Life is a tricky little thing. I have several things from the weekend to catch up on, but I wanted to discuss something a little more serious today. Reality hit me smack dab in the face today. 
Ian and I had our life after JET planned out. We pretty much decided that after JET, we’d move back to Paducah for a little while before the next big adventure. We planned that we’d do the AKT2 program in Alaska. By doing that, I would earn my teaching license while having a full time job, salary, and benefits. Alaska and this program really seemed to offer the best of both worlds…..a sense of adventure while staying in the States. Since we’d be staying in the States, we wouldn’t have to worry about immigration papers, visas, or any of the other headaches that come from moving and living abroad. We even joked and said that Ian would have an easier time finding work. He could work with the fishermen on The Deadliest Catch or get himself a big rig and find a spot on Ice Road Truckers. 
Our friend, Melissa, was even talking about applying for this program next year with us. We joked with her and said that we could each get a sled dog team and meet each other halfway on the weekends. (Before some smarty pants tells me that that idea wouldn’t work out due to the size of Alaska, I know how big Alaska is. It’s just a joke.)
I emailed the director of the program last week with a few questions. He emailed me back responses, and at the very end of the email told me that AKT2 is a grant funded program. Right now, the program is wrapping up its five year stint and depending on if the grant is renewed, it may or may not be there next year!!! 
My world was completely brought down. To add salt to the wound, I forwarded his response to Melissa since she was also considering the program, and she ALSO brought bad news. Since she was thinking about applying, she had asked her former dean about it. (Melissa is from Washington, and apparently AKT2 is a pretty well known program up there.) The dean said that she used to recommend the program to people but doesn’t anymore because the program is quite flooded and only 40% of people who apply to this program actually get the teaching jobs. The other 60% complete the program, spend the money to be in Alaska, but have no teaching job. 
So…..that finally brings me to my point. After receiving this bad news, I silently in my mind wondered about staying here for a third year. That afternoon we were on our way to Hitoyoshi, and out of the blue Ian asked if I would even consider staying for a third year (I had NOT told him about the AKT2 program results just yet.) I don’t know if he read my mind, saw right through me, or what. Ian has absolutely no qualms about staying a third year, and we both know that it’s me who’s spearheading our decision to go home in August.
The rest of the trip to Hitoyoshi was spent weighing the pros and cons of staying for a third year. On one hand, I’m finally mostly comfortable with my job. I know what to expect and how to do things. However, I miss home. I want to go back. I miss normal American customs, holidays with family, and not sticking out in a crowd. So here’s the problem: we’re conflicted about our future. To make matters even worse, I have until December to decide. Normally JETs have until January to make the decision and fill out the paperwork, but my supervisor said that due to budgetary reasons, she needs to know my decision by December. What am I going to do about staying? MAKE A PROS AND CONS LIST LIKE THE GOOD NERD I AM! Without further ado, I give you “Ian and Melissa’s Pros and Cons List for Staying in Japan Another Year*”:
*It’s not complete.
Pros:
Ah, the pros to staying in Japan. The biggest and best it the money. I make about (depending on exchange rates) $46,000/year tax free. Ian and I are able to live comfortably, travel fairly often, and still send home anywhere from $1,500-2,000/month. It’s a guaranteed salary with delicious benefits. With this job, we’ve been able to save, create an “emergency fund” account, and pay off debt. Whenever Ian talks about staying a third year, this is his number one selling point because he knows how much I love to save money!! 
He keeps saying, “Think of how much more we could save in a third year, Melissa.” Another selling point is the travel. We’re in Asia, and who knows if we’ll ever be on this side of the world again. As is now, I know that I won’t be able to go to all of the places that I want to go if we leave in August. One more year would afford us with many more travel opportunities and new places to enjoy……
Our life over here is comfortable. Mommy even commented on how well we have set up and established ourselves over here. We have our own house, daily routines, and know the area pretty well. As I mentioned earlier, I know what to expect from my job. Going home would mean starting all over again. Neither one of us have good jobs to go back to. I can go back to teaching at WKCTC and Murray, but that means working harder and longer hours for SIGNIFICANTLY less pay and NO benefits. Ian can go back to AT&T but only if there is a position available. Nothing is guaranteed. In addition, we would have NO HEALTH INSURANCE until one of us could go full time. That means paying completely out of pocket for health insurance……a healthy bill of about $800/month. 
Most of my entire month’s salary would go to JUST paying for health insurance!! Maybe universal health insurance will be instituted by the time we get home!
Also if we stayed another year, Ian thinks that his job might really take off. As is now, he constantly gets more and more work, which is excellent for him! He thinks that if he stays, he might get an offer to become full time….maybe. Plus, this time affords Ian with the possibility to finish school online. He hasn’t started yet, (I bug him daily and encourage you all to do so as well ) but one more year would allow him to finish up his degree so that when we went back, both of us could have our degrees completed.
