Jul 14

Life After JET: Still Lookin

Posted by blogger and podcaster Jon Dao (Toyama-ken, 2009-12).

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The Low Dao 44

SPECIAL GUESTS:

Val

Randy

 

 

Nearly one year later, I got Val and Randy back to continue the story of moving past Japan.

 

 

 

 

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  • That Initial Adjustment (00:54)

“About 10 or so months ago, I was still kind of in a down spot. Not really reverse culture shock, but trying to find my footing. Trying to find out where I want to go after coming back from Japan.” – Randy

“My first two months, actually, it just felt like I was on vacation. As if I was in between semesters at work. As for reverse culture shock? That didn’t really kick in until I started to look for work because it’d been so long since I had to fill out a CV or application.” – Val

“Right now, I’m still currently teaching. That was the easiest transfer I could find.” – Jon

“People for whatever reason seem to underestimate people who are teachers and people who’ve taught. For some reason they’re like, ‘Do you have any office skills?’ and you know I worked in an office as a teacher. Do you think I never did any of my own paperwork? Don’t you think, yes, I know how to do my e-mails and file things?” – Val

“With academia, the grades matter for some jobs, but for more of them I’d say it’s just a bar.” – Val

  • Randy Does Japan: Take Two (12:32)
  • What Would You Do for Omiyage? (14:40)

“Don’t spend a whole lot of money on this.” – Jon

“You could lie… just bring a picture of you with some famous celebrity and have it signed.” – Jon

  • Charity Running (23:24)
  • JETAA (28:00)
  • Loan Payments (31:31)
  • Listener Poll: What’s the hardest part of finding a job? (43:16)

Big Quotables:

“I think everyone who’s come back from another country to their home country expecting things to be the same [does] go through some sort of culture shock. I think everyone experiences that one dark moment where you think ‘What am I doing? How did I get to this point?’ But, I think the really important thing is to keep in touch with your friends. Not just the ones you made over there, but the ones you had at home for years and years. I feel like if I didn’t have my friends support when I was coming back, I think I might’ve been a little more depressed.” – Val

Tweeables:

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References:

Charity Runner Kino

 


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