Break all the legs.

I'm very excited about this, best Nina.

Thanks all, first night we're able to sit on our couch and enjoy a glass of wine. Still so much that needs to be done (we only have a mattress, couch, coffee table that's too low and some household items) but it's not easy when your jetlag doesn't go away, never had it this bad.

Irvine itself is like the perfect Sim City city, all the malls in correct places, apartment blocks perfectly arranged, everything you need close by. We live next to the biggest mall in the area, I don't even know how big but after a week we still get lost there.
It's all build on being as easy as possible to navigate and use, it's weird but also comforting in a way.


The whole economic culture here is crazy though, social security numbers that take 3 weeks, secured credit cards as you need to build a credit score (have debts and pay them off) to be able to buy bigger things and pay rent etc., weird financing plans for almost everything, Presidents Day on the 20th (woohoo, should be Bas his first official holiday, he only starts this Monday).

Irvine seems fine so far, boring, but it's one of the safest places in America, mountains and beach both are less than an hour away, and there are bike lanes everywhere. Kinda regret bringing my mountainbike, as a road bike would have been quite nice as well, so many people use them. Another thing to add to the credit card to build some scores. 

Can't wait to get properly settled, will probably take a couple more weeks but that's ok. Lot's to look forward to, lot's to do right now.

You're doing a day trip from Australia to Disneyland? That's a strong play right there.

I guess so otherwise you'd stay longer duh

Nina wrote:

Irvine seems fine so far, boring, but it's one of the safest places in America

No, everyone is in constant danger of being killed by a filthy foreigner.

No bike this time. Shorter holiday and traveling with some more people. LA, Vegas, New York, Boston, Toronto pretty much.

I'd love to have more time off to do another bike trip but it's hard now being in a real job and stuff.

Dinostar77 wrote:

Sis is moving to Japan (tokyo) to go teach English. Silly mare hasn't actually ever been to Japan so I told her to go visit first. But she's handed in her notice at work and is off in April, though for a visit to Japan and China. She abit of a tomboy (mum blames me), she's into gaming etc so I think she'll enjoy Japan. It's just a very long way away from family and she's going by herself.

Have faith. I did the same when I was 20 (China, not Japan, though) and, although there's been some tough moments, I'd rank it as one of the best decisions I have ever made. If she needs any help or advice, feel free to send me a PM.

Japan is a bit troublesome unless you are comfortably well off. Teaching there means being pretty ruthlessly exploited in most cases.

Sorry but the English teacher in Japan twitch stream spot has already been filled by the based lord Jiyuna.

Dinostar77 wrote:

@Childintime, do you think she'd be better off teaching english in china?

Not particularly. Schools across Korea, Japan and China are pretty notorious for shitty working practices, and it takes a while to get used to that. It'd be no better in China, imo, and Japan is a lovely country, so why not?

When I say shitty working practices, I'm genuinely not trying to alarm you. It's usually management pushing teachers into extra hours, a lack of clear overtime pay, a lacklustre approach to training and quality control, asking teachers to give demo classes to potential students as a favour etc.

My experience is thy most schools around here don't really give a shit about the standard of teaching, they just want bums in seats.

So my advice to her would be to stay calm, and take her time to adjust to her new work and social environment. I've had some shitty bosses and some good ones, and I'm pretty good at handling this stuff now, but I see a lot of foreign teachers burn out in 2-4 years because they just get frustrated with it. Once she gets a handle on how to deal with work and stuff, she'll flourish, and have a cool experience that 99% of people never get to have.

Also, tell her to take language lessons. Many schools offer free language lessons as part of the benefits package, but these are rarely formally structured- they're an afterthought and you often won't get them unless you push for them. Even then, it'll likely be a coworker being roped into doing it, and they won't really have the time to plan properly. So tell her to grab some books and do 1-2 hours practice a day. Her standard of living, as well as appreciation and understanding of the local culture, will increase massively.

Chilled

So I've been looking at Canada. Seems you need to have immigration stuff sorted out before applying for jobs as if you don't have the right to work there then the employer has to prove no-one in Canada is right for the job. Fine if you're a doctor or something but for a project manager such as myself that's a bit of a tall order.

Trouble is I work for the government so it's not like we have an office overseas that I can talk to people about getting placed in. I'm now wondering what the best options are... Is it stump up the few grand to try and get a working Visa and then get a job, OR do I try and find a job in a company over here that has big ties to Canada and then try and move over.

Anyone done anything similar/have experience? I'm wondering if there is a job site which caters to jobs which offer relocation/working visas?

MattyJ wrote:

So I've been looking at Canada. Seems you need to have immigration stuff sorted out before applying for jobs as if you don't have the right to work there then the employer has to prove no-one in Canada is right for the job. Fine if you're a doctor or something but for a project manager such as myself that's a bit of a tall order.

Trouble is I work for the government so it's not like we have an office overseas that I can talk to people about getting placed in. I'm now wondering what the best options are... Is it stump up the few grand to try and get a working Visa and then get a job, OR do I try and find a job in a company over here that has big ties to Canada and then try and move over.

Anyone done anything similar/have experience? I'm wondering if there is a job site which caters to jobs which offer relocation/working visas?

My brother did the two year (I think it was) working visa thing. He had no luck finding anyone willing to sponsor him to stay, ended up marrying someone on a student visa which has provided him with the right to stay and work until that ends later this year.

This may be down to his industry being tight, but I also would have thought that they were also in a better position than most to put forward an argument as to nobody else being able to do what he does (he's in animation, so the creative side is fairly unique to the individual).

You may want to hit up (our) Google on Twitter to see what his experiences are.

Yeah I made contact with a recruitment person who said they were confident in finding a job, BUT you have to have the visa sorted out. It's still a points based system and it seems I would score enough to get in...it's just that leap.