Shawn (00:00):

All right here we are for one last ride, uh, at least for now, right? This is English All Over the Place, a podcast for English learners and, and people that like to listen to funny people. I hope we're funny. I'm funny looking, but hopefully funny to listen to as well. Um, as always, I am your host, Shawn De Haven with

Barney (00:26):

You guys can just go ahead and call me Barney.

Shawn (00:30):

I refuse, I refuse.

Barney (00:32):

You can call me Bernie.

Shawn (00:35):

as one person did for four years.

Barney (00:39):

Hey, um, you know, maybe, maybe I really am Bernie, maybe the matrix got it wrong.

Shawn (00:46):

Yeah. Wow. Yeah. I saw your movie. It was amazing.

Barney (00:50):

I know.

Shawn (00:50):

Weekend At Bernie's. Look it up.

Barney (00:52):

Boy. Watch them both. We're both good.

Shawn (00:55):

You really watched? You watched the second one? It was good?

Barney (00:57):

Yeah.

Shawn (00:57):

Okay. I just couldn't believe they made a sequel. Um, I'll-- look it up, Weekend At Bernie's, it's a movie about a corpse. Um, yes. Don't believe it. It's true. (It's true. Yeah.) Um, the first one was very funny. Anyway, we've already gotten sidetracked, uh, horribly (I know!) on our, on our last show. Last show at at least our last show at IUHW.

Barney (01:18):

Yes. This is something we can't let go.

Shawn (01:20):

Yes, yes. Um, because, um, I don't know.

Barney (01:23):

But, but Hey, I can, I can bring it around, you know, uh, that, uh, website, the screenrant website. Do you ever check that? It's always something it's always a, I actually just saw one earlier today. Um, "Five Ghibili movies that aged well, and five that didn't", you know, or, um, "five this's and five that's". Yeah.

Shawn (01:41):

Uh, well, I, I can see why you brought that up today because today is the episode where we talk about five things we love about IUHW and five things we hated about IUHW.

Barney (01:54):

Yeah. Until this minute, I kind of tried to tone it down to five things that maybe we didn't love or weren't so great or could be improved upon, but, but let's just call it an ace, an ace, a spade, a spade, what is it?

Shawn (02:07):

Detest maybe?

Barney (02:09):

Yeah, abhor yes.

Shawn (02:14):

To our soul, to our core. So as many of you are, are probably aware. At the end of March, uh, Barney and I will be leaving our positions at IUHW, not by choice. (Right.) By the decision of some people in the university that probably don't have a good idea of what's going on in the classroom.

Barney (02:40):

Or on this campus.

Shawn (02:41):

Yeah. But, uh, we'll get to that. We'll get to that probably.

Barney (02:45):

Yeah, I think so.

Shawn (02:46):

So I thought we would, uh, um, we could talk about, uh, the top five things and we loved and hated about IUHW as well as maybe our first impressions of the university, maybe if we have time, uh, what was your first impression of the university before we get into the list? Let's just do first impressions. What was your first impression?

Barney (03:04):

Yeah, boy. Um, so my very first impression, uh, when they were breaking ground, I thought they're building another condominium? And then I found out it's university and I didn't have my master's at all at that time. And I thought, boy, I'd love to work there. Hey, it worked out. Um, so setting aside Nogizaka because there was no, Asakusa (Akasaka) at the time. Um, my first impression of Nogizaka was not the same as my first impression of Narita, uh, first impression Narita campus? "Wow. I get to teach here? And I only have to teach hour long classes cause I didn't think I could quite squeeze 90 minutes of content.

Shawn (03:42):

Yeah. Well, I'll have to do that next semester.

Barney (03:45):

Um, and look at this technology. I was, I was very excited. The one downside was, Hey, here's your office? No windows.

Shawn (03:53):

Oh, yes. Yes. When you first came here, you were in like a glass box, right? Yeah.

Barney (03:57):

Yeah. With fluorescent lights. Yeah. So flattering. Yeah.

Shawn (04:01):

Well, at least they weren't strobe lights, so,

Barney (04:05):

Okay. I accidentally called them halogen lights once.

Shawn (04:10):

I'm aghast. How do you live with yourself? Yeah. Yeah. Um, I was in the office for a very limited time and I can see why you wouldn't enjoy it. Um, our, our offices now, um, on the ninth floor have a beautiful view of the town. Um, you can even see the airport,

Barney (04:31):

I was even going to say but not the airport!

