Hair Dye Stress!

So I've been dying my hair on and off (mostly on) since I was about 12 years old. Mostly shades of red in semi and then permanent dyes. For the last 3 ish years I've dyed it the same mahogany/ deep red colour. Now comes the panic. I use a professional dye which my mother's ex-hair dresser friend applies for me. Thus it will not be purchasable in Japan and if it was I'd make a right muck up of mixing and applying it alone!

D:

So now comes the obsessive researching into Japanese brand hair dye. *cry*

The results are that Japanese hair dye seems to be terrible for caucasian hair as they pretty much all contain bleach. Japanese people tend to have thick black hair, so their hair dye products are designed for such hair. My hair is medium, thin, easily damaged caucasian hair! ARGH! It seems they aren't great for your hair and they can fade too. Especially the reds. Stupid red.

So yesterday I tried using Lush henna on my hair! Lush is present in Japan so it would be easy to buy, it's natural and therefore okay on your hair and while insanely mess does not contain potentially damaging chemicals which I can accidentally mix wrong and turn my hair green! :D

The results are mixed... I tried CaCa Maron because I didn't want to go crazy first time with rouge. I got my mother's hair dresser type friend to apply it (CRAZY messy) and slept in it (around 14 hours). Overall it doesn't seem to have done much.... My dyed hair (most of my hair) seems slightly more brown, kind of a conker colour. My roots are a lighter, slightly reddier, colour than my natural medium ash. The roots do now blend in more naturally to the rest of my hair but it's still kind of obvious (maybe I'm just crazy?!). I suppose I'll see it is lightens more...
(I would provide photos but you can't really see....)

The absolute final straw will be to go get my hair stripped *cry* I really don't want to because my hair damages easily and it WILL KILL MY HAIR. And it's just gotten to my ideal length! And even then I'd want to re-dye/ henna it as my natural colour SUCKS and my greys keep multiplying despite only being 22 *cry* So hopefully it won't come to this.

Letting it grow out is not an option.

First world problems, eh?

For those interested in all things culture!

Please check out my friend's blog!

It's all about Asia and London and is ever so cultured!

shanghaied charlotte

Flights

A warning to all! 

So I've been looking at flights for weeks and weeks but had not booked yet because I needed money, wasn't sure if I should book without my VISA confirmed, etc. I found a flight with Etihad which would be perfect! It got me to Japan in the right place and at the right time, didn't have too many stop overs and the company looked good. The flight was £625. 

Unforunately, after speakign to my future employers who recommended I book soon, the flight went up by £100. *cry* 

To add salt to the wound I have just spent an hour trying to book through Etihads website with no success! I get right to the end but it seems to have a problem with EVERY card number I input. -___- Luckily I could book through lastminute.com, which I have done. Alas I can not book my seats via lastminute.com (I had my eyes on a loner seat on the Etihad website).

And breathe.

So now it's done, after a few stressful hours of trying to book and crying over the extra fees. 

Stupid flights.

The Interview

The interview went exceedingly well and the person who interviewed me was so lovely!

Before interviewing I really wanted some more information on what to expect, but I didn’t really find much. Maybe this post will be useful for people thinking of applying or who have applied to Peppy.
The interview is broken down into four parts.

1. The Grammar Test

To begin with you are given a short grammar test. This lasts around 15 minutes. You are asked to write a short piece on a topic from a list, around 300 words long. I wrote about my long and shor term goals.

You then answer a few questions on grammar. You pick out what is wrong or how to improve some written sentences. Easy peasy!

2. The Presentation

Next is a prentation about the company. Information on schedules, working day, training, living arrangements, wages, expectations, etc. I won’t go into detail here as most of this information is available on the internet already. Check out their website for such info!

There is also a short video of a typical lesson at Peppy. This was aodrable! The lesson was to young children and they were so hyper and excited! One kid started off crying and not wanting to join in but by the end of the lesson he was loudest shouting ‘Cucumber!’ haha. (They were studying vegetables). It made me so happy to see the kids and got me excited about starting!

3. The Interview Questions

The usual affair. Questions like ‘Why Peppy?’, ‘Why Japan?, etc. along with some questions related to what you would do in certain situations. Typical teaching/ TEFL interview questions. Just by yourself and be honest and you will be fine! ^^

4. The Demo

When I was invited to interview I was told that I needed to prepare a five minute demo to imaginary 5 year olds. This got me nervous! I kept changing my mind and wasn’t sure what to cover in such a short time. Eventually I decided to go with a simple song: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes!

This was kind of embarrasing as I was doing it to two grown women rather than real children, but once I got started it was really fun and they really seemed to enjoy it and take part! My singing isn’t great but i tried to be enthusiastic and speak clearly when I said the words.

And that’s that!

I was super nervous for my interview. After hearing how terrifying the JET interview is I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was really laid back and the interviewer was really friendly. You also learnt alot about the company, which left me with no doubts that I was making the right choice.

Hope this is useful for people out there thinking of going to Japan and trying to pick who to go with!

So It Begins!

Hey!
This was going to be in a new blog, but then I realised I might as well just use this one! So I’ve got a job in Japan! Woo!

That’s right! I will be travelling to the other side of the world, to the land of the rising sun, to teach English as a foreign language.

I am SO EXCITED!

My chosen company is Peppy Kids Club! I had previously applied (twice) to JET and failed (twice) to even get interviewed *sob* but I did not give up hope of getting to Japan! For the last year I have been working as a Teaching Assistant after graduating from university with a degree in Fine Art Practice. I applied a little over a month ago for a position with Peppy, interviewed last Saturday and have just been told that I got it! Yay!

Peppy is an eikaiwa company, but with a little difference. For a start there isn’t that much info out there! At least compared to other companies or JET. Although like most eikaiwas the stuff I have read has been mixed reviews. But, to me, it sounds almost perfect!
Peppy Kids Club are small one room classrooms scattered across Japan, running lessons for children (only children) ages 2 to 17. All the lessons take part in the afternoon and evening, so they fit in with school hours. You teach 2 to 4 hour long lessons a day, with two days off a week. You get travel re-imbursed, a company apartment (no key money, yay! Just rent, eh…) as well as basic furnishing, etc. Great!

Like most private companies you must pay for your own flights, but that isn’t too big a deal. You also get paid the average eikaiwa pay, around 240,000 yen a month, but you work less hours! I have heard that there can be longish commutes, but these are paid for by the company and you would still be working much shorter hours, even including the commute!

My attraction was that you work only with children! A lot of eikaiwas also teach business English, etc and adult classes but I want to work with children. So perfect!

Well. This was meant as a short intro to this forthcoming blog, but it’s trailed on a fair bit…

Basically I will be flying out to Japan in August and working with Peppy Kids Club! (Placement to be confirmed)

Stay tuned! <3