#vivalimez

my wife vets all the factories we work with. while we have not been able to fly overseas to visit the actual factory (because that would be extremely expensive), we don’t haggle with the factories we work with and we pay far more than sweatshop prices (about 7x). there is no way to 100% guarantee that a factory isn’t a sweatshop without visiting it but we are reasonably certain to the best of our ability.

Now are they taking advantage of lower cost of production by going overseas? Hell yeah. But it looks like they’re trying to go about it in a better way. That’s what I was able to find. Though if you know something to the contrary I’d love to know. 

We’re still considering this! I’d like to open that as an option though for those who live overseas and can’t afford to pay for the hard copy + shipping

Y’know, I was hoping there would be, but I was pretty disappointed by the selection. But I did get some good distance on my eggs, so there’s that! 

I know I’m only a few months in, but this is what I hope the next generation of ALTs next July can have. It’s what I hope my senpai experience, though I do think that not everyone, unfortunately, has schools or BOEs that are so caring, or students that are so eager for English. I just hope that everyone does because honestly, this is one of the best cultural exchanges I’ve ever done, and it makes me honestly care for Japan more and more in a better way.

Don’t mind at all! The short answer is, I do not have roommates! I can see how it might look that way because of the way I talk about my fellow ALTs, but in reality we all just work in the same room. I’ll explain. Wakkanai ALTs are one-shot JETs, so we do not have a base school. Instead, all 3 of us work in a tiny room in the Board of Education with 5 other people: two bosses, mom-friend who drives us to school, the head of the child safety division (classical singer-san), and the other child safety division worker (artist-san).So if it seems like we’re constantly in the same room, it’s because we are! I haven’t met any other JETs with similar situations, but it’s very handy for planning city events because we don’t need to meet outside of work, and our supervisor can just load the 3 of us into a car and we can go to an event. Also, I’ve had the unique experience of subbing for a fellow ALT last year. I was actually given one of his schools in the end, because our schools are up for trade every April. I hope this clears up any confusion. Unless you’re maybe referring to Jeff. Jeff is my shit hamster. 

Haha thank you ^^; unfortunately I won’t be posting them here but I’ve moved/am moving all my pixel stuff to a new side blog, @pixelyni! Please go check it out if you can~

Like seriously, its cool to nerd out but theres a time and place and so many people do not get it.