Shawn (04:32):

Somebody thought we could, but we can't, but we do see the airplanes occasionally. Um, so let's just, uh, my first impression of IUHW here. Well, when I walked down, um, of course, a beautiful campus right next to the station. Uh, it was nice. Um, I was walking down the hallway and I think it was in the wrong floor. And one of the students asked me in English, "Uh, excuse me, can I help you? Uh, what, what are your, where are you looking to go to? Or what are you looking for?" (Right.) And I'm like, wow, people can speak English. I am in heaven. And I'll talk about that in a second. But, um, it was a very, um, interesting place. And I was, uh, um, although at the time was very far away from my where I lived. At the time, I lived in Tokyo, so I did have to move here. So let's just go straight into the five things that we loved and five things that we hated or bugged, whatever bugged us about IUHW, here. Can you give me, one thing that you loved.

Barney (05:31):

Yeah. Um, uh, yeah, the first thing that came to me right away was, um, getting to teach anything I went to, um, to these motivated students who are a number of them are at a very high level. Some of them don't realize it at the time.

Shawn (05:50):

Yeah. You're, you're stealing all my thunder. It's going to overlap.

Barney (05:54):

Yeah. But they, yeah. And, and they realized by January, wow. I, I really can speak English. And, um, yeah, I really liked that a lot. That was so great about this job,

Shawn (06:08):

Man. How are you going to come up with five? If you put all of that in your first one?

Barney (06:12):

I scraped the barrel of it.

Shawn (06:13):

My first one is, um, the facilities, of course, being a new university, I think this is the fourth year of the university of school of medicine, the facilities, as you can imagine, are, are for the most part top-notch. And, and I came from teaching at several universities where the technology was spotty or, or just difficult or different from each university. So I was never sure how much technology I could use in the classroom because every campus was different and I didn't have time to fiddle with the systems and stuff. No problem here. Uh, just plug it in. Um, as long as you have the right adapter to your computer, right. Uh, I have a Mac, so you have to use an adapter, but, um, that was just great. And to use that technology. So that was my number one, or it's not an order necessarily, but one of my top five was, uh, the facilities are top-notch. Yeah.

Barney (07:11):

We even had one week where I think they were doing interviews here in January in this building, the medical building, we had to teach in the nursing building and it is a bit different, um, not as easy to use. (Oh) Yeah. The wifi could be a bit spotty. (Oh, okay.) Yeah. So we're extra lucky.

Shawn (07:30):

Even, even better than are still new building across the street. Yep. Um, okay. One of the things that bugged you at IUHW.

Barney (07:38):

Yes. Not to make this all about me, but, um, you know, <singing to the theme song from the TV show Cheers> sometimes you want to go where at least one person knows your real name,

Shawn (07:50):

What's wrong, Bernie?

Barney (07:52):

Or could it be Jon or maybe Barnabas with a small B. Or maybe just Martin?

Shawn (08:00):

I have no idea what you're talking about. So basically what you're saying is that they made a mistake with your name in several different ways.

Barney (08:08):

Yeah. Thankfully on the system where we log in through and universal passport, they got it exactly right.

Shawn (08:14):

I will have to depend them a little bit because you have three names that can all be first names. Barnabus Jon Martin George Michael,

Barney (08:25):

To try to make it easier for them. I followed former prime minister Abe's, uh, um, (order?) style sheet and write my last name in all caps, but nobody seems to care.

Shawn (08:36):

They just thought you were shouting, Oh, please

Barney (08:41):

This is my first name! It's Martin! Oh, no, no, no.

Shawn (08:42):

Actually the first name, um, I should put this on one of the things. So maybe I'll put this, add this to the things above me here. Maybe the top six for me because they did the same thing to me and I really regret telling them my middle name because they kept on screwing up how to use it. Japanese aren't used to having middle names. I was often called by my middle name. I was put in my first name. It was, um, mixed up with half of my last name instead of my last name is De Haven. Sometimes they like one time was De Michael. That doesn't make any sense. Um, strangely enough, the one mistake I would expect they didn't make very often was my last name is De Haven and it's D E and then there's a space and a capital HAVEN. Yeah. A lot of times people make mistakes by making the H small or having no space. They got that right. But they got everything else wrong in a variety of ways.

Barney (09:40):

They did it to you much harder than they did it to me.

