“The future starts today, not tomorrow.”
― Pope John Paul II

I feel very fortunate and blessed with where my life is headed. To be quite honest, it’s hard for me to believe that I only have approximately 10 months before I need to acquire a job and decide on my career path. For the past few years, I’ve had the JET program as my number one default option, but I figure that it would be wise for me to apply for other job opportunities in the event that things don’t work out with JET. Fortunately, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with a neighbor (Carmella) who’s husband, Zell, is currently in the Marine Corps and about to retire. She highly recommended some programs to me that would allow me to teach English overseas. I was surprised to find out how much some of these jobs actually paid, as well.

The only downside for me however, is that even though I’d like to acquire a job where I can utilize both my Japanese and English, I can’t pass up the opportunity to work in various parts of the world. Take for example the jobs I’ve found in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia which pay anywhere from $3000-$4500/month with accommodations for their teachers. It’s really hard to resist that kind of salary as a college student… Other aspects that I need to do more research into would have to be potential career moves available to me, depending on the career plan that I choose.

“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”
― Marthe Troly-Curtin

I think that working as an English teacher in Japan would be the most ideal plan for me at the moment, as the initial one-year contract will allow me time to decide on whether this is a path that I would like to continue down or not. According to the JET program’s webpage, they will provide lodging accommodation, round-trip airfare,  major holidays off, and a salary starting at $34K per year. Although this isn’t ideal, I believe it’s an amount that I could live off of, as well as save for the future.

Speaking of the future, even if teaching English in Japan isn’t going to open up a career path for me, I believe this is an experience that I can’t pass up. The idea of acquiring the title: foreign service officer, still weighs heavily on my mind, but the simple fact that the average age of individuals that enter into that program are a little older than me, helps me feel a bit more confident about my chances.

Granted, if teaching English doesn’t turn out to be my ideal career plan, I still have the foreign officer service, and even federal jobs that have career options. To be quite honest though, I’m just excited to get back out and into the workforce. School has been a fantastic experience for me, as I’ve come to learn a lot, but I feel like it’s a lot more self-centered, as I feel as though my attendance, participation, and various assignments only effect me and my immediate future. Once I start working, however, I will feel a lot more productive as I can ensure my talents aren’t only self-centered, but other-oriented as well.

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”
― Mother Teresa

I need to sign up to take the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) as soon as I can, as well. I believe the next available test is scheduled for December, which concerns me, as that will be near and around Finals week. Regardless, if I don’t take this next test, I won’t be able to take it again until next July – if I’m even in the States around that time.

In other news, thinking about the future has made me think about a lot of things such as, what I would do if I were to save enough money for Graduate’s school, and what I would like to major in if I were to take that course. Naturally, I believe I would have to work and go to school in that scenario, and by then I would hopefully be able to save up to purchase my first home, as well. Of course, renting it out would probably be the most ideal route in my opinion, but time will tell what I should or shouldn’t do.

My birthday is coming up in a few more weeks, so I’ve decided to reflect on my life via a very personal blog, but have decided to make it password protected. So for those of you that are interested in reading it, the password will consist of:

• my full first name, followed by my last name, middle name, my house’s address number, and the area code and last four digits of my cell phone number.
• It will be in lowercase
• no spaces
• and a total of 26 characters long.

Happy Saturday, everyone!