free time and ridiculous nature of "work"... but it's all real! It is not a comedy - it is a realistic portrayal of life in an office environment!!! For all of my friends doing active work out there - keep your teaching, directing, writing and constructing jobs and avoid office work like the plague... it will rot your brain!
It's true! I do almost nothing all day... and get paid to do it (it = nothing)! The only problem is - I'm paid hourly, and want more hours. So each time my manager asks me how I'm doing, I have to pretend to be busy, so he will think I need more hours to do it and offer to make me full-time. As dishonest as that sounds, friends who are shaking your heads and saying quietly to yourselves "What has happened to Hana? ... She used to be such a hard worker!" in my defense: I have already offered to do more work. Every day for the first two weeks, I have asked "Is there anything else you need me to do?" And always, the answer is, "not right now, I'll let you know." So I've filled my time with job-related tasks. Making contact lists, writing multiple to-do lists (categorized by time, priority, like-ability of task and task-type, depending on my mood), and memorizing the names of the people on my floor from the map left on my desk. I have even produced a manual on how to do my job in the free time I have at said job. It is printed it in colour, organized in a fully-referenced binder with colour-coded, labelled tabs for each section. And as of today, it also has pictures of the computer screen at each step of any given task. So don't say I haven't been doing work, friends... but I'll give you the fact that it's not important work. Or useful.
It's a strange feeling, doing useless things all day. But on a working holiday visa, nobody really wants to employ me to create a new approach for program-delivery at a museum or plan cultural events that promote Japanese culture and language. They just want to pay me to sit on my a** all day and e-mail with the girl in the next row about how we have nothing to do all day. It doesn't make sense. ( And she evengets paid more than me for her brand of nothing!) If a country is going to invite me in to work for a limited amount of time - it should milk me of all the skills I have while I am here - get me to write a new and innovative textbook for language learning, or introduce young children to a new scientific concept, or help design and plant a sustainable vegetable garden in conjunction with a centre for the homeless! Use my youth and energy for the good of your country! Don't let me waste away my time browsing a gym brochure to see if I can make it to a yoga class and make it home in time for dinner!
... but on the upside - I have never been so stress-free. I have time to jog in the mornings, play board games in the evenings, socialize with friends, and I have even read three books in the past two weeks! As a result, my skin is clear, I have lost a kilo, and I'm sleeping 8 hours a night!
Now, if only I can figure out a way to get the best of both worlds - mental/emotional job satisfaction of a "real" job AND the good health/personal leisure time of office work.
Any suggestions?
Who came up with this idea? It's so strange that the act of someone signing a page is considered "work". I don't know if it comes from growing up in a blue-collar family, but the whole idea of pushing papers is so far from my idea of "work", that I can't believe someone is paying me to do what I do all day!!
And what I do is - "office administration". Which, for this particular brand of "office administration", means that I make flight, cab and hotel bookings for people travelling between the various offices of a particular company. This generally takes up about one hour to one and one half hours of my day. Sometimes, when it's REALLY busy, I even get to do things like order stationery, put out sandwiches for meetings, send reminder e-mails ("Don't forget to order company Christmas cards for your clients by Friday!") or book meeting rooms. And if I'm lucky, I'll even get to change the toner in the photocopier!
Now I understand the the TV show "The Office". I thought that show was exaggerating the amount of free time and ridiculous nature of "work"... but it's all real! It is not a comedy - it is a realistic portrayal of life in an office environment!!! For all of my friends doing active work out there - keep your teaching, directing, writing and constructing jobs and avoid office work like the plague... it will rot your brain!
It's true! I do almost nothing all day... and get paid to do it (it = nothing)! The only problem is - I'm paid hourly, and want more hours. So each time my manager asks me how I'm doing, I have to pretend to be busy, so he will think I need more hours to do it and offer to make me full-time. As dishonest as that sounds, friends who are shaking your heads and saying quietly to yourselves "What has happened to Hana? ... She used to be such a hard worker!" in my defense: I have already offered to do more work. Every day for the first two weeks, I have asked "Is there anything else you need me to do?" And always, the answer is, "not right now, I'll let you know." So I've filled my time with job-related tasks. Making contact lists, writing multiple to-do lists (categorized by time, priority, like-ability of task and task-type, depending on my mood), and memorizing the names of the people on my floor from the map left on my desk. I have even produced a manual on how to do my job in the free time I have at said job. It is printed it in colour, organized in a fully-referenced binder with colour-coded, labelled tabs for each section. And as of today, it also has pictures of the computer screen at each step of any given task. So don't say I haven't been doing work, friends... but I'll give you the fact that it's not important work. Or useful.