Shawn (09:43):

I mean, it was very funny because they give you these, these stress, stress checks, like, you know, you, you check it, it's a checklist and you, and they determine if you are stressed out in a year or something like that. And maybe if you need some counseling or something like that. And I never bothered to fill mine out because I, I I'm, it's just, wasn't that important to me. Um, and then one day you pointed out to me that they had misspelled my name on the stress check. Was it that, was it Shawn De Michael?, You know, even destroying half of my, more than half of my last name (it) was gone. And then I found my old, I have three years of stress checks. I hadn't submitted them. They misspelled my name on all three (differently) in different ways. And I had gone to HR several times. They probably thought I was really angry person and say, please, for God's sakes, spell my name correctly. And it seems like every department was going by a different source. There was no one place that you correct where they could get your name. No, you know, it's a, it's a game of whack-a-mole game where you have a hammer and you're hitting little moles that pop up from different holes. And you just couldn't -- remember the time that they were giving me the employment, um, certificate? (Right.) And they're like, Michael sensei. And I'm like, "Yeah, no, no,

Barney (11:12):

No one by that name here.

Shawn (11:13):

Yeah. I don't go by my middle name. I don't like my middle name. It's boring. Um, (yeah.) I certainly don't have any personal connection to it. (Yeah. Yeah.) Okay. So that was, boy, I'll have to add that as my negative thing here. I'll just say that's my negative thing here. That was a good one. I'd forgotten about that. I had let it go. Okay. Um, I'll say one of my positive things here. (Okay.) Um, the students. (Yeah.) Um, and you've talked about this earlier with such an advanced level of English, uh, with the top level and with the foreign students. Uh, and some of the other groups too. (Yeah.) I was able to teach about so many different things, try so many challenging courses that I probably won't be able to teach anywhere else. It was a lot of fun. I was, I have some very weird and interesting lessons about, I dunno, obscure vacation spots in America or sports fandom or, uh, lots of different, interesting, uh, lessons. We just can't do in other places. And I've taught it at Sophia university, which is also a very good university. And I just don't think we would've had that freedom and maybe the students might not have had that ability, uh, that university to, um, nothing against those students. There were still very good students, but, uh, it was just the freedom.

Barney (12:40):

Yeah. I remember my second year and, um, uh, uh, in the top class we were talking about religions, um, pastoral care, and one student, she asked the most insightful question, you know, to, to even volunteer, to ask questions anyway, it's a big step. And it just melted my heart because I thought, wow, this is just great. These students want to know more. Right. And there they are thoughtful in what they think about and what they ask and what they say. And, you know, of course I come from a certain point of view when it comes to teaching the religion classes. And so I want to make my, what I believe in how I live my life sound, you know, the best of, because I have the most experience with that, but I tried to balance things out the way, the best I could. It's just these,

Shawn (13:32):

And I couldn't believe you bad mouth, the Buddhist so much so harsh, so harsh. No, no, it's not true.

Barney (13:39):

Yeah. Just that it, they want to know more. And in wanting to know more and asking these questions, they challenge us to get better as teachers.

Shawn (13:48):

Yes. I hope I still have that chance to get better in other places. Okay. So is that your, could that also be what you're positive or do you have

Barney (13:57):

Actually, um, uh, maybe that could have gone with my first one. My second one, um, was, uh, not having a commute, right. When I say, boy, I wish I could teach there someday. Yeah. I ride my bicycle or, um, you know, scooter and, um, in that same kind of vein, uh, sometimes I see the students around him and they stop and chat and

Shawn (14:19):

That can be good and bad.

Barney (14:20):

Yeah. Sorry, everybody.

Shawn (14:23):

But, uh, yeah, I've seen them around town too. Um, occasionally I'll see a couple on the street going, "Oh, they're together. Interesting. Um, go for it, buddy." Uh, whatever. Um, and it was fun. Um, we saw them at the movies a couple of times we went to see like Avengers or Star Wars or something. Yes. Um, and, uh, yeah, the community was great. Uh, it was good and bad because when I used to commute to like an hour and a half, two hours to another university, I could catch up on so many movies and TV shows and podcasts. (That's so true.) And with a, with a, with a 15 minute commute now I just can't do that. But you know, there are trade offs. Um, I certainly could get some alone time. I, it sounds strange alone time when I was commuting. Yeah.

Barney (15:12):

In a crowded train,. Yeah.

Shawn (15:14):

So that was, I think there was a positive thing here. Okay. Let's go negative here. All right. Everything here is so complex, whether it is your teaching schedule, the classrooms that they're using, the grading systems that constantly change from year to year, uh, um, student grouping, et cetera, everything has to be the most complex com um, combination of different factors. And then last year, um, in April when we suddenly had to shift to Zoom only classes, right. We also suddenly had to teach everyone else's subject as well. (Right.) Along with our own subjects. (Yeah.) So that was also very stressful and in a time where we didn't need more stress now, um, so everything here is so complex and it's, it's good that, uh, we can be flexible, um, because we're a new university, uh, and we don't have a lot of traditions, but sometimes we can be, I don't know, maybe a little bit too flexible right with things changing too much.

