An ounce of prevention...

...is worth a pound of cure, as the saying goes.

So yesterday the sannensei had a test. This morning, my JTE showed me their marked test papers. Usually I skim through the answers to see where they had difficulties, but this morning I was kind of out of it (I'm really not a morning person!) so I barely glanced at the answers and mostly just looked at the scores.

Of course, it's Murphy's Law that the one time I do this, it's going to come back to bite me in the behind!

Anyway, we're going over the answers in class and there's one question where they have to make an appropriate response for a blank in a dialogue that goes something like this:

Mike: I think some of these books look very interesting.
Ken: _________________
Mike: OK. Thanks.

They have to fill in Ken's part using the word "want" in a sentence of 6 or more words. The answer my JTE had written down was "I will give some books to you, if you want." That was fine, but when she was explaining where students lost marks and how students could correct their answers, I realized that she had made a mistake in her marking of the answer.

My JTE was under the impression that the main difference between borrow and lend is that lending is more for matters involving money and/or institutions, while borrowing is more casual. But of course, the difference is much bigger than that. In the case of Person A "giving" something to Person B, the person lending is the owner/giver of the object (Person A), and person borrowing is the person who wants what Person A has (Person B). In Japanese, they also have different verbs to show this distinction--"kariru" for "borrow" and "kasu" for "lend"--and the usage is pretty much the same. That is, you either allow someone to borrow something or offer to lend something to someone. (Conversely, you have to ask permission to borrow something from someone or request that someone lend it to you.)

Anyway, it was fine that she wanted the students to use "borrow" so I didn't really say anything, but then I saw that a student who had written: "I will lend you some books, if you want"--a perfect answer!--didn't get full marks. I tried to explain the whole giver/receiver lender/borrower distinction at that point, but the discussion got stopped at "it's wrong because they haven't learned "lend" yet."

Fine, maybe penalizing a student for knowing more than they've been taught is a cultural difference in the educational system, but the problem is that the students were told it's OK to say "I will borrow you [something]." But of course, under NO circumstances could a person use that constrction in a grammatically correct way. (You could say "I will borrow you"--full stop--but that has a totally different meaning!) The correct way to use borrow in the above example would be: "You can borrow some books, if you want."

Being the "non-confrontational" type that I am, I was thinking about letting it slide, but really there's no way I can and still call myself a teacher. Besides, it was my fault for not checking the marked papers more carefully before class--which, unlike in the middle of class, would have been the appropriate time to have an extended discussion about the difference between "borrow" and "lend"--so it's up to me to broach the topic even if it's awkward for me to bring it up a full day later.

*sigh*

Yet again I've learned the importance of taking a little care beforehand to prevent trouble later on.

At least it's practical

Since I'm lazy, I'm going to plagiarize the email I sent to my family and close friends back home about a week ago instead of writing a new post explaining what happened with my car:

So, two weeks to the day of my accident and everything's pretty much settled (NOTE: written on Feb. 11th). . . .

The repair estimate for my Vitz turned out to be 440,000 yen (my insurance coverage was up to 450,000). The damage really looked a lot more spectacular than it was thanks to the built-in crumple space, but unfortunately it wasn't purely cosmetic damage since the radiator did get damaged/pushed back a little into the engine. If I wanted to repair the car, I would've had to pay a 100,000 yen deductible.

Considering that the car had already been driven over 150,000km and the possibility that undetected accident-related engine problems might crop up later, I decided to get a "new" car instead. Besides, if I bought a new car, the insurance company would give me a "gift" of 100,000 yen to help with the purchase--thereby negating the deductible costs. (Guess insurance companies would also prefer that people get new cars rather than repair their old ones after serious damage.) Also, the cost for junking the car and for the storage/estimate fees from Toyota ended up being only 25,000 yen.
Since my old car was a "white plate" (normal car), I decided I should look for a "yellow plate" a.k.a. K-car. K-cars have smaller engines (800cc compared to my 1300cc Vitz), require less gas, and cost far less in terms of insurance, shaken (bi-annual required maintenance), and car taxes (annual). So I spent about a week being driven around by Andy car shopping. In the end though, I ended up finding a car through my JTE, Tomabechi-sensei. She asked her father about where I could find a good but cheap K-car and he referred me to a friend of his working at the Towada Honda Dealership. After hearing my story, the dealership friend, Komukai-san offered to sell me his wife's car for 420,000 instead of the 500,000+ price it would be sold for through a dealership.

