Well, I am back from a trip to the States and ready to continue with adding to my blog.
In this three-part series on Japan and my relationship with her, I am ready to share part two concerning my lifelong calling as an educator. As I mentioned previously, I am a pretty lucky guy in terms of having met my “better-half.” As such, when I first came to Japan (her choice not mine) I had little or no idea what I was going to do in my immediate future. As such, I kind of stumbled into teaching. As an international relations major it was always a dream to work for the State Department or the CIA, but when I learned that the missus wasn’t into moving around the world, I decided to sacrifice and see what life dealt me.
It took me all of five days to get my first job, and while I wasn’t very good at it at first, I enjoyed meeting new people and took it seriously. In exchange, I was making decent dough and able to travel around the world on vacation. It was pretty fun. When the missus returned to Japan with her master’s degree in hand, we thought about my going back to school. I sat the LSAT and GMAT exams, but did only OK and decided maybe it wasn’t meant to be for me to go back to school right away. So, I continued working and meeting people meant introductions to better jobs, more money, and ironically more free time. I’ll never forget from 1994-1999 I was averaging about $50,000 a year and working only seven months a year. Again, more travel and I was saving a pretty good amount of yen, too. But more important than the money and free time, I was sincerely enjoying teaching. As much energy as I put into it, I was receiving double back. The students where I taught were for the most part serious, studious, polite, well-behaved, and enthusiastic about their studies. Before I knew it I was printing up my own textbook and putting together video segments and improving my computer skills at the same time. All around it was a win-win-win situation. In 1998, I figured it was time for me go back to school and get a master’s and it was a no-brainer. I did my studies at Teachers College, Columbia in TESOL and after three and a half years had my diploma. I learned a lot and paid a lot(!), but it was well worth it!
I am now a published teacher-researcher, textbook writer, and even have a handbook in the works. All of which are what I think to be natural extensions of that fateful decision where I decided to try teaching in Japan some 17 years ago.
Did I have other options? Actually yes. With a best friend a head-hunter and my language and computer skills (and youth at that time), jobs with a number foreign companies were real possibilities. I will never forget passing on a sales job with a wine company when wine was still frowned upon as a drink in Japan. I could have been on the bottom floor of an industry that went nuts in Japan in the 90’s with yearly double-digit growth. But, to this day I have little regret as I know I am not a salesperson. I simply love teaching and will do it until the day I die.
Thanks for reading as always,
GBUJ