Barney (16:30):

Or, yeah. Um, yeah, that's right. Trying to change. Especially since we have so many classes, (In midstream sometimes) you know, the English teachers who don't mind changing their schedule around year by year, by year, by year by year.

Shawn (16:43):

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, uh, it's impossible to explain our schedule to somebody off campus, (Ho ha ha, yeah right.) "How many classes do you have a week?" Hmmm? Depends on the week. Depends on the month.

Barney (16:53):

Yeah. Yes, it does. Yes.

Shawn (16:56):

Depends on the time of day. Yeah. Okay.

Barney (16:58):

Yeah. My, uh, second, uh, negative one. Um, (It's going to be a long episode by the way.) Um, the elective courses, um, except for the first two years, and then, you know, how I feel about this. So the good thing about the first year was there was only one year's worth of students. And a lot of them felt like they had to take, uh, English communication for one reason or another. And so they were there and excited. Um, second year was so awesome because, um, we'd, as teachers taught what we wanted, the students had lots of options. They went to the classes that they wanted to take. They didn't have, they, no one felt obligated to go. I mean, of course the downside was near the end of the year where class size got smaller and smaller, but that was fun. That was a lot of fun. You know, I, in my religion, class, religion, again, I asked one teacher, um, Muslim teacher to come in and talk and answer all of their questions. They really liked it. He liked it. I learned a lot. Um, it was great.

Shawn (18:02):

I taught classes about comic books, movies, and sports and, and designing. I had them design mascot, a mascot for the university, stuff like that and all sorts of stuff. Um, so what happened to that program that you didn't like?

Barney (18:19):

More tinkering as you say. Yeah,

Shawn (18:23):

Lots of tinkering in the last year. It was, uh, book-centered work.

Barney (18:27):

Was that the third year? Do you remember that year? The first day...

Shawn (18:33):

I remember the first couple classes when there was...

Barney (18:35):

60 people in one classroom with only 40 chairs?

Shawn (18:39):

Yeah. Yeah. It was really awkward when like people were like on people's shoulders, but uh...

Barney (18:44):

And then they started chicken fighting and, you know, "Don't hit your head on the bookshelf!"

Shawn (18:49):

I got cap! I got your cap. Um, uh, yeah. And then this year, which was like really strange because there were classes that didn't exist on the record, but we had to offer anyway. Yeah. So yeah, it was a weird system. Okay. Another positive. Let's go back to the positive here. Uh, I, I guess I'll start here. Uh, the English teaching staff, um, we are a very diverse group with diverse skills. Um, uh, I can say, you know, Cosmin is very good with the analytical, uh, test taking, uh, teaching techniques, things like that. Uh, Hayasaka sensei is also very organized. He's excellent with, with Excel and other things like that.

Barney (19:45):

His slides look great.

Shawn (19:47):

Yes, yes. Yeah. What about my slides?

Barney (19:49):

Yes. Yours too. You don't get to write, I had to teach his slides. I was like, Oh, these are nice.

Shawn (19:55):

Yeah. I, I, I enjoyed working - I did team teaching with Hayasaka sensei as well. And, um, I am very, um, picky when it comes to design because of my background and I liked design and I never had any problem with his designs. Wow. Um, okay. Uh, um, Inokawa sensei was also very good with what she taught and how she taught it, uh, you with your diverse, uh, background and especially focusing on religion, which I have a lot less knowledge of than you do. Um, and your creative lessons. And, and of course I had fun doing what I do, and I think it was very good, uh, balance. Of course you had Oshimi sensei teaching the medical part as well. Uh, Vitaly bringing the laughs um, after class. Yeah. Yeah. He could be a very funny guy. Actually. He doesn't make you cry during, uh, Tom of course was great. I'm sure Katrina was interesting in her own way. One of those, ah, yeah, yeah. But unfortunately our, all our classes were at the same time, so we couldn't learn from each other. That was one negative thing. But yeah, I think by either by on purpose or by accident, um, the people that hired this team assembled a very eclectic team that could that all of us and, you know, I had my design skills and other things and you had your skills and, and everybody could do something different well, and it was a good balance. Yeah.

Barney (21:25):

Yeah. Really lightning in a bottle. Yeah.

Shawn (21:27):

Yes. So what's a positive for you?

