Big news big news big news!
About a month ago I got accepted to teach with JET, the Japanese government’s international exchange program that places English teachers in public schools across Japan.
Two weeks ago I gave notice at my Day Job, telling them that I needed time to prepare for the move.
Then, last week, I left, and now I’m free.
Wait Wait…What?
Here’s the full story (almost):
I’ve been wanting to go back to Japan for a while now, in the years since I first taught at a for-profit eikaiwa school there from 2009 to 2011. I enjoyed teaching immensely and liked living in Japan, but the job I had was stressful and not the kind of environment I could stay in, so I left.
Flash forward a few years: I’m out of grad school and thinking about how I want to make my writing work while still earning a living, which is also when I first started this blog. Focusing on my writing and creative work while working a Day Job to pay the bills seemed like a reasonable compromise at the time, but since then I’ve been thinking about a way I can pay the bills while also doing work that I find fulfilling (e.g., not filling greenhouse pots or grading standardized tests) that would allow me to grow more as a person AND still produce work I felt passionately about.
I’d stayed in contact with a lot of old friends and students from Japan, and the idea of finding an actual teaching position there that wasn’t for a massive for-profit corporation appealed to me for a few reasons: firstly because teaching in a fulfilling environment has always been something I’ve enjoyed, and secondly because the best university and public school teaching jobs in Japan sounded a lot less stressful than what I’d faced before.
The thought lingered in the back of my mind for a long time and kept coming back. Experiencing Japan had a big impact on me, and still does—I wrote an entire novel about it, plus a chapbook coming out in August (in case you missed the news). I’d learned a lot about the country, its people, and its language, but certainly not enough to qualify as anything more than a layman—so didn’t it make sense that if I was looking to develop an area of expertise, something related to Japan would fit the bill nicely?
I thought about it some more, then pursued a few opportunities—none of which panned out (sad face). Then I did some more research and pursued some more opportunities—and none of these panned out either (double sad face).
Then I applied to JET (you might recall my references to a Secret Project last fall), waited a long time, went to an interview, waited another long time, and then got accepted.
So What Are the Specifics and What Does This Mean For the Blog????
My position with JET will be as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) at a Japanese high school, middle school, or other school, probably working alongside a Japanese teacher. I’m not sure where I’ll be located yet—I’ll find out my exact assignment in a few weeks.
My likely departure date will be at the end of July, though it’s possible this might change as well. Before then I’m working on finally finishing my novel about academic life in the Midwest, finishing a few other projects, and spending time with family and friends.
Then I’ll pack up all my stuff, throw a lot of furniture in storage, and fly off to start a new adventure—while also bringing a lot of projects-in-progress along too. I don’t see this as a forever move at all—more like the next step in a long, long journey.
This blog’s been an important part of my life (creative and otherwise) for a long time, so I definitely mean to continue it. I might start putting out more posts about Japanese life or Japanese Day Job life specifically, but I plan on playing that by ear since I’m always on the lookout for new material. So the Day Job Blog definitely isn’t going anywhere.
What About Your Old Secret Office Day Job???
That’s…a long story. When I first applied to JET I was thinking to stay at my Day Job until a few weeks before I had to depart so I could keep saving money and keep myself busy, but that was before I realized how much money I had saved already and saw how slowly work was going on my novel. I started realizing more and more that working 40 hours a week at a job that had exactly nothing to do with my creative interests was interfering with my main goals more than it was helping me toward them (as I talk about here, here, and here). So I knew I had to jump ship as soon as I could.
That, however, was only half of the issue—things at my Secret Office Day Job were getting…rough. There’d been a few Incidents (note capital) over the past few months as I found out about some Laws That Were Being Broken and some People Who Weren’t Being Treated Fairly until all these things got tangled together into one huge Ball of Craziness that was starting to take its toll on me emotionally as I fought to make things better.
There’d also been a few Confrontations, several Long Talks, and more than a few Serious Discussions around the office that made me realize that I was getting in over my head. Things got so bad that in the end, after I gave my notice, I was Asked to Leave—like, given my last paycheck and escorted out the door Asked to Leave, no joke.
The story of what happened at my Day Job is a long one (like, REALLY long), but one I want to tell on this blog as an example of how I handled some unfair and straight-up illegal workplace shit by figuring out the rules as I went along. I want to share this story because of how harrowingly tense it was to be in that environment, but also so others can learn from what I went through and know what to do if they ever catch their own company breaking the law.
I can’t talk about the specifics on the blog yet for reasons I’ll make clear later, but be on the lookout for a series of posts about my Crazy Office Day Job Misadventures in the coming months—and trust me, it’ll be worth the wait ;-)
So What Are You Doing Before You Leave for Japan????
Last week I didn’t go to work, and it was awesome.
I started working on my novel every day, and finished seventy pages of edits (!!!!!!) the first week. I worked on some backlog for this blog and finished another writing project I’d been working on. I crossed a lot of things off my To-Do list and wrote a lot of emails. Then I read a lot, and also caught up on my sleep.
I’ve also got a surprising number of editing jobs to work on (when it rains it pours I guess) to supplement my income while I live off my savings, but I’ll definitely be spending more than I make. I’m trying hard not to worry about money during this interim because I only need three months of bill-paying money to make it to my first Japanese paycheck, and I have WAY more than that in the bank to tide me over until then. So I’m trying to keep things in perspective ;-)
I’m looking forward to this break from the stress of work and routine, but more than anything I’m also looking forward to the first time in seven years that I’ll be able to entirely structure my own time without having to answer to a Day Job or grad school classes or anything else—I’ll still have a lot of work to do, but this time it’ll be me calling the shots, me making the schedules, and me doing all the goal-setting, meaning I’ve got to strike the balance between enjoying my time and making progress on the projects that matter.
Let’s do this—I ain’t scared.
Keep in touch—it’s going to be a crazy few months! The best way to get new posts is to Like But I Also Have a Day Job on Facebook, or join my occasional email list for a digest of the stuff I’ve written about that month, plus giveaways and other cool stuff!