Working as a Teacher

After finishing college, I felt the urge to adventure. Feeling young and having the best moment for some adventure, I decided that I would seek work outside my country. I started looking for foreign job opportunities and one which struck my attention was an English teaching position in Japan.

I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to go to Japan, but after weighing some option, I decided to consult the school about the offer. At the back of my mind, I had planned to take the position for at least a year during which I would have enough savings and then return back to my motherland, Canada, and establish a business.

What really thrilled me about Japan was the cost of living which was quite low as well as the friendly working conditions. I knew that this would also enable me adventure a little bit which was too my objective.

Japan:

When I arrived there during summer, I must agree that I was really thrilled by the country. Everything there surpassed my expectations. I had expected to find an Asian country which was not much developed, but that was not the case. The people that I met were lovely and hospitable. I loved their foods and the culture didn’t frustrate me.

I started teaching at the school which had employed me and that when challenges started. The whole job was not as I had expected. There was a lot expected to be done by me such that I always went home tired and sleepy.

For the next year, I had to get used to a routine which of preparing the classes, teaching, giving tests and grading them and other teaching tasks. This was really tiresome and never gave me the time that I thought I would get to adventure. I was working for six days a week with a split shift on Saturday only.

 

Back home:

This got me frustrated but I always gave myself courage and endured all. After one year, when it came time for my contract to be renewed, I declined and cited that I was leaving for home. The school official didn’t like this but nothing they would do or say was to make me stay. They had offered to review my terms to make them favorable, but I badly wanted to go home.

I left Japan and headed home. I had saved most of my salary and I thought of establishing a business back at home. When I landed home, I spent the first two weeks relaxing before getting to the drawing board to figure what I would do with my savings.

That’s when I realized that the cash was too little to establish anything meaningful. Unlike in Japan where the cost of living was low, here it was high and when it came to the cost of establishing a business, it was even higher.

I convinced myself that I would try with the little savings but six months down the line, all was not working. It’s then that I contacted my former employer with intentions to get to work at the school again. But it was late because they were not employing then and I had to wait till the next student intake for them to contact me.