Barney (21:31):

Yeah. I can actually kind of do two, two birds with one stone here. Um, picking up on your first impression. Um, I also had, uh, for number three, that students who will just stop and chat with you. Um, and

Shawn (21:44):

That's one of my negatives actually. I'm just kidding.

Barney (21:46):

Certain students, right?

Shawn (21:48):

No, no, no.

Barney (21:49):

And then, um, number four was, um, I wrote the ninth floor, (Sounds like a horror movie.) Um, and then I have right here, great coworkers, right. In the fact that the ninth floor is so empty.

Shawn (22:04):

Yes, yes. We could use many of the other offices that are still not used for personal work or Zoom classes.

Barney (22:11):

Right. Oh boy. I mean, we, uh, again, things being complicated, we had to arrange that on our own. Otherwise we, they probably would have say said, I'm sorry, you guys have a big office. You should teach. You have to stay there then, you know?

Shawn (22:27):

Yeah. It was really strange because we had to come back to campus, but teach remotely. Yeah. Or whatever, you know? Okay. Um, so going back to the negative, we had such a great English team and I hate to say it, but the people in Tokyo specifically, two people don't know what they're screwing up because, um, I will be leaving. You'll be leaving. Right. Um, Tom will be leaving, uh, Vitaly will be leaving, Inokawa sensei -- that couldn't be helped. She's retiring. Right. Um, so we're losing a huge bulk of the English team. (Yeah.) Um, Vitaly's leaving. I think I mentioned that. (Four native speakers) Katrina's leaving, Raina will also be leaving, but that's not because of a decision that the university made. (Right.) Um, just a different path. Same thing with Katrina. (Yeah.) They, they had, and we were, I think we were hitting our stride. (Oh yeah.) Because you and I were working on this project and some other stuff and we had just gotten the ethics review approved. It took like half a year. Yes. Yeah. So it took a long time getting these mics bought other things like that. (Yeah.) And we were lining up interviews with doctors and stuff like that. That was going to be the other podcast called "A Doctor's Story." (Right.) I still don't know what will come of, come of that we still have to get those two episodes. We, we, we recorded two episodes. Very interesting with, uh, Dr. Sakurai and Dr. Hassan. (Yeah.) Very good episodes. I hope we can get them out somehow, but you know, I'm sorry. They just, they screwed up.

Barney (24:18):

Yeah. And the frustrating part about that is they probably heard feedback from people who know us best and they ignored it. (Yes.) That's, what's so frustrating. They're like, well, that's just your opinion. I don't care if they have a good teaching award or not.

Shawn (24:37):

Yeah. Um, um, the English two team won an award for best teaching or a great- good teaching award. (Thanks to you students.) Thank you guys. Um, for you guys that didn't vote for us. Why not? Ah, um, um, and it's just infuriating, um, (right.) because we have something good here or we have something good here and, um, yeah. I don't know. I think they just, I think they probably saw a number next to our - a number of years on our contract and maybe our nationality or that we weren't Japanese. Right. And just sent us on our way without maybe without so much thought. It might be a financial reason. I don't know. Yeah. Um, because I know with Corona, uh, it hit the hospitals that IUHW runs very hard, but still yeah. Yeah. So a negative thing. Would that be it or, um, or,

Barney (25:37):

Yeah, I mean, boy, I was kind of to, to add to that. Um, the reason why maybe it's a little bit hard for us to come up with so many positives is because the things that are positive are so positive, so big and great, and real reasons that trump, all of the negatives

Shawn (25:55):

Oh, I don't want to talk about Trump today.

Barney (25:58):

Yeah, ha ha. Um, the one thing that I just wish that could be changed is that the first term is so busy. It doesn't help anybody.

Shawn (26:11):

Yes. The schedule for English also as well, um, can be very hard on the students because we can have, um, a few weeks where there's like two or three classes in a week. And then suddenly we'll have two days where there's eight classes in English (Or 10) and it just, it just wipes out the teachers, it wipes out the students and you just, can't in the second or third class, third or fourth classes that day. You can't get anything done.

Barney (26:36):

Yeah. Or when do you see the same group of students twice in a day.

