Writer's Block: Job search

[Error: unknown template qotd]

Yeah, I'm quite happy with my present job. It actually is one of my dream jobs; I've wanted to do the JET program since middle school.

I believe a dream job fulfills you on many levels so that you enjoy going to work every day. You don't do it just to get paid. Obviously it will have its stressors, but the rewards far outweigh them. For instance, being an ALT has its frustrations: some teachers teach a la the 1950s and pretty much use you as a human tape-recorder, don't give you much say in the lessons (which can feel like a waste of my teacher-training), or refuse to speak English themselves because they're ashamed of how they sound; the schools sometimes are very vague about what they want from you or will wait to give you important information at the very last second, forcing you to come up with things out of your ass; and Japanese schools are hella freezing. But many of the teachers are very good and give you opportunities to be creative; the workload is small (lots of free time!); there are lots of opportunities for cultural exchange and socialization with the kids; I'm a fairly well-respected member of the community by default (and I'm only 22!); I get paid enough to support myself and travel a bit; I get the chance to observe various teaching styles, like an extending student-teaching assignment; I'm surrounded by opportunities to maintain and improve my Japanese; and I'm working in JAPAN, for Christ's sake. For a position I will only hold for an absolute maximum of five years, it's awesome. (Though, yes, eventually I'd like to be able to run my own classroom).

Five years from now I cannot be doing JET (and I expect I'll leave earlier than that; 2-3 years is my present estimation of term), and so I'll probably look for Japanese teaching positions in the States, hopefully near Robert and/or Lisa. I haven't started looking for said job-- I'll decide sometime next year if I want to start the Stateside job search or renew for another year in Japan-- but I'm currently in the teaching field, surrounded by the language I plan to teach, which is preparation if I ever saw it. I'm going to study for and hopefully pass the JLPT II (the standardized test of proficiency in business-level Japanese; I barely passed it at KCJS and so hopefully I can nudge myself over the edge and have that to put on a resume), and in interviews I'll play up the cultural experience and teaching observation I got in while I was working here.

In ten years? No idea. Maybe I'll find a teaching position I love. Maybe I'll change teaching positions several times. Maybe I'll try teaching for a few years and then go back to school for something else. Maybe I'll fall into a random opportunity and love whatever that is. *Shrug.* Ten years is a long time. (I would say 'It's not like I knew I'd be here when I was 12!'-- but, erm, actually I already wanted to do JET at that point).

I also want to keep up with the writing thing. Since I've got a fair amount of spare time over here, I really should take advantage of it. Maybe I can finally finish the damn thing (or, hell, write a new one!) and look into *gasp* editing and publishing.

Writer's Block: Job search

[Error: unknown template qotd]

Yeah, I'm quite happy with my present job. It actually is one of my dream jobs; I've wanted to do the JET program since middle school.

I believe a dream job fulfills you on many levels so that you enjoy going to work every day. You don't do it just to get paid. Obviously it will have its stressors, but the rewards far outweigh them. For instance, being an ALT has its frustrations: some teachers teach a la the 1950s and pretty much use you as a human tape-recorder, don't give you much say in the lessons (which can feel like a waste of my teacher-training), or refuse to speak English themselves because they're ashamed of how they sound; the schools sometimes are very vague about what they want from you or will wait to give you important information at the very last second, forcing you to come up with things out of your ass; and Japanese schools are hella freezing. But many of the teachers are very good and give you opportunities to be creative; the workload is small (lots of free time!); there are lots of opportunities for cultural exchange and socialization with the kids; I'm a fairly well-respected member of the community by default (and I'm only 22!); I get paid enough to support myself and travel a bit; I get the chance to observe various teaching styles, like an extending student-teaching assignment; I'm surrounded by opportunities to maintain and improve my Japanese; and I'm working in JAPAN, for Christ's sake. For a position I will only hold for an absolute maximum of five years, it's awesome. (Though, yes, eventually I'd like to be able to run my own classroom).

Five years from now I cannot be doing JET (and I expect I'll leave earlier than that; 2-3 years is my present estimation of term), and so I'll probably look for Japanese teaching positions in the States, hopefully near Robert and/or Lisa. I haven't started looking for said job-- I'll decide sometime next year if I want to start the Stateside job search or renew for another year in Japan-- but I'm currently in the teaching field, surrounded by the language I plan to teach, which is preparation if I ever saw it. I'm going to study for and hopefully pass the JLPT II (the standardized test of proficiency in business-level Japanese; I barely passed it at KCJS and so hopefully I can nudge myself over the edge and have that to put on a resume), and in interviews I'll play up the cultural experience and teaching observation I got in while I was working here.