One final pro—most of the other ALTs in the gun are leaving, so there will be no one to guide and show around the newbies in August. If we stayed, we could help the new kids!
Now that I bolstered up our reasons for staying, let’s shoot them down with reasons to go home! 
Cons:
I miss our people. I miss hanging out with our Paducah friends on Friday and Saturday nights. I miss calling people at the drop of a hat just to chat instead of counting back fourteen hours to make sure that I don’t call in the middle of the night. I miss weekend trips to Lexington to visit my sisters. I miss reading the comics on Grandmother’s porch every Sunday morning. I miss the small things that I normally took for granted at home. What’s even more is that I wouldn’t be able to go home next summer like I did this past summer. I don’t have enough vacation days this year to do that. I’ve been squandering them since I knew I didn’t have to worry about saving them. Plus, it’s really, really expensive to go home. I’m not sure that we could afford to come home AGAIN.
We’ve already pretty much told everyone that we’re coming home. When we were home in July, we spread the word around to our friends and family not to worry….just one more year, and the Reeds would be back in town! ……I don’t want to be known as a liar. Plus, however jokingly she said it, my grandmother said that she could deal with me being gone this year, but if I stayed away another year, she’d have to disown me! Ha, ha. Plus, I already told her that I would DEFINITELY be home for Christmas next year. I promised her! If I break a promise to anyone, it’s bad, but if I break a promise to Grandmother….then I’m a HORRIBLE person!! In addition…..Grandmother will turn ninety-one in the spring, and I know she’s not going to be around for forever. I would be a fool to think that. It would be very nice to go home and spend time with her.
One of Ian’s selling points about staying a third year was that we wouldn’t have to worry about things like the job market or health insurance when going back. I had to remind him that staying a third year doesn’t mean that we can avoid those problems. It means that we can DELAY those problems for one more year. By staying one more year, I kind of feel like we’re doing just that: delaying our future. I also worry that I won’t stay for the right reasons. I feel like we’d stay for the money and not actually because I’m satisfied with my job. Furthermore, we constantly feel like outsiders here! Even now, one year and two months from my first day here, I still have kids and older people stare me down, and we often are treated like minorities. We long to be back in a place where we just fit in and don’t stand out in a crowd.
Another reason to not stay is that my Japanese is horrific. Despite being here for a year, I haven’t learned as much as I could have, and I know it’s my fault. I don’t study near as much as I could. I feel like if we stay for a third year, I should definitely be more advanced than I currently am. Finally, one of the most important reasons that we shouldn’t stay for one more year is that I want to see the rest of the world. Ian said that we should stay in Japan because he feels like there are things that he hasn’t seen or gotten to do yet and wants to. However, I feel like we could stay for twenty years, and there would STILL be things that we wanted to see/do. I’m just ready for a new adventure. I want to see and experience other places. If we stay a third year in Japan, I don’t think we’ll have time to do another program before we “settle down” and start doing big kid things like buying a house and popping out a kid or two.
So here’s where we stand…..do we stay, or do we go???? Opinions welcomed (although I feel like the majority of you reading this are at home and will recommend coming home). It’s just frustrating to think that you have things figured out, and then life gets in the way!
I feel your pain. I know that no one can decide for you, but let me address your cons, if I may.
ReplyDeleteMissing people - It's hard when you're away. I understand that. i lived in Mexico for just a semester, and I know that not having easy access to friends and family is hard. That said, does that reason outweigh the big benefits of staying?
You told everyone you're coming home - If you decide to stay, no one is going to think you're a liar. Good friends and family would understand that the benefits to you guys and not judge you.
The job market - Yes, you're delaying coming back to the American job market by a year. However, that delay might be good in the long run. We all hope that the economy and business pick up after the election. That might work to your benefit. If the job market is still bad when you get back, at least you had another year with benefits, good pay and fewer worries, right?
Your Japanese - Learning a language is hard, as you know. We are not used to the alphabet, so that makes it more difficult. One day it will click, and you'll be fine.
Travel - Oh, honey. I sit here in my 50s and kick myself for not staying in Mexico longer. If you come back and get jobs, are you going to have time and money to travel?
Just a couple of things to think about. xoxoxo
Hey Melissa, I've replied on Facebook but maybe you'll have easier access to my opinion here so here is my copy paste! ^_^ Btw, I decided to ignore your pros and cons list altogether. I hope it's ok! ^_^
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, what you should consider is whether you'll gain anything (besides the money) from staying another year. If the answer yes, that is, if you will benefit culturally and you will grow as an individual during another year in Japan, then you should stay. If you think it will become repetitive and that you're getting very edgy about some Japanese things, don't stay. Michael and I planned on staying 1 year, we decided we could both learn a lot from a second one but when it got to the third we knew (regardless of how hard it was to leave the nice paycheck behind) that it was time for us to move on and grow outside the Japanese bubble. :) Of course, now I'm unemployed and Michael is a student so we don't really have an income, but I still think we made the right decision. I hope it helps! :)