Brian's Japan Adventure

March 2^nd, 2008

 Don’t Feed The Animals 

I started out this morning doing the usual library routine.  I stopped in at the McDonalds in the Tenmaya arcade as usual, and halfway through the meal I noticed a larg bug crawling across the floor. I’m pretty sure it was a cockroach. I saw several other people watching it too. No one moved to squash it or anything; they all just watched it like it was the official mascot of McDonalds, like a puppy or something.  I’ve never seen anything like that here before (except for the bug at Otis), but I bet bugs are pretty common.  I got up and left before I saw people bending down to feed the little guy.

 And They’re Off! 

I got to the library, which hadn’t quite opened yet. The front doors were open to the lobby, but the electric gate to the library was still closed. There were probably a hundred people waiting to get in. People here don’t just mill around waiting for something to open; they make lines. Lines here aren’t like lines in America. The idea of personal space is vastly different here. People will get right up to the person in front of them. Not touching, exactly, but within an inch or two. I suspect this is why people tend to cut in line in front of me; I stand back at the usual distance for an “American line.” Anyway, there were a hundred people chest-to-back standing inches apart waiting for the gate to go up. Finally, as the big clock chimed ten o’clock, the gate rose up, and let the people in. The lines go through the theft-detect system quickly and orderly, but once they get through the scanner, they break into a run, running to wherever they need to go.  They are in a hurry, because, you know, they might run out of books.

People here run for no reason. I don’t mean children, I mean respectably dressed middle-aged people. Today I watched some guy in his 50’s run upstairs to be the first to grab in Internet desk.  He plopped his coat down to “reserve” a desk, then ran to find a book then ran back to the desk, and proceeded to spend the next two hours reading. What was the hurry for?  This isn’t really all that unusual; I see the same thing every week.  Naturally, I avoid competing with them. I hang back until the lines at the gate are gone or reduced significantly. I then go in, walk up the steps, head toward the area where the Internet-wired desks are, walk over to that area and pick out a desk without a hassle. There are always dozens of desks still available at opening time. I did get there once late in the afternoon and had to wait for someone to get up and leave, but only once, and it was late in the day. I’ve never had the least trouble getting what I want early in the morning. You always hear about the massive crowds and pushing and so forth in Tokyo, but really, there isn’t any need for that kind of behavior here. Okayama just isn’t that crowded, certainly no more than a place like Dayton.

 Internet Updates 

So anyway, I found a seat easily, like I always do, and plugged in. The library doesn’t offer wireless access at all, which I find strange.  They could serve many more people if they didn’t limit the number if Internet users to the number of available desks. Maybe it’s for security reasons, I don’t know. I posted my most recent blogs, answered a few mails and the usual stuff. 

One email was from Dr. M. at the Home University. She has returned from Thailand and is getting caught up with work in her office. She said her secretary had my TEFL certificate sitting there, and was waiting for the mailing address. Hopefully, it will get home before I do.  I thanked her, and mentioned that I was interested in working this August with the Japanese exchange students again if they wanted me back.  I also dropped similar notes to the other teacher in that program, Kat, and the boss of the department in charge of the program.  Dr. M. wrote back (she must be a “night person” to be online while I am at the library) saying she believed they were going to do it this year with only departmental staff.  She’s in contact with their department, but she doesn’t work with them, so her information may or may not be correct, but that doesn’t sound good for me doing it again this year. If it’s true, that’s too bad. I was really hoping to do it again; it was fun last year.  Then again, I was “staff” last year, so that statement doesn’t absolutely exclude me.  I’m sure I’ll a get a more definitive answer on that before too long, as it’s just about time for them to start thinking about that program again.

Next, I got to work and downloaded a number of lessons and worksheets for Past Participles. The problem is, I’m not sure when I am going to have the opportunity to print them out up in the office.  I guess I’ll have to go up there in the afternoon after the Fukuyama classes.

Indecisive? Moi?

Then I got into chat with PT and that took a couple of hours. We mostly discussed my options for staying here and going home. No matter how much we tossed it around, there just isn’t a black and white right or wrong answer. Staying or going is just going to be a choice. If you’ve come to the conclusion yet that I’m indecisive, you don’t know the half of it.

Before leaving the house this morning I made a list of pros and cons about staying. Here we go:

 Reasons to Stay in Okayama: 

Experience is valuable; a year is far better than a half year

Jobs are competitive; that experience could make a big difference

Internet businesses aren’t going away; 4 month’s won’t matter

It’s only 16 weeks

I’ll get more language practice, although not that much

Summer will be fun in itself (Cherry blossoms and beaches)

I don’t have any specific job plans at home

As long as I am here, the door is still open to other opportunities

 And Reasons to Go Home Now: 

It’ll be near-impossible to find a teaching job in August

I won’t be able to save any money in the summer here because of high airfare

I won’t be learning much; I already know everything important about survival here.

