09/07/2007: "[At work] More on the Japan thing"

So, I have a little more time to write now. Depending on the day, I generally have to go to sleep pretty early in order to wake up relatively rested for work in the morning. I have to say, though, that I still think this whole 'waking up at 6am' thing is still not really ideal. Stupid 6am. Who ever thought it was a good idea to have this time, anyway?

Anyway, I need to start getting to work on finding/pursuing a job in Japan starting today/tonight (I need to write up an e-mail and send it off). So far I actually have found some leads that would send me somewhere in the Yamaguchi Prefecture area of Japan. Not exactly a cultural hub, or even remotely 'big', but ideally the cows don't outnumber the people (which was pretty true in the last place I lived in Japan.. seriously. My neighbors had a pig for a pet). I'd be teaching English at several different places, which really isn't so bad. Of course, this is still by no means 'assured', but it does look promising. The place apparently offers contracts for several years, which works out as a better deal than what I thought I might have to do, which would involve working at one place for awhile, moving to another, and so forth. Though it'd be a great experience purely for travel and getting to see new places, I'm really big on not having to destroy and rebuild frequently.

Alas, most of the people around me aren't terribly keen on this idea.. and I rather understand. Frankly, I have a tendency of disappearing when I leave the country, and those are just for short trips when people know I'm actually going to come back. Tentatively, I plan to move to Japan for about 3 years and then either look for a more concrete job there and do translating, or come back to America for grad school. So, either way, I'll be gone for awhile.

One thing that makes this all tough, though, is the planning. Once I start sending e-mails, I need to commit. And once I commit, I needs dates. Dates mean that I need to decide now when I plan on leaving my country. How long after I graduate do I want to sit around and think about things? But not just for me, but how long should I give to hang around America and stay with people so they won't feel quite as abandoned? I rarely like planning more than 3-4 months in advance for anything, so this is a bit.. extreme. But necessary.

Whatever happens.. I'm probably not going to take the world by storm, per se, but I'm going to do what I can, maybe make a little difference, and hit the ground running.

As an aside, the going prediction is that I'll be married within 2 years of being in Japan (and not just one person, several are going for this). Oh ye of little faith.. tsk, tsk.


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