It's a strange feeling, doing useless things all day. But on a working holiday visa, nobody really wants to employ me to create a new approach for program-delivery at a museum or plan cultural events that promote Japanese culture and language. They just want to pay me to sit on my a** all day and e-mail with the girl in the next row about how we have nothing to do all day. It doesn't make sense. ( And she evengets paid more than me for her brand of nothing!) If a country is going to invite me in to work for a limited amount of time - it should milk me of all the skills I have while I am here - get me to write a new and innovative textbook for language learning, or introduce young children to a new scientific concept, or help design and plant a sustainable vegetable garden in conjunction with a centre for the homeless! Use my youth and energy for the good of your country! Don't let me waste away my time browsing a gym brochure to see if I can make it to a yoga class and make it home in time for dinner!
... but on the upside - I have never been so stress-free. I have time to jog in the mornings, play board games in the evenings, socialize with friends, and I have even read three books in the past two weeks! As a result, my skin is clear, I have lost a kilo, and I'm sleeping 8 hours a night!
Now, if only I can figure out a way to get the best of both worlds - mental/emotional job satisfaction of a "real" job AND the good health/personal leisure time of office work.
Any suggestions?
Sunday, 16 September 2007
"Fork"-ing Around in London
As indicated by the fact that the very first picture I took in London (left) was of food, it is safe to say that food is one of the loves of my life. I love a good "fork"-ing, no matter where I am!Therefore, let's explore my gastronomical adventures in a special, online edition of "Forking with Hana: London."
I must credit myself with managing to get in a good forking wherever I go - as indicated by the delectable pasta dish to the left. But I must admit that I have been eating particularly well since my arrival in London. (Good thing I started jogging!)
Many people know Burrough Market (where celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver, does his food shopping), but did you know that just off to the side is a charming little patisserie which bakes a rainbow of massive... meringues? It was there I first forked with this pear tart - what a tart!
At the same patisserie (different day, don't fret. I've learned the lesson that too much forking in one day can leave me feeling less than frisky) this tiny lemon cupcake put a forking huge smile on my face. While not a tart, it was perfectly so - and cute, to boot!
And it's not just restaurants that are making me crazy about forking... housemates, too! My housemate Stu has kept me busy by keeping the oven hot at home.
And boy, can this man work that oven! This scone was my very first (scary) foray into clotted cream. It was intimidating, all of that thick cream, but ultimately a rewarding experience. I can see how clotted cream can become a forker's dream.
But what is food in England without the ultimate English forking experience?
For the Brits, the best forking happens in the morning (preferably the day after a long night of drinking). And thanks to the new abundance of veggie-friendly food in this city, it's not too difficult to find a vegetarian version of the classic British "get-me-up" session: (veggie) sausages, egg, toast, baked beans and fried tomato and mushrooms. Who needs forking meat, anyway? A dollop of English mustard, and I was left panting at the end of the meal.Actually, looking at all of these pictures is making me excited to have some more forking adventures! If you have any suggestions for where I can go in London for a good forking, speak to my (comment) box!
Tuesday, 4 September 2007
Thank you, London!
YES! It's happened!
I got my first job in London! It starts on Thursday, so I will have to make my way there around the tube strike... but I'll get there if I have to walk all the way! Thank you to all of you who sent me your "get a job" vibes -- and hooray for London!!
I got my first job in London! It starts on Thursday, so I will have to make my way there around the tube strike... but I'll get there if I have to walk all the way! Thank you to all of you who sent me your "get a job" vibes -- and hooray for London!!
London: The Big Not Easy
Okay, I take it back. I spoke too soon. There is no balance - just "not easy"-ness.
My friend Joe commented on my posting "the opposite of easy" by saying that my experience at the bank was nowhere near as difficult as any of our experiences with bureaucracy in Japan. True - that experience wasn't... but last night's ordeal officially makes London more difficult than most anything I've had to deal with in Japan.
In order to make this (very) long story short, suffice it to say that - due to a maintenance worker's strike on the tube - traveling to and from the airport to pick up Rob was more than a little difficult. What should have been approximately one hour each way, with 30-45 minutes of wait time at the airport turned into cramped, hot, sticky masses in the last Piccadilly train to Heathrow, two and a half-hours of waiting at the airport, and a more than 3-hour/1-train/3-bus trip all around London, and eventually - home at 2am. My seven hour travel time yesterday, in fact, took longer than it takes to fly from Toronto to London!
Luckily, Rob held back until we arrived home to drop the bomb --- a man he sat beside on the plane had offered to give us a ride home! AAAAARRRRRGH!
I have to hand it to Rob's dad, Eddie, for giving me a new name for London - "The Big Not Easy."
My friend Joe commented on my posting "the opposite of easy" by saying that my experience at the bank was nowhere near as difficult as any of our experiences with bureaucracy in Japan. True - that experience wasn't... but last night's ordeal officially makes London more difficult than most anything I've had to deal with in Japan.
In order to make this (very) long story short, suffice it to say that - due to a maintenance worker's strike on the tube - traveling to and from the airport to pick up Rob was more than a little difficult. What should have been approximately one hour each way, with 30-45 minutes of wait time at the airport turned into cramped, hot, sticky masses in the last Piccadilly train to Heathrow, two and a half-hours of waiting at the airport, and a more than 3-hour/1-train/3-bus trip all around London, and eventually - home at 2am. My seven hour travel time yesterday, in fact, took longer than it takes to fly from Toronto to London!
