My, these shoes are comfortable!
Sitting around the office with very little to do has given me a lot of time to think… and to shamelessly stare at my coworkers and make up stories about them in my head, but that is another story. Anyway, watching all the other teachers bustle about while I sit here idly (the only other person who seems to be anywhere close to my level of idleness is my supervisor, the reason being—-I’d like to think—-that he is a total badass who needs no work to get shit done) has gotten me thinking about the future. Being a teacher here in Japan is a Very Good and Very Secure career, so all of these teachers will probably lead copacetic lives as teachers until they retire.
And then I think about how terrifying it will be when I have to go back to the US and find a damned job. Or get into grad school. It’s a scary thought, charging back into a weakening economy with thousands of dollars of debt and no real experience outside of a very easy job in a country that is very easy to live in… and I am really REALLY trying to tell myself that this is exactly what I want to do.
The last thing I want to do is to become so comfortable with this nice salary in this nice country that I just settle and decide to stay here for another few years, or even the rest of my life. I mean, I didn’t gather up all that debt (thank you, Alma Mater) and travel to the other side of the world just to settle.
It’s probably too lofty a goal to want to improve the world, but I think I can at least improve myself. So here’s to that. Now back to idleness.
