Ze Future

Oh my god it's March!

Yeah, I don't really have anything to say. I think it's gonna be another short one... You see, one of my schools is basically out of session until sometime in April. That means that I get to sit around at my office desk for half the week. Soon, when my other schools get out of session, I'll be sitting around at my office desk for ALL the week!

It sounds like I'm complaining. The truth is that I have no desire to complain; I like having nothing to do. It's relaxing. I can concentrate on the other things I have a desire to do. And these days, I'm full of thoughts that need to be sorted out. Mostly about (DUN DUN DUNNNNNN) my future!

That's right, Jeffles is angsting out about his future. Sigh.

It seemed like I had it all figured out. Once JET ends, go to Thailand and volunteer in an orphanage for a month. Then, hop on over to Beijing and become a master of Mandarin in six months. Then, go back to the US and become a citizen. Get my driver's license, a cushy internship and a sweet new pad. Then ALL the moneys will be mine.

Except it isn't working out that way. Mostly because I realized that the Thailand and Beijing parts of that are logistical nightmares to figure out. I might be able to do it, but I'd be flat broke by the time I went home and probably wouldn't be able to maximize the experience because I'd be so cautious about my money. Moreover, I can't spend that much time outside of the US or else the authorities will take away my residency and that would put a serious damper on my become-a-citizen plans.

But even more importantly, I forgot a lesson I learned early on in university: I am not the kind of person that can simply do what is useful or convenient. There has to be more to it. I have to have some sort of personal investment in the activity. That means that, for me, studying Mandarin would probably be a bad idea.

Why? China's a big, powerful, rich country, after all. I would have my future SET if I could go there. Except that money has never really been a big motivator for me and, frankly, I just don't care that much about China. So why learn Mandarin? I firmly believe that a language cannot be learned "just because." You need a deeper motivation, a reason to care. I don't think I have that with China.

With Japan, I definitely had/have it. I lurve Japanese literature and dream of the day that I can read a Japanese novel in its original form. So I asked myself, what other language is like that for me? The answer seems to be French. There's a great deal of French literature that I have read (in translation) and loved. So maybe I should give that a try, eh?

Hopefully this gives you a bit of an insight into what goes on in a JET's mind as the second half of the contract year progresses. Everyone I know is going through a similar mental struggle at the moment.

"What do I doooooo!"

"I can't just go back to nothing, so what am I gonna go back to?"

"Japan's been awesome, how can I possibly do something as awesome when I go back?"

"I have no skills and I don't want to keep being a teacher. I'm screwed!"

That sort of thing. Even people who had a clear-cut plan before coming to Japan seem to second guess themselves a bit. A bit. It depends on the person.

I don't know if I could offer any advice to people about to enter JET. The only thing I could think of it "Keep your eyes open to any and all options." But honestly, that doesn't always work. I think you just have to be prepared to figure out what you want out of this point in your life and go for whatever that is.

Me? I'm gonna be polylingual.

~Jeff