ただいま! Welcome Home: Finding a Career

At the end of July, I left the JET Program and with it my job teaching English to Japanese high school students.   Now I'm on the hunt for something new.  Yes, I probably should have procured another job in advance instead of free-falling into the abyss of unemployment, but I did spend a year looking for work, going back and forth via Skype sessions and emails corresponding with an amazingly talented career coach from NYU who has pretty much done everything she can to get my profile and my career hunting attitude in gear.  And yet, here I am.

After flying to mainland Japan in February to attend a career fair in Yokohama which led to a few interviews in the recruiting industry that allowed me to see that wasn't my destined path, I realized that it was time to come home.  I am sure that if I had an extensive network in Tokyo, I could have found an awesome (non-ALT) job that allowed me to continue living in Japan indefinitely.  But I want to believe that right now I was meant to return to the US and that it's time to start looking forward.

I know what I want to do.  I want to work for UNESCO or an international organization directly connected to it.  It's the same dream career I have wanted to pursue since I traveled to Paris, France with the Mountbatten Internship Program when I was 25.  It's the reason I got an MA in Performance Studies.  I wanted a solid theoretical background in an area of focus that combined cultural studies, ethnography, and performance. I'm interested in  cultures, international exchange, educational systems, and as a performer/artist/writer, I am also passionate about the exchange of different perspectives/ideas/feelings via the arts.

This world is a complex one with a myriad of belief systems, languages, religions, rituals, artistic practices, architecture and design, among many other things. A world that, even in this era of globalization, seems to be retreating back into a black and white polarized system of organization based on fear, austerity, and war.   And yet, all around us we have incredible technological innovation, advances in the sciences, a deeper understanding about nature, the environment and our role to it, and the ability to communicate and connect with each other in order to learn more about our differences and similarities, so that we can deepen our ability to empathize and see and experience each other beyond the surface of our being.  I believe that we do this best through creative expression.

If this all seems too dreamy for you, just realize that the world we live in is the world we construct for ourselves and the communities around us.  It's really as simple as that.  I know the world that I want to live in and I want to continue to help shape and build it so that the world based on fear, extreme poverty, environmental destruction, and war isn't the only reality that we have.

If you have any connections or any advice to give me, feel free to leave a comment or send me a private message.   

Many thanks and lots of love to you.