So my new car is a 2000 Honda Life with about 65,000 km on it. (Less than half of what my Toyota Vitz had on it when I bought it!) It has 4WD, a CD deck (some of the cars I looked at still had tape decks!) and an autostarter, and it came with winter & summer tires and wipers. (As a present, he's actually giving me new "aluminum" summer tires--they're apparently very good tires.) Even though it was a personal sale, he did the shaken transfership papers through the dealership (so I didn't have to pay anything extra) and he told me I have a bit of parts/maintenance coverage through the dealership if anything comes up.

I haven't actually heard my new insurance quote, but should definitely be less than the 17,000 yen per month I would've had to pay if I'd repaired my car or bought another white plate (up from 9,400).

Definitely I've learned a bit about buying cars from this experience, and I've also (re-)learned how kind people can be in times of trouble. I mean, Komukai-san didn't know me (or, it turns out, Tomabechi-sensei--he only knew her parents and one of her other siblings!) but when he heard that I was a foreign English teacher who had had a car accident and was looking for a cheap K-car, he offered to sell me his wife's car. Andy's busy with all of his moving preparations (I'll definitely miss him and Rie when they go to Canada in April!) and writing, but he spent several weeknights and a Saturday morning taking me around car shopping. He also gave me an interest free 150,000 yen loan since I had to pay for the car first and then submit the receipt to the insurance company for reimbursement. (Definitely keeping an emergency fund available here in Japan from here on!) So yeah, I'm glad I could learn something from the car accident even though it was a sucky situation brought on by my own stupid carelessness.

Oh, and since the new car is smaller/lighter and has a smaller engine, its handling is the opposite of the Vitz! Its brakes are much more responsive (on my drive home from the dealership today I made a LOT of jerky stops) but it takes much longer to accelerate and you can really hear the engine working. ^^;; It kind of reminds me of the old Honda Accord I drove in high school. I suspect going too fast won't be as much of a problem with this car since it takes so much more effort to even get it up to 50km/hr! From my brief experience driving one so far, it seems like K-cars are designed for an optimal speed of 40km/hr. =P

...

End of plagiarism, start of original writing.

So I've had the "new" car for almost a week now, and well, at least it's practical.

It's funny because I never thought I would be the type to care about the car I drive--I mean, apart from the van, I only ever drove super old full-size sedans--but after making the switch I'm really missing my Vitz. Every time I see a Vitz (or similar-looking car) on the road now while I'm driving, I can't help but sigh in regret. I really loved the Vitz--the size, the design, the colour (it's immediately obvious when white cars get even the tiniest bit dirty), the handling, the power...

But I chose to be practical instead of repairing it (which was my initial instinct), so there's no use in whining about it now. And it is a good car that I got at a really good price. Hopefully it'll grow on me.

Giving Air Canada a second chance

In all fairness to Air Canada, I felt that I should post the messages I've received from/sent to Air Canada since my initial "why Air Canada sucks!" post.

I received the first reply to my follow-up post about 15 days after I sent it. And this time, it was from an actual person and not a standard/cookie-cutter response:

Response (D--) - 01/29/2009 09:40 AM
Dear Ms. --:

Thank you for your follow up email.

I am sorry it has taken so long to respond. I needed to contact Vancouver for an explanation and it took a little longer than I expected.

An aircraft swap was needed and the aircraft that replaced the original one had less seating capacity. That is why a few people were bumped from the flight.

