Opportunities…

Awhile back before I had graduated from high school, I was in my English class talking with a few of my fellow classmates and my teacher.  They were discussing about some of their family members military locations.  One of them had mentioned that their uncle was placed in Japan.  I had let it slipped at that point that I have wanted to go there. My English teacher had put the spot on me for a moment and told me I had an excellent opportunity of teaching English to the Japanese.

To go into further flashbacks of my life, my parents have asked me many of times of what I was planning on doing with my life. I would always answer I wasn’t sure. I knew what I wanted to go for in college…cardiovascular technology, but I didn’t have a backup plan.  My father wants me to (if I don’t get into college) go into the Air Force. Personally, I don’t. I don’t find any gains out of it really except to lose a little bit of weight and gain some strength. My mother would prefer it if I found a few jobs then apply again the next time I can. I wasn’t sure of what to do for a backup. I just knew military is nowhere in that…a few jobs maybe. I began considering what my English teacher had mentioned.

Today, I looked up some opportunities and found one to be in my favor. It offered openings all over Japan. Including the cities I am most interested in: Kyoto, Tokyo, and Osaka. I would work in any town really, but those are my absolute “Yeah, I’ll go there.”. I already knew they wanted a native at speaking English and you didn’t have to have any ability in Japanese. I only know a bit from my six year long continuous study on Japan and the little bit I’ve learned from Alexiel. I also knew they were paying 4,000,000 yen a year, which is  equivalent to $38,000 in the U.S. currency. I emailed them asking questions of any education requirements, housing accommodations, working environment, etc. I am awaiting a reply. I will add the answer at a later date.

My interest in Japan had started when my father had left it on Cartoon Network when he went to take a nap.  For the first five minutes I searched desperately for the TV remote, then I gave up. My first anime was “Outlaw Star”. I sat there at nine years old while being absolutely fascinated by it.  I progressed onto Dragon Ball Z.  At that time I had not progressed further into what anime was. I finally found out where it came from in the 8th grade.  From then on I read about the Japanese culture and history. A few months ago I started listening to Japanese music. I admire the Japanese culture and their way of life. I have grown to appreciate all their styles of art. Between ikebana (flower arrangement) to traditional Japanese music.

During this time, I had a thought and that was I didn’t want to go alone. I’m slightly afraid. I tried to think of who I could bring with. All my friends except one want to visit there, but don’t want to live there for an extended period of time. The one exception I thought of was Alexiel. Previously I had read on his blog when he went to Japan that he didn’t want to leave for various reasons, but came back for a few.  I began contemplating on asking him, but then I stopped. I wonder if I really could ask him to leave everything behind. He would leave his job that he has just got a promotion and a raise in, his family, friends, his entire life. I couldn’t really expect him to drop all that just for me and an opportunity for him to live in Japan and use the language, he has been looking for. I don’t know how I would begin to ask him if I ever could.

I want to live that way of life. I want to eat real Japanese food. I’m tired of eating Italian food and the Americanized version of different ethnic foods. I want to eat food with a pair of chopsticks and drink Ramune. I want to go to a store and see Japanese on the packages. I want to turn on the radio or tv and hear them speaking in Japanese. I want to wake up in the early morning and see the skyline there. I want to wear a silk kimono and hear the clack from the geta on my feet. I want to experience what I’ve learned. I want that life…

An opportunity to do something great… and I’m not sure of where to go…what to do…if I should go for this opportunity if I can take it. I pray for God to show me the right decision and my friends to give me advice.