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I got a job! I got a job! I got a job! I said 3times because it is important.

It's been a month to say the same thing.

As you know since I was laid off on Nov 15th, it took 3weeks and this time I have applied for 123 companies and had 11 interviews to get a job offer.

Such a long journey and I’ve got exhausted. These 3 weeks was the hardest days since I came here. Anyways, I’m going to work full-time as a medical office assistant. I’m really excited to learn new things because it is my first time working in the medical field.

By the way, I don’t want my podcast to be an “Every month career change channel”. I’m not kidding, just be honest with you.

So I want to look back on the way to get a job offer.

This time I got used to the interview so let me talk about the lesson from here.

Most of the first round of interviews were held over the phone. What I did was that I used “otter.ai” which is not a cute animal but a service that shows captions for live speakers, and generates written transcriptions of the speeches. It enabled me to understand what the interviewer said over the phone simultaneously because I put my smartphone near my laptop and otter recognized what he said everytime I had an interview. It was extremely useful because the most difficult thing is that we have a conversation over the phone! Also you can review your answer after finishing the interview.

The other thing every time I prepared 5 Assumed Questions in advance for the interview. This is a kind of formula. This time I've narrowed down the types of jobs I'm applying for. Therefore, there are some common questions that are often asked. Firsly, “tell me about yourself” is a quite common question but what’s important is the length of the story. I made 3 patterns of the size. there are 30 seconds, 1 minute and 1 minute 30 seconds. Also, I prepared for the answer for the reason why I applied for this job, what I know about the company, what brought me to Vancouver and what is my strength. The last one is the episode I overcame a difficult situation. The last question is specialized in this industry. The important thing is to expect the skill we are needed in those industries. For example, I applied for the customer care position. That means we will have some situations in that we cope with some complaints. This was a good lesson because if you can prepare a minimum number of common questions, it will mean that you can handle many interviews.

It was a really good experience even though it was really hard to get a new job.

What I can say now is Compass over the map. For me, A compass which means how to live, is more important than a map which means what to do if you want to live better. I don’t have any map in terms of how my life is going on but I’m now confident to overcome this tough situation thanks to this experience.

How was today’s episode? and how did you feel about being laid off? If you are in Japan, you never have this kind of experience. I think you feel something about your staple situation.

日本の文化「カタカナ」ってなんなんあれ

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There is no exaggeration to say that the past year for me has been a battle against Japanese-English.

We Japanese has a culture called Katakana which is based on English words but turned to different meanings in the Japanese language. Today let me introduce some interesting Japanese-English which is used commonly in Japan and also made me confused a lot here.

I should probably start with the word “dryer” in Japanese ドライヤー. I remember a certain episode that someone from Japan told me. He wanted to use a hair dryer and asked his host mother “where is the dryer?” He was taken to the laundry because "a dryer" usually means the machine to dry clothes after washing. In this case, you have to say “hair dryer” if you want your hair dried.

The next word is “note PC” which is Japanese-English that means “laptop” in English. When I started joining the class, I had some opportunities to mention about this machine. When I said, “Hi Teacher, sorry, My note PC doesn’t work”. It didn’t make sense. The other day, I said “Hi Teacher, sorry, My personal computer doesn’t work.” It slightly didn’t make sense. It was because we had to say “laptop” to present this machine. So you can say “I’m sorry my laptop doesn’t work so I’m not able to submit the assignment now!” Good excuse.

The last one is tricky. We have lots of Humberger restaurants. Hence, we sometimes want to order some side menu. As you want to say “fried potato” in Japanese フライドポテト, it is going to be some troubles. You can’t find “Fried potato” in the restaurant here. Instead, you can say “French fries” if you need that salty potato. By the way, in Canada we can order “fish and chips” here especially in some seafood restaurants. In this case “chips” always means french fries. unfortunately, you can not get “potato chips” as Japanese people can imagine.

Interesting. Having said that, sometimes you can communicate with people in English even though you use Japanese-English. It would be more exciting than you are expecting.

Do you have any ideas of the words if it is Japanese-English or English? Let’s build a new dictionary of useful Japanese- English!

カナダでM1の予選動画見てる人に出会ったことない。さみしい。

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December is the only season I want to go back to Japan. It is not due to Raincouver, but because we can see a lot of comedy programs.  Especially, I love “M-1 grand Prix” which is a traditional TV show to be battled to decide the no.1 comedian unit in December in Japan.

Here is the thing. Do you think if Canadian watch this Japanese comedy, they would feel it is funny? Would a westerner understand Japanese comedy?  I don’t know the exact answer to it but I read an interesting article which is about the feeling of foreigners who watched Japanese comedy. I have a link to the article that I read. please check it out.

