Days and Times
Happy Valentine's Day/Chinese New Year/Start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics!
A moment of silence for Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Georgian luger who died on a practice run shortly before the games...
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And a moment of celebration for the US taking a gold medal in the women's freestyle skiing on the first day! WHEE!! (Sorry Canada, but not really.) Had a moment of luck in that the TV on the ferry today was showing the Olympics, and we happened to catch the winning run. It was amazing.
Also? I want a moose hat!
Today we went to a daffodil festival on this tiny island in the inland sea. On the way there, I talked to a friend of mine about my ideas on what to do after JET. She was pretty down on them, which as one can imagine was pretty upsetting.
She did have a few good points. She's against going to grad school, because she's read articles about how a grad school diploma practically makes one unemployable in today's work market. This is because if one has a master's, they are expected to fit in a certain pay slot. Even if they will settle for less, employers will refuse to hire them because of this. Plus, there are so many masters' degrees out there, the supply vastly over-weighs the demand. And, in the end, huge fees from loans. (She did, however, agree that a secondary degree might not be a bad thing.)
She also pointed out (quite correctly) that my Japanese has been slow to improve even though I'm living in Japan because I'm lazy (my words, not hers). And she's right - I don't apply myself to studying Japanese, despite living here. I should, but honestly? I don't enjoy studying it, and therefore I don't do it. Now, I was much better about doing this in college, mainly because I was a member of a study group. But left on my own, I just don't do it. Therefore, she questioned why I would want to pay money to enroll in a program to study a language, when I didn't do it for free when I could have. These are good points to which I have simple answers: lack of motivation/incentive/and lack of companionship in the task. Basically, I need a regular study buddy.
Those things are some good points, and worth mulling over and considering how to improve them... pursuing a secondary degree instead of grad school, and so on. However, she also had some points that I did NOT agree on. For example, I mentioned the tea ceremony class (one year in Kyoto with a possible scholarship), which she frowned upon as it wouldn't be useful. What would I do with that, she asked. I'm twenty-seven, so should I really waste a year of my life studying something so frivolous?
Personally? I think yes. It's something I enjoy and that I am serious about studying. No, tea ceremony isn't something that's in danger of dying out, but it's still a tradition I want to be a part of carrying on. Maybe in the end she's just more practical than me. She'd like to take classes on plumbing or becoming an electrician, because those are things she can use. Meanwhile, I'm thinking about tea ceremony and Mohawk.
...I think right there you can see a very core difference in our personalities. But the spirit in things matters to me. And that's not something I'm willing to give up on so easily.
A moment of silence for Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Georgian luger who died on a practice run shortly before the games...
...
...
...
And a moment of celebration for the US taking a gold medal in the women's freestyle skiing on the first day! WHEE!! (Sorry Canada, but not really.) Had a moment of luck in that the TV on the ferry today was showing the Olympics, and we happened to catch the winning run. It was amazing.
Also? I want a moose hat!
Today we went to a daffodil festival on this tiny island in the inland sea. On the way there, I talked to a friend of mine about my ideas on what to do after JET. She was pretty down on them, which as one can imagine was pretty upsetting.
She did have a few good points. She's against going to grad school, because she's read articles about how a grad school diploma practically makes one unemployable in today's work market. This is because if one has a master's, they are expected to fit in a certain pay slot. Even if they will settle for less, employers will refuse to hire them because of this. Plus, there are so many masters' degrees out there, the supply vastly over-weighs the demand. And, in the end, huge fees from loans. (She did, however, agree that a secondary degree might not be a bad thing.)
She also pointed out (quite correctly) that my Japanese has been slow to improve even though I'm living in Japan because I'm lazy (my words, not hers). And she's right - I don't apply myself to studying Japanese, despite living here. I should, but honestly? I don't enjoy studying it, and therefore I don't do it. Now, I was much better about doing this in college, mainly because I was a member of a study group. But left on my own, I just don't do it. Therefore, she questioned why I would want to pay money to enroll in a program to study a language, when I didn't do it for free when I could have. These are good points to which I have simple answers: lack of motivation/incentive/and lack of companionship in the task. Basically, I need a regular study buddy.
Those things are some good points, and worth mulling over and considering how to improve them... pursuing a secondary degree instead of grad school, and so on. However, she also had some points that I did NOT agree on. For example, I mentioned the tea ceremony class (one year in Kyoto with a possible scholarship), which she frowned upon as it wouldn't be useful. What would I do with that, she asked. I'm twenty-seven, so should I really waste a year of my life studying something so frivolous?
Personally? I think yes. It's something I enjoy and that I am serious about studying. No, tea ceremony isn't something that's in danger of dying out, but it's still a tradition I want to be a part of carrying on. Maybe in the end she's just more practical than me. She'd like to take classes on plumbing or becoming an electrician, because those are things she can use. Meanwhile, I'm thinking about tea ceremony and Mohawk.
...I think right there you can see a very core difference in our personalities. But the spirit in things matters to me. And that's not something I'm willing to give up on so easily.