Shawn (26:40):

Yes. Didn't you do your homework during lunch? Uh, you know, and then if you're, if you're making a class, a, multi-class project that goes over four classes and you see one group on one day and then another group over a week and a half. Yeah. It makes it hard to plan. It's not fair. It's hard to, so, but, uh, you know, I think the students know that that wasn't not, and that wasn't on us. Trust me. Yes. Uh, one positive, um, living in Narita. Uh, and if you listened to our episode on the best of Narita, you know, that actually, um, you live here and you have a house here, unfortunately I will have to move back to Tokyo in mid-March and I will miss, uh, I'm looking forward to where I'm moving to, but I will miss a lot of Narita. And, um, and the virus, the coronavirus really made it hard to go to a lot of the places I still love. I used to love to hang out at the airport and, uh, and, uh, make fun of people, but no, just, just hanging out at the airport and looking at planes and things like that. Um, although I went there recently and there was nobody there, so maybe the safest place to go in Narita is the airport. (Yeah.) Ironically, (I would like to see that) very spooky. (Yeah.) But all the shops are closed too so you know? Um, I, I, there, if you have a car, um, uh, and maybe you students, it's just not your situation, but, um, there's lots of great places to go around, replace the ground here. And I got used to the country life. Um, when I go back to Tokyo now, it's like, wow, look at all the people, you know, everybody's walking so fast or something, right? No. Yes. So that was one of my positives. Do you have another positive?

Barney (28:22):

Yeah, this is, uh, since I combined two, then this is my last one. I think you'll like this one, number five was the mini FD comedy hour.

Shawn (28:33):

Oh, what is this?

Barney (28:35):

Remember when we used to have those mini FDs every Wednesday,

Shawn (28:38):

Uh, and FD stands for faculty development. We'd have these meetings once a week where some teacher would give some presentation and we'd have to come and listen and learn some stuff.

Barney (28:47):

Yeah. And, and yeah, there were times when we did learn things and then there were times where they just weren't very applicable. And then there were times when they were just downright silly and—

Shawn (28:57):

Well, do you know the best way to kill a rat?

Barney (29:00):

I can think of a number of them, but apparently even though the rat would be dead, they're all wrong.

Shawn (29:05):

We had one teacher and I, I use the term loosely, um, who, one of his questions to the audience was "What's the best way to kill a rat?" You know, you had all these questions, the audience that day in that presentation, and it probably sounded better in his head when he was practicing. We all suggested ways to and (he's) like, "No wrong, no."

Barney (29:24):

And we're like, but that would be dead.

Shawn (29:26):

That's a great way to kill it but...

Barney (29:28):

You could still cut it open, you know, and then wrong, wrong, wrong.

Shawn (29:32):

I'm like, and he said something else and I was just like, I'm like, "Oh, come on!" I said it out loud, you know, just razzing the speaker here, "Come on! What are you talking?" But, uh, yeah.

Barney (29:43):

Um, of course that's why we go into "hellcare."

Shawn (29:46):

Yes, yes, yes, yes. Uh, I had like a lot of great little one-liners said under my breath about different speakers that I cannot repeat here. Um, but it was great for comedy. (Yeah, it was.) Um, well, we had to be quiet because we're rude, you know, apparently one teacher thought we were very rude, but when we saw his presentation and we're like, "What the hell was that?" Um, yeah, so mini FDs they were interesting. I would not have thought of referencing that.

Barney (30:20):

I said I was scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Shawn (30:22):

Yes, yes, yes. Scraping the bottom of the barrel means you really have nothing left and you're just searching for something. Um, so I guess my number five and it's number one, whatever, it doesn't really matter what order it is in is, um, Oh God, oh jeez. I missed a lot of things here. Okay. The weird things, the weird things. I'm going to go through-- lightning round because we're running out of time here. Okay. The weird things at IUHW for example, we are in a wonderful studio right now. It looks like it could be like a news studio or something like that. Um, but they didn't buy any mics.

Barney (31:00):

Yup. People, people high up there were told that they have this amazing sound system with mics. In reality - nooo.

Shawn (31:09):

So when we came here to record audio for tests and other things, and our superiors were like, "Just use that." And I'm like, "Uh, wait, there's no mics. What? There's no mics? Yeah. There's no mics." You can't record it and so we buy mics.

Barney (31:23):

We had been borrowing mics from one of the student clubs.

Shawn (31:27):

Yeah. And, and one year you used my mic. Oh boy. And my computer. So we're using my computer still. But, um, you know, sometimes those things were just weird. Um, other things were weird, um, paying too much for silly things like, uh, bells, you know, ding, you know, like the bell, like at the, when you're at hotel, front desk, um, we found out that they ordered these bells from a catalog and the catalog had them listed as a thousand yenva piece and you can buy them at Daiso for a hundred yen a piece. I swear, every time I see that big bus going by, I think, could they have paid us more when we were working here if we rented a bus? Maybe. I don't know,

Barney (32:11):

Very savvy when it comes to saving money, uh, sometimes

Shawn (32:14):

Spending money. Um, yes. Yeah.