Today let me introduce some comments given by foreing people about the Japanese comedy. According to Mark Johnson, Senior Travel Consultant,

“Japanese humour is often a bit dry, very obvious and slapstick, especially on TV or in films. People tend to take everything quite literally, which is why British humour can be difficult to grasp. Sensitive issues are a no-go – nothing on race or sex, or any kind of dark comedy.” That’s interesting. I totally agree with this opinion. Similarly to say, sometimes I got the kind of opinion that Japanese people like to find the physical pain of others. This is a part of the reason why Japanese humour is obvious and slapstick. Hence, people expect comedy might have to be light and not smart, usually, there are seldom heavy or serious topics in our comedy program.

Although I usually enjoy the Ellen show, which was broadcasted in the States for a long time, there was mainly just conversation, it didn’t include contents that needs pain or slapstick.

The other thing I felt interesting is that Brett Plotz states in the same article, “Japan is also unique in that it subtitles its own shows in Japanese. This allows the audience sitting at home to read along and know when to laugh, as the font on screen gets bigger and more colorful during punchlines.” I was really surprised because I didn’t notice that they, I mean in the Ellen show, usually don’t have any subtitles to let the audience understand where they should laugh.

I’m curious if Canadian people think Japanese comedy is funny or not so I’m going to try to translate some videos and explain what they say and why it is funny someday. If you are Japanese people, which one should I explain as representing Japanese comedy? I’m glad if you give me your opinion.

ハードボイルド反省会

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1 year has passed since I came here to Vancouver. What do you think about going abroad in your 30s? I never introduced myself in detail so far but the reason why I came here is to broaden my world and to get a new career option. The purpose has not yet been achieved and is still on the way. Today let me look back at the past year in this podcast. 

In summary, I did well in my school for the first 6 months and did my best in job hunting. I would give high marks for this point. On the other hand, surprisingly, I didn’t enjoy sightseeing at all and I seldom had any opportunities for international exchange. On the other aspect, I still cannot speak English as well as I had expected 1 year ago. I turned out to hear English a little better, though.

Speaking of relationships, I haven’t enjoyed making friends at all, even though there are many people from different countries in Vancouver. To be honest with you, I only have 3 Japanese friends here. It is because I tried my best to make friends during the first month, but got tired immediately, that reminds me that I had only a few friends even in Japan and also my purpose of coming here is not to make new friends. So I gave up in the first month. Now I feel I have made a good decision to live as I want without any stress.

The other thing, What I can say is that I became mentally and physically stronger than I arrived here. In terms of physical health, I am really into jogging around Stanley park where I can access it easily and it’s really beautiful. Also, I started cooking because dining in a restaurant is really expensive. That’s why I’m rather healthier than living in Japan. Speaking of mental health, I’m really proud of my life now. I had an opportunity to speak to someone on the road to get a donation in the class curriculum. The other day, I had to drop off my resume and talk to someone to apply for a job without any appointment. After this kind of experience, now I don’t hesitate to talk to someone on the road and also I don’t care if someone misunderstands me or dislike me. I don’t care if I had mistaken something even getting laid off. Again, what do you think about going abroad in your 30s? You might think I don’t need it, I love it or I don’t understand what you say. Either is fine for me. 

Anyways, thanks for everything that I came across this year. I am really happy and lucky that I can live today. Hope all of you guys and I will have a good next year. 

おらに力をくれ

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Today I have to let you know such sad news that I got laid off a few days ago.

Even though I always felt “I will be laid off today” every day, It is disappointing to actually hear it.

However, this is a good opportunity to look back on my short 2 weeks. So today just let me note some lessons I learned in my first time working in a Canadian company.

Firstly, needless to say, communicating is very important.

I learned it from one of my colleagues, who was really good at making people comfortable.

Every day, he talked to every person, How are you today? How was your weekend? How have you been doing so far? Whenever he has time, he dared to talk to someone even if it is not necessary. Afterall, this made our colleagues feel better to talk and ask him something. That means he got to be a strong team player who is necessary to the company at the earliest. I couldn’t do so. Unfortunately, they recognized me as an introvert person even though I was not and just avoided saying anything unnecessary. Definitely, I would be able to fix this point in my next job.

Second, being confident is essential. As previously mentioned, my coworkers saw me as an introvert person. One of the reason was that I was always sorry to ask something. At the end, My CEO said to me ”I know the Japanese style and I like it, but you should say things more clearly and loudly. Be cheerful.” That surprised me because I don’t notice I was doing like that. This might be a part of Japanese culture being humble and calm but that might have made my colleagues suspected my ability and skills. I decided to pretend to be confident. That’s pretty important thing.

In the end, honestly, it was the second time to be laid off in Canada. Compared to the first time I was laid off, I feel much better because I could think I did everything I can. Every day I went to the office 30min ahead of starting time, prepared by myself and at the end of the day, I previewed the things I learned before going to the bed. So these 2 weeks were a kind of miracle and it was a really great opportunity to learn a lot. I have to say to myself,  just keep going on. To be proud, I resumed applying for a new job during the day that I was laid off and got an opportunity to have an interview during the same week. Keep going. Best wishes in my future. Of course you, too!

２週間新しい英語浴びまくって脳みそ筋肉痛