I’M BACK to the good ol’ US of A!!! Just living the American Dream, or so I tell myself. Two weeks back and I’m still trying to throw my toilet paper in the bin, and enthusiastically kiss every person I meet on the cheek (but feel awkward when I am not received in the same manner). Looking at it, we are really cold people with our formal handshakes… Anyhow, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do next…and let me tell you it’s not easy! It’s a tough job market, and when I think about how easy it is to find a job teaching my native language, in an exciting foreign country, I wonder why I would ever leave such a wonderful place to come home to such circumstances.
Well, it’s called the “real world.” But what exactly is the “real world?” Is our world in the US more real than say Buenos Aires, Argentina? I went out into the “real world,” yet somehow it doesn’t count. Was it because I wasn’t making a substantial living? Was it because I wouldn’t be able to settle and raise a family if I’m constantly moving about? All tough questions, but maybe it’s something to ponder over your morning coffee.
It’s pretty obvious I’m still trying to hang on by a thread to my former life in South America. I’m reading Che Guevara’s Motorcycle Diaries and watching foreign films like the Buena Vista Social Club and El Sectreto de Sus Ojos. (The Secret in their Eyes) But I’m sure this will pass. I’ll readjust to what I know best, especially when I get home to Naperville and can start up the life I left before South America.
So I’m not sure what I’ll do. Most definitely take a job, because let’s face it; I can’t live like I did in South America. To be poor in South America is fine; you can at least feed yourself and enjoy a new place! But to be poor in America downright sucks! You are pretty much stuck where you are because you can’t afford to put gas in your car, and you need your car because public transportation is pretty much non-existent in the burbs. So you’re pretty much on house arrest until you start making them dollas. But this is what everyone wants me to do!! Contribute to that greatly diminishing Social Security that the aging baby boomers are gonna need to draw from. Trust me I do want to work, but only if it’s something I deem worthwhile, and now’s not the time to be picky. I know this, so I will probably end up taking the first thing that comes to me instead of hanging out for a better opportunity.
But is that really that bad? I don’t think so. We are simple creatures motivated by what we think will make us happy, and for most that’s a fat paycheck! Hell, I don’t even need the fat paycheck, any paycheck will be make me happy. I’ve been used to living simply and I know I could stretch any paycheck pretty damn FAR. Really, it will be a means to an end. And as of right now the end is looking like graduate school. I’ve got less than two years to use this post 9-11 GI Bill benefit from my dad for higher education. I’ve always known I want to continue my education I just figured I’d do it later.
And here is the point where I bring in my ulterior motive. Yes, hate to admit it, but I’ve fallen in Love (notice the capital “L”). Gahhhh. Well the “Mr.” in question happens to live across the pond in this far away land where Scots reside. Get this! The men wear these funny skirts and blow into these weird looking pipes. Sound gay? To add to that, they speak what might as well be called a foreign language. GAY-lick I think… :P Well it turns out each of our countries aren’t very friendly toward each other, they don’t like to let just anyone work in their country (cause too many people want to immigrate anyway)! But the loophole lies in the form of higher education. If I go over to the UK, I can get a Master’s in HALF the time it takes to do it here and I wouldn’t be paying much more either. Which arguably so, if I’m back in the work force a year earlier I can be paying off my loans a whole year quicker. And after I graduate, instead of chucking me out the country, (like we do here) I’d be graciously given two more years to work in said country.
Well that’s the plan anyhow….but plans can change. I always like to have many options in order to keep my options open.
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