kafkaesque
後輩
- 29 Jul 2010
- 3
- 0
Oh, hey there. I'm a newbie here. Been reading quite a bit of your posts and this seems like quite a beneficial community.
Well, I suppose like a few of us, I'm not feeling too great these days. After graduating from the University of Texas a year ago, I've spent this year working and becoming independent. Over my past year spent in Austin I've come to have great friends with similar career-goals, participated in community events, and well, overall had a pretty great experience for my first official year of "adult" life. On the other hand I've come to feel the pain and the ache of the monotonous world of working and living in the same place for so long. Seeing the same streets and people everyday, with clearly no immediate changes or random excitement, but this is working-life anywhere one might go...
Before going to the university I had heard of the opportunity of teaching english in Japan. It sounded exciting to a young video game nerd such as me. Someday that would be me! While at the university I took six semesters of Japanese, Japanese history/culture classes, and actually had the opportunity to visit Tokyo twice for a somewhat lengthy period of time (three months each). I came to know the pros and cons of Japan, along with the feeling of isolation every gaijin feels. Japan has great food, it's funky, it's crazy, the subway rocks, and akihabara is quite an interesting place to visit on sundays (err, is it still?). But it's also not an open, friendly and liberal environment that my home has come to be.
Due to a few other circumstances, I had a decent amount of flight credit with United Airlines. Feeling bored with my current environment, and not necessarily knowing what else to do next in Austin, as my job (a temporary position) was coming to a close and rent wasn't exactly cheap, I scheduled a flight to Tokyo using my flight credit and moved out of my apartment to live with my parents an hour away. I was going to take my savings and go on a trip! See Japan again...and hopefully work there.
Then I read a very good article by pierrot le fou titled "So you want to live in Japan? - Japanese Culture and You", which I unfortunately cannot post a link to due to my newbie-status, but still, everyone should google it and give it a read.
Perhaps it's time to admit my confusion. This may not be the first time I've traveled, but things are much different now than when I was a student. I already miss my friends who I've grown close to and I haven't even left yet! Will I never see them again? What will happen to the world I've firmly established here? Am I really leaving it behind? Texas, the US, my home and the place where I've always had support and frequent socializing will not be near me for quite some time. The potentiality of staying, the future I could have had here and elsewhere, will it be forgotten? Is it time to "move on" from my easy, laid-back and predictable lifestyle?
My apprehension is in full swing. Should I cancel my ticket and just move back to that little apartment?! But then what would I do? My goals are out of order...
Looking back and reading this post, it seems I need a vacation anyway.
Well, I suppose like a few of us, I'm not feeling too great these days. After graduating from the University of Texas a year ago, I've spent this year working and becoming independent. Over my past year spent in Austin I've come to have great friends with similar career-goals, participated in community events, and well, overall had a pretty great experience for my first official year of "adult" life. On the other hand I've come to feel the pain and the ache of the monotonous world of working and living in the same place for so long. Seeing the same streets and people everyday, with clearly no immediate changes or random excitement, but this is working-life anywhere one might go...
Before going to the university I had heard of the opportunity of teaching english in Japan. It sounded exciting to a young video game nerd such as me. Someday that would be me! While at the university I took six semesters of Japanese, Japanese history/culture classes, and actually had the opportunity to visit Tokyo twice for a somewhat lengthy period of time (three months each). I came to know the pros and cons of Japan, along with the feeling of isolation every gaijin feels. Japan has great food, it's funky, it's crazy, the subway rocks, and akihabara is quite an interesting place to visit on sundays (err, is it still?). But it's also not an open, friendly and liberal environment that my home has come to be.
Due to a few other circumstances, I had a decent amount of flight credit with United Airlines. Feeling bored with my current environment, and not necessarily knowing what else to do next in Austin, as my job (a temporary position) was coming to a close and rent wasn't exactly cheap, I scheduled a flight to Tokyo using my flight credit and moved out of my apartment to live with my parents an hour away. I was going to take my savings and go on a trip! See Japan again...and hopefully work there.
Then I read a very good article by pierrot le fou titled "So you want to live in Japan? - Japanese Culture and You", which I unfortunately cannot post a link to due to my newbie-status, but still, everyone should google it and give it a read.
Perhaps it's time to admit my confusion. This may not be the first time I've traveled, but things are much different now than when I was a student. I already miss my friends who I've grown close to and I haven't even left yet! Will I never see them again? What will happen to the world I've firmly established here? Am I really leaving it behind? Texas, the US, my home and the place where I've always had support and frequent socializing will not be near me for quite some time. The potentiality of staying, the future I could have had here and elsewhere, will it be forgotten? Is it time to "move on" from my easy, laid-back and predictable lifestyle?
My apprehension is in full swing. Should I cancel my ticket and just move back to that little apartment?! But then what would I do? My goals are out of order...
Looking back and reading this post, it seems I need a vacation anyway.
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