Life Keeps Getting Easier Whether I Want It To Or Not

Every week, I have to call my company's regional office and do a schedule check with my boss's boss. She is a nice lady named Kiyomi and I don't mind talking to her. Now by saying a don't mind talking to her, what I actually mean is I do not mind talking to her when I absolutely have to. During the past six months here (it seems crazy its been that long already) I have learned that its extremely wise to fly as far under the radar as one possibly can when employed by my company. In general, Peppy Kids is a pretty good employer but the whole Japanese idea of what work is and what work entales bothers me. If you are doing your job in a Japanese corportation, you are basically creating the illusion that you work your ass off. When in reality, what you are actually doing is pretending to look busy and delegating most tasks to people lower down on the totem pole than yourself. I know what you are thinking, "Well duh, Tyson, thats every company in the entire world." But rest assured, its different here. Anywho, thats another topic for another time. Mostly all of the coorporate pep nonsense gets dumped on people higher up that I and as long as I do not draw attention to myself, I do not have to deal with it. Thus, my reasoning for talking to Kiyomi as little as humanly possible.

Anywho, I had to call her today to do a schedule check and was pleasantly surprised when she told me that the business trip I was going to have to take on Tuesday was cancelled, giving me a three day weekend. Last week when I talked to her, she told me that the business trip I should be embarking upon tomorrow was cancelled. So I have the day off tomorrow, I work on Saturday for four hours, and then I have a three day weekend after that. Pretty sweet. It gets better. After my three day weekend, I work for two days and then go on a two week vacation while my family is here. In theory, I was supposed to work a couple of days here and there during my vacation but it looks as if that won't be happening either if everything plays out like I think it will. Basically, now that I have grown up enough to try to get serious with my job, buckle down, and find a career, my jobs get easier and pay me more money. I don't get it.

Peppy Kids is definitely not a career job, not by a long shot. But I figure it will look good on a resume and in very loose definitions of the term, this IS teaching experience. Oh yeah, and I am in Japan. :) I suppose I really should not be questioning my good fortune, but I truly want to start on my career, even if it ends up paying less than what I make now. The way I am looking at my time here is kind of like an educator's basic training. Most of the kids I teach will not be as crazy as the ones I am teaching now, most of the cities I live in after this will seem like a metropolis, any housing I live in after this will seem like a palace, and any actual teaching position will feel like I have been promoted to CEO of a Fortune 500 company. My situation here is not at all a bad one, but it can get much better in a variety of different ways.

Having said that, I think I know what my next move will be after teaching here. I do not what to travel to Europe anymore, instead, I think I would like to live there for a while as well. I am trying to figure out how to get an interview for a job that would have me teaching history on one of the United States' numerous Air Force bases scattered over that part of the world. Germany is the place I am most interested in and failing that, Turkey would be my next choice. But the way I see it, those are real high schools on those bases with real students. The pay is pretty decent by U.S. teaching standards and I would be living in another place that I want to visit. That would also give me another opportunity to learn another language. I am realizing that I very much enjoy learning languages, though they do not come as easily to me as I would like. For one of the first times in my life, I have found something that does not come easily to me right off the bat and I like the challenge. Math is another one of those things but I have pretty much given up on the department. I like math theory and history but I despise actually having to do it. Numbers are one of those things that I can appreciate without fully understanding how they work.

Anywho, that is my next step and its a year and a half off. I am happy though because this is the farthest into my future I have ever really planned without the details getting all vague and just expecting things to take care of themselves. If the teaching in Europe thing does not go through, I would also be very happy teaching anywhere in the United States. At this point, if they are willing to hire me, I am willing to teach as long as I am teaching history or another social science like economics or government.

Now I should go to sleep, its almost 4am Japan time and I am finally starting to feel drowsy. Good night!