Hello all,
Spring is in the air here in Fukui, and with it are blowing the winds of change. Today is the official day of the decision to keep our jobs here for another year, or to move on. Bryan and I have been tossing around various ideas for the last few weeks, and ultimately have decided it's time to move on. Though the ratio of actual work to the amount of compensation we receive is incredible, many other factors our pulling us towards new horizons. (Or away from them, depending on how you look at it, as it's the name of the text book series we use.) For me a lack of job satisfaction is one of the main factors, along with almost no progression of my Japanese language skills, effectively making me a tourist/English speaking hermit in my everyday life.
Now we get to the exciting part, what's next? Bryan and I are applying to a program to teach English in Spain. We want to travel some more while we have the opportunity, and teaching English seems like a good vehicle for working abroad. We are willing to take a pay cut if it means a better teaching environment, and a language that is easy to learn (or that we already know), and lots of travel opportunities nearby. The program we want to do starts in October which means we'll be coming back to the states for a few months which we're also very excited about! We'll find out in April if we are accepted, and we leave Japan in July. After our stint in Spain we'll be coming back to the states for graduate school. I'm planning to get a masters in counseling psychology, which is a recent decision, and one that came to me in a flash and just seemed to fit. And Bryan is going to continue his dream career as a poet/college professor (to pay the bills). So that sums up our plans for the next five years or so. I hope I can see you all while I'm in the U.S., I'm sure we'll be traveling around a bit through Oregon, Washington and Idaho, so get in touch if you want to get together and we'll make it happen!
Love to you all, and happy spring!
This is Basho, the newest addition to Bryan's apartment. (besides myself. I decided to move in a couple weeks ago.) He's an old man of a cat. Named after a famous haiku poet who wandered the Japanese countryside in the 17th century. (Though most of the time we call him kitten or precious) He's extremely friendly and loves to snuggle. We got him at a shelter for free and learned that his old owner died. Our theory is that he was spoiled to eating fish and whatever other human food was on hand because he is a riot at dinnertime. He sits at Bryan's feet or trys to jump onto the table. After he's been denied he'll pace and meow and come back to sit and look up imploringly. The solution: rub fish oil from Bryan's fingers onto Basho, it keeps him busy licking all through dinner. Athough it should be noted that if he didn't have a kidney problem we'd probably spoil him too.
