Bakersfield is becoming my temporary home

What am I doing?
So I have made it past the familiarization flights at IFTA (see blog entry "Confusion is over" for more details in IFTA). I guess you can fail the first portion even though they don't say so. I now have about 6 more weeks of standardization training as an instructor. I am basically learning the teaching style and procedures that this company has established for their students. By the middle of August I should begin teaching 3-4 Asian students. Since this school is an International one there are only international students. The parent company is All Nippon Airways, now you might understand why Japanese food is served at every meal. (More about food in a moment.)

What do I do everyday?
Outside of work/training, I study a lot. I fly about once a day. The Beechcraft Bonanza is the primary aircraft trainer. They are almost in view outside my dorm window. When I am not at the office, which is only about 150 yards away, I might be found near the pool while reviewing flight procedures. :) The pool is just outside my dorm room, which is right next to the gym and tennis and basketball courts as well.

For only $3/meal, I get to eat a huge breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which is provided mostly for the students but is available to the employees. Every meal there is Japanese food, besides some American type food. I feel like I'm eating at Q-cumber (a nice buffet in MN) every day, three times a day! I am so lucky.

So basically I eat, study, fly, eat, study, eat, exercise, and sleep, and sometimes snack. I should probably do a little more exercising.

Where do I live?
As I indicated I am very close to the administration/office/class rooms/training building for the company. The campus includes the dormitory, which is operated like a hotel. I can rent out one of the rooms for a reasonable rate while I'm in company, paid training. It will be hard to find another place in a month cause of the convenience. The cafeteria is just as close as the admin building but maybe a little closer, which is nice for me. I prefer food over work. The gym/pool/athletic courts are even closer, which means I should probably use them more. But only when I'm done with my intense training.

Why must I study if I am already an instructor?
Every flight training school has standards and procedures. IFTA is no exception and they may have some of the strictest, which makes them perhaps one of the best school to work for. The goal of this flight school is to prepare each student to fly their airline jets. I get the (employed) students with hardly any experience and prepare them for all their private, commercial, and instrument checkrides, before they go back to their home country to train in their company jets. These days I study so that I can become completely familiar with the flight standards and safety procedures for IFTA. My quality of instruction will definitely be upgraded. But I still need to pass the company checkrides (flight examinations) with the Flight Training Standards Director. It will probably be the hardest checkride I have performed in my aviation history.

Did I mention that when I am done with instructor training that I get to still eat at the unbelievable cool Japanese cafeteria? Yes, I can show up between 5:30-8:30am before work to get breakfast and obviously during my hour lunch break I can get another full meal. When I'm done with work, I can catch the variety, served dinner before going home. I couldn't have asked for a better deal.

Well, if you are still reading this, then perhaps you are interested in enough to pray. My request is that I can stay focused (not on food), memorize all the procedures, and fly the best I have every done. I need to fly to Airline standards, 'cause I'm training these students to Airline quality. It's a huge challenge.