As a gesture of goodwill, we are pleased to provide you with a future travel credit in the amount of $100.00 CAD. This transferable credit may be used toward the purchase of an Air Canada ticket for future travel on Air Canada and/or Air Canada Jazz and is valid until January 29, 2010, one year from today. This means that it must be applied to a new ticket purchased within that time frame, however, travel does not have to commence within the year. Your credit number is: -----.

If booking through our Call Centre, simply provide the number shown above to the agent at the time of booking.

If booking on our web site or through a travel agent, please wait until travel has been completed, however, no longer than 90 days, and then email the new ticket number along with the travel credit number shown above, to refundservices@aircanada.ca. They will refund the value of the credit back to the credit card used to purchase the new ticket. If you wish to transfer the credit to another person, please include a note in your correspondence authorizing the transfer.

You may also fax or mail the electronic travel credit number and new ticket number to our Refunds Department.

Fax: (204) 941-2789.

Air Canada Refund Services
P.O. Box 6475
Winnipeg, MB R3C 3V2

We apologize for this inconvenience to your travel plans. Thank you for allowing us this opportunity to review your concerns.

Sincerely,

D--
Customer Relations

I still wasn't particularly satisfied with that, so I sent yet another follow up response:

Customer - 01/30/2009 03:07 AM
Thank you for your response. I feel a little bit better at least knowing what happened. However, this does raise other questions for me, such as why was the airplane switch necessary? And why weren't passengers informed about this decision at the time?

Moreover, how is it decided as to which passengers get bumped off the flight in such circumstances? And what is airline policy regarding compensation in such situations (disregarding the complications arising from the weather)?

And most importantly, what is being done to improve the customer service provided in such times of difficulty? (Even with the recent explanation, I still think it's completely unacceptable that no one bothered to explain what was going on to us at the time.)

I mean, I understand a little better what happened now, but I think a flight credit as a "goodwill gesture" is pretty pathetic considering that the experience of being put into standby hell in Vancouver was traumatizing enough for me to question whether I would ever fly Air Canada again, since apparently it's an airline that simply bumps people off flights without any apologies, explanations or meaningful compensation. (It doesn't really count when *I* have to keep emailing after the fact for a satisfactory explanation.)

Honestly, up to now I've liked Air Canada. I thought that Tokyo-Toronto flights were both convenient and reasonably priced. But after all this, I'm seriously considering not using Air Canada simply on principle. I'd rather fly with an airline that takes better care of and shows more respect to its customers, even if it means spending more money or dealing with the inconvenience of stopping in the US.

Customer service's response was very fast this time:

Response (D--) - 01/30/2009 11:47 AM
Dear Ms. --:

I certainly do understand your present feelings. I would probably feel the same way you do. Normally, when an aircraft swap is required, we are able to get our passengers to their destinations within the same day. I know it was a very trying time and emotions were high with it being Christmas and everyone wanting to be home with family.

When we need to choose who to bump off a flight, we usually choose passengers who are only going to that destination and do not have a connection onward.

I would like you to know that Air Canada has learnt from these events and is reviewing their methods and procedures in irregular operations in order to help our agents help our passengers. Customer Relations has a good idea of what needs to be done and we will be included in these revised procedures. I am extremely hopeful that our future irregular operations will be less chaotic and more productive.

I am not attempting to minimize the situation but this was a very unusual holiday season for our airline also. With so many flights being cancelled and delayed our employees probably did not know what to do half the time. The flights were already full and reprotecting passengers became almost impossible. Often, if an agent found a new routing to get someone home, then that flight was later cancelled or delayed also. Everyone was really overwhelmed.

When we experience one major storm within our network, it can take a couple of days to recuperate from the flight cancellation and delays. Rescheduling our crews and aircraft to their new destinations takes a lot of planning when they are stuck in a different city than planned. This winter's storms just came at us one after another after another.