In ten years? No idea. Maybe I'll find a teaching position I love. Maybe I'll change teaching positions several times. Maybe I'll try teaching for a few years and then go back to school for something else. Maybe I'll fall into a random opportunity and love whatever that is. *Shrug.* Ten years is a long time. (I would say 'It's not like I knew I'd be here when I was 12!'-- but, erm, actually I already wanted to do JET at that point).

I also want to keep up with the writing thing. Since I've got a fair amount of spare time over here, I really should take advantage of it. Maybe I can finally finish the damn thing (or, hell, write a new one!) and look into *gasp* editing and publishing.

Writer's Block: Do you check your stars?

[Error: unknown template qotd]

No. I'm a Taurus, the description of which fits me about as well as a doggie sweater would fit Harry Truman. Certainly I have some Taurean features (but don't we all?) in that I can be stubborn, I'm quite sensual and enjoy good food and pleasant tactile sensations, am a faithful and steady lover, and if I had to align myself with an element it'd probably be earth. However, I'm not very materialistic-- I'm actually a huge cheapskate and if I get attached to material objects it's because of their sentimentality, not their worth-- I'm not particularly practical; and, like or dislike me, I don't thing anyone has ever called me boring. The Taurus prototype only fits me 50% of the time at best.

Still, I'll read my Taurus horoscope in magazines out of curiosity and for hilarity's sake. (Funny memory from my family's Greece trip this summer involves the captain-in-training Dietr reading Cosmo horoscopes aloud in a mock-serious voice with his thick German accent). Sometimes they'll eerily match up (like when the horoscopes all three of the magazines I brought on the plane to Japan mentioned travel and long-distance relationships in my future), and sometimes they are so off-base it's amazing-- which means, overall, they're useless as real predictions. So I don't use them for anything but entertainment.

I don't really know anyone who seriously believes in astrology, so I haven't had the opportunity to get angry for anyone making assumptions on it. I suppose it would be annoying to have someone assume I'm high-maintenance and jealous because I was born in the first half of May, but it seems crazy that someone would actually do this. Does this actually happen? (I mean, I know people use 'What's your sign?' as a pick-up line, but 1) since when is a pick-up serious? and 2) . . . really?).

On a side note, some people think it's weird that I can set so much store by personality types and yet not believe in astrology, claiming they're both equally arbitrary. I disagree, because personality tests (at least the official ones) are actually standardized, and therefore they do measure something-- though, like intelligence tests, that may only be What Personality Tests Measure. Basically, the results reflect back the sum of their questions; if you score Introvert, it means you probably answered *yes* to questions like 'I don't like parties with a lot of people I don't know' and 'Being around other people is exhausting,' meaning you can assume that someone who scores Introvert will possess these traits.

The Zodiac can only accurate determine one thing: your birthday.

Writer's Block: Do you check your stars?

[Error: unknown template qotd]

No. I'm a Taurus, the description of which fits me about as well as a doggie sweater would fit Harry Truman. Certainly I have some Taurean features (but don't we all?) in that I can be stubborn, I'm quite sensual and enjoy good food and pleasant tactile sensations, am a faithful and steady lover, and if I had to align myself with an element it'd probably be earth. However, I'm not very materialistic-- I'm actually a huge cheapskate and if I get attached to material objects it's because of their sentimentality, not their worth-- I'm not particularly practical; and, like or dislike me, I don't thing anyone has ever called me boring. The Taurus prototype only fits me 50% of the time at best.

Still, I'll read my Taurus horoscope in magazines out of curiosity and for hilarity's sake. (Funny memory from my family's Greece trip this summer involves the captain-in-training Dietr reading Cosmo horoscopes aloud in a mock-serious voice with his thick German accent). Sometimes they'll eerily match up (like when the horoscopes all three of the magazines I brought on the plane to Japan mentioned travel and long-distance relationships in my future), and sometimes they are so off-base it's amazing-- which means, overall, they're useless as real predictions. So I don't use them for anything but entertainment.

I don't really know anyone who seriously believes in astrology, so I haven't had the opportunity to get angry for anyone making assumptions on it. I suppose it would be annoying to have someone assume I'm high-maintenance and jealous because I was born in the first half of May, but it seems crazy that someone would actually do this. Does this actually happen? (I mean, I know people use 'What's your sign?' as a pick-up line, but 1) since when is a pick-up serious? and 2) . . . really?).

On a side note, some people think it's weird that I can set so much store by personality types and yet not believe in astrology, claiming they're both equally arbitrary. I disagree, because personality tests (at least the official ones) are actually standardized, and therefore they do measure something-- though, like intelligence tests, that may only be What Personality Tests Measure. Basically, the results reflect back the sum of their questions; if you score Introvert, it means you probably answered *yes* to questions like 'I don't like parties with a lot of people I don't know' and 'Being around other people is exhausting,' meaning you can assume that someone who scores Introvert will possess these traits.

The Zodiac can only accurate determine one thing: your birthday.