hecticism, multimedia and the shandy gaf

the shandy gaf. steer clear..
Originally uploaded by decentred.

I actually have no idea what's actually in a Shandy Gaf, but I'm not too keen to find out.

The weekend was way busier than normal; with Emma N gone to Yufuin on her homestay (I think she said she'll be working in a restaurant, in exchange for food/board and a week of no-Nova) and Paddy ill, we were pushed at work, but all the students were cool so it wasn't too much of a hassle.

There's a wierd concept that all Nova schools have - the MultiMedia terminal. This allows you, at a moment's notice, to bung a student into a little room, give him/her a headset and an encouraging smile, and connect said student via videoconferencing software to some plum in a call centre in Osaka who'll teach them for 40 minutes. We were given this as a location option in our pre-interview blurb, and told that if we wanted to work there, we'd not only be paid more, but would end up with a bit more time off as a result of doing the odd night-shift.

Turns out that if you live in Japan, and at 4.30 am just have to know the meaning of aristarch* (and can't google it), you can turn on your own personal 'Ginganet' box, and dial up the Nova MM centre, book a lesson and find out from a gen-you-wine native English speaker (who will probably google it). However, this service comes at a price; I don't know how much, but if not a kidney, then at least a spleen...
Both Em and I thought about taking up an MM position - for about 3 seconds, and decided that working in what amounts to a call centre would suck. I can't really comment, as I've never been, or met anyone who's been or worked there, but I reckon that teaching someone in a cubicle at 15 frames per second is a hell of a lot less fun than actually being there. Ho. Hum.

*Noun, meaning a strong critic [of sthg]. So there.