Our goodwill offer of 25% was to show our passengers that we do care. The additional $100.00 voucher was also to let you know that we do value your support. I am only asking you to realize that these were some unusual circumstances and to give us another chance to provide you with the quality service you have experience with us in the past.

We are hoping to welcome you on board a future flight to Tokyo.

Sincerely,

D--
Customer Relations

Well, that response made me feel like I was being a bit too churlish, but I still wasn't completely ready to drop the issue, and I still had one more pressing question:

Customer - 01/31/2009 09:46 AM
Thank you for your fast response. I'm sorry to be so doggedly persistent on the issue, but I feel it's reasonable for me to want to know WHY was there an aircraft swap "needed"?

The latest response:

Response (D--) - 02/04/2009 04:25 PM
Dear Ms. --:

I have been trying to see if I could have more information on this issue. Unfortunately, I have not been getting anywhere. I will take an educated guess from what I can see, however, do not hold me to it.

It looks like they swapped the planes in order to operate an aircraft with more capacity on a flight to Hong Kong. I believe this was to accommodate all the delayed passengers in the last couple of days due to the bad weather. Air Canada will always give a priority to an international flight.

It is easier to protect passengers traveling on a domestic flight than on an international flight especially when the flight is going to Asia.

If I hear anymore on this issue I definitely will email you with this information.

Sincerely,

D--
Customer Relations

Well, as a passenger coming into Vancouver on an international flight myself, I could accept and understand that they would prioritize getting the international flight backlogs cleared before the domestic ones. I still think the way Air Canada handled their customer relations during the whole "crisis" was completely sucky, but I'm no longer angry at what happened (just at how it was handled). I'm still going to try to fly with other Star Alliance member airlines (so I can still collect Aeroplan miles), but if Air Canada's the most logical option (as it is for the Tokyo-Toronto flight), I'm going to give them another chance.

My final email:

Even if you ultimately can't find out the specifics, I appreciate the educated guess. Thank you very much.

So this August I'll be using the 25% discount and $100 travel credit to come back for WAY camp. If Air Canada screws up again, I'm not going to be so forgiving, but for now, I'm willing to give them a second chance.

Money matters...

I recently purchased and read "The Money Book: A Survival Guide for Canadians under 35" by Kevin Cork (a.k.a. "The Screaming Capitalist").

It was a pretty easy and informative read, even though it didn't really give me as much detail as I was looking for about different savings/investment options--GICs, CSBs, mutual funds, etc.

Anyway, the point it hammered home to me is that I really should've started investing my money the year after I started earning an annual income--i.e. when I was 18 years old!! And that even though I can't regain the 7 years I've wasted, I shouldn't delay but should start saving now!

"Anyone who is currently less than 35 and does not have a million saved at retirement won't have "nice" life; they'll have a "fridge-box under the bridge" life filled with dogfood." - Kevin Cork

So currently I'm looking into RRSPs (I didn't realize you could carry forward your tax deductions for RRSP contributions!!) and am trying to figure out how to best utilize the tax-free savings account I already opened with Scotia. Currently it's just a cash account, but I think it would make more sense to purchase some GICs or mutual funds for it as well...

Honestly, I would really like to find a financial advisor to help me with all this, but I guess I'll just have to muddle my through until I move back to Canada permanently.

It's pretty ridiculous when I survey my accounts and realize that I've got probably less than a third of the money that I've sent home is actually still in accounts at home--the rest has gone to paying off credit card bills, buying manga, etc. etc. Even if it's only $25/month into an RRSP, I need to start doing something to save for my future (and not just for my next trip)!

The recent car accident also made me realize that I really ought to build up an "emergency fund" here in Japan. Even if it means sending a little less home each month (painful considering how well the exchange rate is working in my favour currently), I've realized that money in the bank in Canada doesn't do me much good when I'm facing the possibility of paying a 100,000yen insurance deductible for car repairs and payday is still 3 weeks away! Sure I can get money sent back to Japan from home, but in a real emergency, I might not have the time to get the transfer set up and everything.