Barney (32:17):

Yeah. Um, how about another weird thing? How about let's build a huge parking lot? Don't use it.

Shawn (32:23):

Oh yes. Yes. We have a parking lot next to our building, but as far as I know, nobody's allowed to use it. (Right.) Um, and I do drive the kids to daycare nearby. It would be nice if I could use it sometimes even for a short time, but no, no. Um, so, uh, one of the jokes, running jokes was the, uh, the w in IUHW stands for weirdness or weird. Um, so that was one thing but, you know, and, and, and, uh, lots of positive things. I've enjoyed my time here- um, uh, immensely with the staff I've worked with, uh, the teaching, uh, the other staff, the students, the area, and that's why it hurts so much to leave. Um, I broke down in tears, like the first time I told my students, you know, uh, cause I didn't want to, but it's just, it was a lot of fun to teach them. And so maybe the, the, the, um, the biggest problem I had with IUHW is, uh, the heartlessness of the timing of the decision to let us go. Now, um, whether they keep us or not, that is their decision, you know, and sometimes there is something to be said about bringing in new teachers, new blood, things like that, but generally, um, uh, you tell teachers as soon as possible, so they can go looking for other jobs. And in Japan, um, the school year starts in April, but people are already looking for jobs in September, October, November. Yeah. And there were several interesting opportunities that my wife wanted me to apply for at the time. And I said, no, I like where I am. I like the people I'm teaching with. Um, and I let it go and the deadlines went by and then we got this nice Christmas present and early Christmas present from the university. "I'm the Grinch." Yes. Um, and, um, and on the 20th, was it the 22nd you were told? (Yeah. Yep.) And, uh, uh, Barney had his meeting first and, and he sent me a line message and says, "I hope your, your meeting went better than mine. (Yeah.) Because they're not asking me - they're not asking me to come back." And I was shocked because, uh, these meetings usually were so automatic, they would say, "Okay, thank you. We'd like you to come back next year. Please sign this." Whatever. Right. And so I didn't give it any thought when I scheduled the meeting. And, and I'm not saying this because he's right in front of me or that he's a good friend of mine, but Barney is an excellent teacher. And if I was running a university or any kind of school, I would definitely want him on my staff.

Uh, and, uh, it's not because he just gave me some money right now. Um, but, um, it's just the way I feel. (Yeah.) And when I saw that message and my, my meeting was scheduled for Christmas Eve, (I know), and I was like, Oh my God, if they're letting him go, what hope do I have of being kept on? (Yeah.) So I rushed in, and I said to them, I'd like my meeting now, not on Christmas Eve. I was sick that day, but I still rushed in, out of shock. And (really), I said, is it the same thing for me? And they said, yes, it is. But it's not, it's not performance-related size if that makes it easier. (I know.) So

Barney (35:50):

You were a fantastic teacher and that's why we're letting you go. There's nothing, you did everything perfectly.

Shawn (35:56):

It was a three-year contract. I was told, but actually I was told before it was up to five-year contract and they had given us no indication whatsoever, beforehand, that it was going to be cut short. (Yeah.) And it was probably the hardest Christmas I've ever had. The amount of stress that this university and specifically the people who run the university in Tokyo put on my family is unforgivable. (I know) Um, I was in tears. My wife was in tears. Um, we had to pretend like nothing was wrong and have Christmas as normal with the kids unwrapping the presents. Had I known what was happening. I would have bought less presents. (I know.) But, um, and so I had to spend my winter vacation, um, desperately filling out applications for the few positions that were available at the time. And it's certainly not the way I wanted to spend my oshougatsu, you know.

Barney (37:00):

Yeah. I don't think they would have wanted that for themselves. And yeah, I think with your new daughter and my new son, I was especially looking forward to that

Shawn (37:09):

First Christmas for them. Yes. And, and I was just crushed because I love working at this university and loved the area. And suddenly we just had our lives turned upside down. Um, and it's just, you know, if they're gonna let us go, they could have told us a month or two earlier. And it would've made a lot of difference. They waited until the very last minute.

Barney (37:36):

I know. Cause it has to be within three months,

Shawn (37:39):

It has to be within three months legally, or I think, uh, right. (No less than four months.) And they told me at like for three months and six days or something like that, for you the same. And so it was just, it didn't have to be this way. And later on, we found out that a lot of the staff, uh, up above us, um, fought for us, uh, to stay. And it didn't really matter what they said. Tokyo wasn't going to change their mind.

