MAKING THE DECISION

Perhaps a brief summary would be a good way to lead into this blog about a romantic, beautiful place so far away.  How did I get there, why did I go?  

Life had led me to a job I didn’t like, people were great, the work tedious and stressful.  Divorce had left me struggling with money problems and two teen-aged boys who were away at college.  It was time to do something different; inaction and staying in the same place did not seem to be a good choice.

 I had worked at a community college and it took 4 years to finish two years of college there.  Then I found the courage to take the loans, get the scholarships, and finish my last three years to get my bachelor’s degree, seven years in all working full time.  By that time my sons were away at college, too.

Never the most practical person for the long term, but always hard-working, instead of the computer programmer route for job security, I got my liberal arts degree.  Pouring over the info posted on the boards at the international lounge at my college, I looked for jobs in Europe, considered the Peace Corps and even contacted the Soros Foundation.  There were exciting opportunities, but they were looking for volunteers, and I really needed a salary to pay off the college loans.

Worried about my life with the boys at college, an awareness of a single existence plus empty nest syndrome confronted me.  My experience had been  that there really are doors that open when you need them most.  I had also sometimes lived on a wing and prayer, and was not afraid to take on something vastly new and different. 

That’s where my emotions were when I started seeing info on the JET (Japan English Teachers) Program.  It paid well, they provided one round trip ticket, (first class going over), found housing, and it was sponsored by the National Board of Education.  Then I found that my student aide at the college had a brother who had been on the program and he had had a great experience.

It appealed to me.  I needed to be a native English speaker with a 4 year degree in anything (check).   I would need to provide mucho documentation, including my transcripts from two colleges (check), and my high school transcript (check), medical (check), write a 500 word essay why I should be an English teacher in Japan (check), get a professional recommendation (check), and the recommended age was not over 30.   Well, that put the screw in the works.  The application was due in November, and I would be 45 when I got my degree and left for Japan in July. 

I called the Embassy of Japan.  Inside me a little voice was reminding me that I was this country girl from a small town with one red light at the main intersection, and there I was on the phone with the Embassy of Japan.   “Would you accept an application from someone over 30?”  “Yes, we would consider it.”  (Or would it go to the circular file?)  I decided to accept their answer as a go ahead.  But gathering all the documents and getting everything together was like applying to work for the CIA.  It would be a lot of work if it ended in the circular file.

Again I talked to my kids, my mother, and I talked it all over with my boss and my co-workers.  Our office truly was one big family, with love, laughter, much laughter, honesty and lots of problems that could be shared.  Most of us had kids of similar ages, some of us had been divorced, some were single, and some were college kids who worked as our student aides.  They gave me encouragement and inspiration, and they worked as a unit going over and over the recommendation letter they would write.  But they would not let me read it and I never did see it.  It was given to me sealed and ready to go into an ever growing manila envelope.

And about that high school transcript.  I called from my desk in the office where several were within hearing of the conversation.  “Hello, Guidance Office, please.”  “Hello, Mr. Taylor!  Oh, how nice to hear your voice.  It’s Evelyn.”  Greetings exchanged and brief update of our recent lives since I had graduated years ago, and he agreed to mail the transcript immediately.  When I hung up, I heard Mary who sat behind me loudly exclaim, “Only that brown nose Ev could call back 25 years later and get a teacher that remembers her!”  I did mention that our town only had one traffic signal, did I not?

My essay and all the documents and whatever glowing words my boss and co-workers used to describe me got me to the second step, an interview at the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C.

Stepping into the Japanese Embassy was like walking on the moon for me.  I felt so honored that even if they didn’t choose me after the personal interview, I would have felt like Miss America’s runner up, maybe even better.  I prepared for this like it was a major test.  Nervous?  Oh, yes, but calm on the outside.  Some people are like that.  Some can dive off a high board, parachute, scuba dive.  Me, I can talk.  I have nerves of steel when it comes to chit chat.  I had a panel of 3 people, 2 young fellows who had returned from working with the JET Program and a retired woman who had spent years with the State Department in Japan.  She would be the tough one.  She was quiet and chit chat wasn’t going to win her over.  I pulled myself together and gave good, thoughtful, solid answers.  If I could have been a diplomat myself, those were the answers I gave. 

About a month later the envelope came, and I had a contract to teach in Japan for a year.  I was elated to say the least.  But now I had to choose and make a really life changing decision.

 

It was now April. This process had taken about six months. I needed to return it within the month, and be set to leave on July 25.  I had a townhouse to sell, kids’ stuff to get sorted, a household of things to clean out, sell or get to storage, and 3 finals as well as a full time job and my commencement to celebrate.   There was also the soul searching that maybe I should not go, maybe 45 was not the time to be moving across the continent and the Pacific Ocean on a wing and a prayer.

Back to consulting - family and friends, and asking my mother if I could go, she was after all getting older.  All discussed the pros and cons and I still had to make that final decision.  My friends were waiting for me to back out, thinking I would not be able to leave my boys.  But the truth was they were away at college, and not living at home.  They had asked me would I be all right when they left home.  The three of us knew they were my raison d’etre.  I told them I might not be o.k., and deep down knew I couldn’t imagine life without them waiting for me, well, maybe not for me, but for dinner.  Often the reason I was strong was for them, not because I could really hold it all together.  So, I called and told them that I might have an answer for the empty nest syndrome.  I was moving the whole darn nest!  I was headed for Japan.  And do you want to know a secret?  I didn’t feel a day over 30!