Met a former JET from my cohort this past week. she left japan last july, and is pursuing her masters now. i should also mention she's an MOE teacher, and i asked her about the career path as one. in a previous discussion with another friend, he suggested that i go for a self-funded post-graduate diploma in education (PGDE) and use that as my ticket to australian PR. this teacher friend told me that that route doesn't technically exist, as the only option that MOE offers is sponsorship + bond. the total time outlay is about 6 months untrained teaching exposure + 1.5 years diploma + up to 3 years bond, meaning a total of 5 years. just...no. well i suppose i could break the bond immediately upon graduation, but i'd have to cough up a hefty sum - in the neighbourhood of $70 000. so no to the teaching route.

remember the communications coach from a few posts back? he told a story which has an analogy that i quite like. it was about having enough soldiers in your army to win a battle. not literal soldiers in an army of course, but books and the knowledge they impart in your head. while browsing reddit, i came across a book recommendation which has the philosophy that would have helped me had i learnt about it before things went south with the accursed IP firm. the book is called "designing your life". out of the maybe 7 or 8 ideas discussed, i found the idea of being failure-proof to be something i wish i'd internalized earlier. perhaps instead of wallowing in depression for a year, i should have brushed it off and job-hunted in earnest. of course it's easy to say now that i've moved past it, but me at that time needed to learn the long/hard way.

other ideas i liked were how to job-hunt, how to network, and designing your ideal job - something that energizes you, engages you, aligns with your life values. there are a few more exercises in the book that i need to do for a clearer picture. thankfully, most of the things are things that i've been thinking about while in japan, so i have some preexisting ideas. the book just offered a more structured way to think about those things, and made it easier to see links/relationships.

a second book i read is called "searching through dustbins", and is about a south african guy's entrepreneurial journey. due to cultural differences, some things didn't carry across on first read, including the exchange rates. i had to google how much the starting pay of 40 000 rand for an accountant was in something that i could value (about SGD 650). even knowing what that is in SGD, it still isn't super useful because i don't know the cost of living in south africa. there's nothing for me to pin it to. but maybe it's not enough, and that was a motivator for him to work hard? after reading his book...i don't think i have that kind of hustle mindset. am i afraid of hardship? a little, i guess. i don't think i'm prepared to hit rock bottom and claw my way back up. i mean if i somehow end up at rock bottom and have to do it, i suppose i will...but i don't think i'll end up there. perhaps it's for that reason that i won't be a good entrepreneur, and it's also why the search fund route is more appealing. more of a safety net, plus it's on easy mode in a way as compared to starting a company from scratch.

i should also mention that i've applied to a few more places. universities in australia and the UK, mainly. the detailed analysis is in the previous post, so i'm not going to rehash it. it seems that i might be eligible for a global talent visa in the UK if i get employed by a university. how fancy! i guess i'll talk to them and see if they'll support the conversion. although...honestly i'm not sure if i want to stay in the UK permanently. at this point, thinking about that is counting chickens. let me submit a few more job applications and see how things go.

-random thought of the day: Must send in 2 applications tomorrow!-