Barney (38:13):

Yeah. I, I actually was exactly going to say that same comment that, you know, the, the staff and the people you work with are such good people because so many people went down to HR and talk to different people for our, on our behalf.

Shawn (38:26):

It didn't make a difference. Although one person, I wished that this person knew ahead of time. I wish they had given me a heads up really and saying, (there's a possibility) if they had just given us, you know, okay. There might be possibly that you won't be asked back, so you might want to be putting out your applications. (Right.) But, um, you know, maybe, maybe that person just couldn't reveal that information or at that time

Barney (38:48):

That's true. And I think that things had kind of flown that way in the past and they thought, Oh, this is just usual thing. So

Shawn (38:55):

This university does not treat teachers as well as they should be when it comes to offering contracts in a timely manner, in a clear manner. (Right.) And they have lost excellent teachers before that have quit because they weren't offered contracts fast enough.

Barney (39:13):

They didn't they would go.

Shawn (39:16):

There's some misconnection. (Yeah.) Um, between Tokyo and here or, or in Tokyo, I don't know. Uh, it could be a lot better. You know.

Barney (39:30):

No, there should be a little bit more autonomy for the different campuses.

Shawn (39:33):

And I think the people in Narita know how to run their campus and they know because they're here firsthand. And, um, I think that their word should be given more value when it comes to, uh, you know, input at the head people. So, yeah,

Barney (39:53):

Really. Um, but yeah, I, um, not, not to make you feel discouraged, um, as a student, uh, because I just wrote someone the other day saying how maybe it's hard to work here, but as a student, you guys have awesome teachers. (Yeah.) All are really world-class teachers. And, um, you guys are getting, you know, taught by people who you wouldn't get taught by at on other campuses,

Shawn (40:21):

Yes, despite some of these difficulties, there are a lot of excellent teachers here

Barney (40:25):

And, and sure. There's no real history yet, you know, but, and some people in Japan love to see what's on your resume, but you guys are honestly going to be out there making a name for this university, giving it a reputation as a great place to study. Yes, yes. Um, but if you want to be educators in the future, there are other jobs maybe,

Shawn (40:51):

Perhaps, uh, uh, and I will look back at this, uh, experience, um, 80% positive. Um, but that 20% is big and it could have been handled differently at the end (Yeah,really). But, um, these three years for big, (yeah), for me, uh, educationally and then, and, um, uh, we had a daughter born in Narita and it probably wouldn't, she probably would not have been born if we had stayed in Tokyo and worked at - if had stayed in the current positions I was in, things like that. So we wouldn't have a daughter and, and, uh, I lived three years in this wonderful area, made some great friends. Um, and I met you too. I'm just kidding. Uh, I know we're friends and, um, I don't want to look back in this completely negative. IUHW has problems. Um, a lot of universities do, I don't know any university doesn't have problems, but I thought it'd be interesting for us to just clear the air here in our final episode.

Barney (41:51):

Yeah, really? Yes, yes.

Shawn (41:54):

It could have been worse.

Barney (41:54):

Uh, yeah. I was wondering if we would have to get out the sensor button.

Shawn (41:59):

No. Maybe if we had recorded this a couple of months ago but now that both of us are pretty much assured of having employment beyond this, that we'll be able to support our family. (Yeah right.) We can look back with in a different light, but it could have been worse. It could have been better.

Barney (42:18):

Yeah. And yeah, again, just as we, both of us had the students at the very top of our pros, you know, we're we're, you guys are the reasons why we wanted to keep coming back.

Shawn (42:32):

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, if we didn't like teaching here, we would not have, we would not have felt bad about letting go - being let go.

Barney (42:41):

Yeah. Honestly. Yeah. The fact that it really cuts so deep and affected us so much is because we care

Shawn (42:48):

Because we liked the staff we worked with. We liked the students we teach and we liked this area. So, um, we're going to try and continue this show in some form in the future. And I hope we can count on you as a listener. Yeah. We'll see.

Barney (43:03):

And don't forget those listening and study materials.

Shawn (43:07):

Yes, yes, yes. We have. We're going to have, I think we're going to have nine, 10 episodes up. There's some funny and interesting stuff in there. Take the time to go through it. So from both of us at English All Over the Place, uh, it's been a wonderful run and hopefully we can continue this in some way in the future. Yeah.

Barney (43:31):

Yeah, stay tuned and stay in touch.

Shawn (43:36):

I still, haven't gotten a good sign off line in the final episode here. So, um, I'm not going to say goodbye. I'm going to say, uh, see you soon.

Barney (43:47):

That's right.

Shawn (43:47):

Alright.