Crossroads

I titled this blog entry "Crossroads" to fit with the theme of my new layout. I was looking for something different than my cutesy little flowers and notebook themed blog I previously had and came across this layout. Being that we are going through a huge lifestyle change by moving from Texas to Tokyo, exploring life on a US military base overseas, and eventually finding a new "career" for the next 3 years, I think it fits well to say I am at a crossroads in life right now.

When we first found out that our first duty station base would be Yokota AB in Japan, Dereck and I were extremely excited. I was a bit scared and nervous, but I knew we'd have plenty of time to do the research and prepare for the change. This was in April 2009. I quit my job in May once we were married so I could move to Arkansas and be with Dereck while he finished up his pilot training. This really was our only option unless we wanted to be apart for the first 6 months of our marriage (and would add to the 2 years of being apart during our dating and engagement as well). Since neither of us wanted to do that, and since I was going to have to quit when we moved overseas anyway, I figured 6 months of unemployement before we arrived in Japan in November 2009 wouldn't be so bad. I might even figure out what I want to do once I get there!

Well as most everybody knows now, November turned to January 10th. January 10th stretched to January 30th. Then lately, January 30th got pushed to the new date of March 5th. So I've now been floating in this temporary space for almost 9 months already, have moved 2 times since then (first from San Antonio to Little Rock, then from Little Rock to Corpus Christi), and are prepping to make move number 3 since our lease in our condo was only good thru January when we orginially thought we were going to be leaving!(new location still Corpus Christi, address: unknown...)

We see no reason for this March 5th date to change, since Dereck will be 100% done with everything the Air Force needs him to accomplish before leaving the states by February 5th. So that gives us another 3-4 weeks of waiting around before flying out to Japan. Though leaving later than we thought allowed us enough time for a good trip home for Christmas, that is about the only positive from it. Both of us are sick of waiting around. Dereck is ready to join his new squadron and start flying real missions instead of training, training, and more training. I'm ready to have a house I can settle into and make into a real home for us, and to FIND A JOB!!! 9 months of unemployement is a bit too much for me to handle. I'm bored, I feel "useless"... like I'm not contributing to anything. Volunteering was great during the summer in Little Rock, but once we became a 1 car family, my volunteering had to stop since I didn't know when I'd have a car or not to use (Dereck getting on base to work has priority #1 of course).

As far as using this time off to decide what I want to do in Japan, well I think I have it down to a few options. After being able to work with children again while volunteering, it just enforced the desire I had to work with children on a regular basis. Watching them learn and progress brings a lot of joy to my life and makes me have the feeling that I'm making a difference. I also want to find something flexible, so that I can enjoy living in Japan and have enough time to be a tour guide to visiting friends & family, learn local customs and enjoy the city of Tokyo, and to spend time with my husband while he is home (he will be gone a lot). So here are the options I would like to explore when we settle into our new home:
1) Working in the youth/teen center on base, or doing working with an after-school tutoring program.
2) Trying to become a substitute teacher at the high school to decide if I like the classroom environment enough to pursue getting certified as a teacher (eventually teach Math/Physics)
3) Teach conversational English to Japanese speakers. This option has less to due with working with children, since I'm pretty sure all the students are adults, but I feel this is an opportunity that would be worth looking into. I have been told the pay is good and that it is a lot of fun! So why not look in to it?

I hope that I can find something that I enjoy doing so work isn't as much as a chore to me as it was before. Though I'm ready to have a job, I can't say I've missed the stress that came with my old job. SInce I quit I have been less stressed, have been sick much less often, and have learned how to cook more and to sew!  I hope that my future job will add to my life in Japan... if we ever get there!!!

Here's to the crossroads and to getting through it with happy results.