Luckily, Rob held back until we arrived home to drop the bomb --- a man he sat beside on the plane had offered to give us a ride home! AAAAARRRRRGH!
I have to hand it to Rob's dad, Eddie, for giving me a new name for London - "The Big Not Easy."
Monday, 3 September 2007
London: Redemption
Today London started to redeem itself (if you don't know what I'm talking about, read the previous post).
First off, Rob arrives tonight - Yipeeee! - and so I was prepared for it to be the longest day of waiting EVER (I have been waiting anxiously all weekend for today to arrive). So I thought I would make myself busy by job-searching to occupy my time.
I called the agencies that had forwarded my CVs to Japanese companies, and although the first two ended up fruitless, the third more than made up for them --- I got an interview for later in the day at the job that was (so far) as close to the top of the list as I could get. Double-Yipeeeee!
I still had some time, and so I headed out to do some minor 99P store shopping with Stu for some household goods, and on my way out - more "Yipeeeeee", I got a letter from the bank saying I had been approved!! Triple-Yipeee!! However, my bank card won't arrive for another while "for security purposes". Way to take the fun out of good news, London!
So I got myself looking professional (quite stylish, if I do say so myself) and had my very first UK interview today at 3:00pm at a company near Baker Street - that's where Sherlock Holmes' fictional office is, for those of you unfamiliar with the area. The interviewer was very nice, and the interview went well, but I won't find out until Wednesday morning if I will get the job that starts on Thursday morning!! Argh - again with taking the fun out of it! The long wait takes most of the wind out of my sails for now... but the agency says they had some very good feedback about me, so everyone out there - send me your "get a job" vibes!!
But all is well - Rob is on his way and... what's that? An announcement in the tube station says that the Piccadilly Line is experiencing "severe delays" -- that's the line I need to take to pick up Rob this evening. And when I get home, Stu informs me that, in fact, there will be a strike on all but a few lines tonight on the tube!! Luckily, the Piccadilly is still running, but instead of roughly an hour, a station attendant informed me that I should budget for 3 and a 1/2 hours to get to the airport (one way!!!) --- way to take the fun out of meeting lovers at the airport! I'll be Stinky and Grumpy and any number of other dwarves by the time I meet Rob! (I guess "Stinky" isn't an official dwarf, but he should be!)
But in the end - as long as we get home tonight, today has been a good day - a triple-yipeee day. And I guess all of the difficulties about London serve to highlight the good things. If there weren't any strike, or a wait for my bank card or to hear about the job, life would be too easy and the exciting things like getting an interview or picking up your partner at the airport would get to be routine... Right??
First off, Rob arrives tonight - Yipeeee! - and so I was prepared for it to be the longest day of waiting EVER (I have been waiting anxiously all weekend for today to arrive). So I thought I would make myself busy by job-searching to occupy my time.
I called the agencies that had forwarded my CVs to Japanese companies, and although the first two ended up fruitless, the third more than made up for them --- I got an interview for later in the day at the job that was (so far) as close to the top of the list as I could get. Double-Yipeeeee!
I still had some time, and so I headed out to do some minor 99P store shopping with Stu for some household goods, and on my way out - more "Yipeeeeee", I got a letter from the bank saying I had been approved!! Triple-Yipeee!! However, my bank card won't arrive for another while "for security purposes". Way to take the fun out of good news, London!
So I got myself looking professional (quite stylish, if I do say so myself) and had my very first UK interview today at 3:00pm at a company near Baker Street - that's where Sherlock Holmes' fictional office is, for those of you unfamiliar with the area. The interviewer was very nice, and the interview went well, but I won't find out until Wednesday morning if I will get the job that starts on Thursday morning!! Argh - again with taking the fun out of it! The long wait takes most of the wind out of my sails for now... but the agency says they had some very good feedback about me, so everyone out there - send me your "get a job" vibes!!
But all is well - Rob is on his way and... what's that? An announcement in the tube station says that the Piccadilly Line is experiencing "severe delays" -- that's the line I need to take to pick up Rob this evening. And when I get home, Stu informs me that, in fact, there will be a strike on all but a few lines tonight on the tube!! Luckily, the Piccadilly is still running, but instead of roughly an hour, a station attendant informed me that I should budget for 3 and a 1/2 hours to get to the airport (one way!!!) --- way to take the fun out of meeting lovers at the airport! I'll be Stinky and Grumpy and any number of other dwarves by the time I meet Rob! (I guess "Stinky" isn't an official dwarf, but he should be!)
But in the end - as long as we get home tonight, today has been a good day - a triple-yipeee day. And I guess all of the difficulties about London serve to highlight the good things. If there weren't any strike, or a wait for my bank card or to hear about the job, life would be too easy and the exciting things like getting an interview or picking up your partner at the airport would get to be routine... Right??
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