I am eating badly; the food I can eat is not healthy

4 months is still 4 months

I have nothing to prove by staying longer; I did what I came for

I have the tendency to fall into old habits; I don’t want to go back to my old routines

Don’t you love how 16 weeks is a reason to stay, but 4 months is a reason to go home?

 What Do I Want, Anyway? 

I guess the real factor is what do I want to do in the future?  I like teaching English, but there are a couple of limitations. With a Master’s Degree, a Master’s Level TEFL Certification, and either six months or a year experience, I should be able to get a job anywhere in the world teaching English. Obviously the year would be better, but I don’t think the extra few months will that much of a difference in finding work and beating out the competition. I’m set either way for a career in International teaching if I want to do this again.

The problem arises with teaching in the States; Can I even get a decent job teaching English in America? I doubt it. Universities have their choice of PhDs. Public schools want people with degrees in Education. I could do things at the community-college level, but that’s not a reliable career from what I’ve heard. There are probably small courses at community centers and things along those lines that I could get work doing, but that’s not going to really be making a living.

The third option is of course some form of professional writing, which was really my plan all along when I decided to get a Master’s in English, at least until I got into this teaching thing.  Does writing instruction manuals for toasters and stereos really compare to what I have been doing here?  Not likely.  This time last year, a quiet, safe, easy job sitting at a desk writing on spec sounded good. But now?  Not for long I fear.

A fourth option is simply to go back to doing what I was doing before I decided to return to school.  I will never again run a retail store. Never, never, never!  But I always liked the Internet business model, and could easily get into that. Who am I kidding? I’m already doing that, right now in Japan.  I can’t put in the time I’d like to on it here, but I am currently running an Internet business right at this very moment. Still, I could keep doing it on a limited basis or really dig into it full-time if I wanted.

So really I guess it comes down to this. The number one reason for staying is to be able to say I worked in teaching in Japan for a full year. From looking at the four career options above, it might help a little bit on the first option, but not at all in the other three. Will I ever actually teach overseas again?  I’d certainly like to, and very possibly will for another year or two.  But at my age, and with my health problems (that won’t be going away), I could never make a long-term career out of it. I guess I have to say the extra experience is just not that big a factor in the long run.

 Conclusion 

So tomorrow, when I return from Fukuyama, I plan on telling Y-San that I cannot stay over the summer. If she makes some kind of unexpected incentive offer, such as paying my plane fare or something, I might yet reconsider, but I don’t think she’ll do that.  I’m pretty sure their budget is fixed, so offers like that are unlikely, if not impossible.

And that’s that. I’ll go home in eleven days and for a few weeks I may regret turning down the opportunity to stay, but it’s probably better than coming back here in April and regretting every day for four months. Decision made.

 Done. 

Now watch Fukuyama call me tomorrow with a solid offer on the full-year teaching position.  After all this indecision, how could that not happen?

  The Rest of the Day 

Then left the library and had lunch at CoCo Ichiban. They thought I was crazy when I took a photo of my lunch. I’ll post it in the gallery at some point so you can see what Cheese Tonkatsu Curry looks like. Then it was home on the bus, and I used up the last money on my bus card. From here on out it’s going to be cash on the bus, which is no problem, because I’ll probably only be going downtown next Sunday and either Monday or Tuesday. Other than that, I have no more free time. I guess I’ll have to buy something in the way of gifts on my next trip out. For better or worse, I’m running out of time.

Returning home, I watched this weeks episode of LOST. That how just gets better and better every week. There’s only one or two more episode before they run out of episodes for this season.  Did the writer’s strike ever end?  I never did hear if that was resolved.

It seems to be getting warmer here.  Maybe it’s just a couple of “fluke” days, but this weekend has been pretty nice. Or maybe spring is starting. If this really is the beginning of spring, I’d probably end up missing cherry-blossom season anyway.  Anyway, I spent much of the evening sitting on the steps out in front of the apartment listening to podcasts and watching the students ride their bikes down from the University. Yes, there are classes on Sunday up there.  I Took out the trash, four large bags full since Marc cleaned out his room and I cleaned out the fridge today. There’s nothing left in the fridge but Ice Cream Cones, Pepsi Nex, and a giant bottle of green tea.  Oh, and the octopus, fish eggs and fish “stuff” that will become forever legendary as the Christmas gift that keeps on taking up freezer space.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, March 2nd, 2008 at 3:00 am and is filed under Japan, Teaching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.