Taihen Desu Ne

Well, despite the last post being called "The Past and the Future", that post was really about the past, and this one the future.

I've recently discovered that I don't receive any extra holiday- paid or otherwise- for the summer. Even though me taking unpaid holiday would actually save the city money- rather than me sitting idly at my desk during August- they are unwilling to budge. Which means I am faced with three choices...

1. Come home after this year, despite the lack of plans in place for any such return. It's certainly too late to apply for a Masters or PhD, so I guess my only option would be bumming around in London for a year, or getting a real job in London.

2. Recontract anyway, and either use or not the 15 days I have for the entire of next year to come home for a couple of weeks. I mean it really is ridiculous- even five or ten days of unpaid vacation would help out so much and make my decision so much easier, but this is not possible despite the fact that during the summer I'll have absolutely nothing to do at school.

3. Stay in Japan but move job and city. This is the most risky option, as moving would almost certainly mean working for one of the yakuza-style big English businesses. Although some are better than others- and all are better than NOVA by all accounts- its a bit like choosing between Mussolini, Pol Pot, Stalin and Pinochet- not much of a choice. The other option is finding a private school that would take me on. Whilst not as bad as the morally dubious English schools, this would certainly be more difficult to find, and I've heard that lots of people who work for such schools are significantly stressed, and pressured to work extra.

All in all its a tough choice. There are two issues- the lack of any sort of common sense with regards to holidays for next year, and the fact that moving somewhere else in Japan would be a new and exciting experience. On the other hand I like the schools I teach in, and despite many of my favourite teachers leaving, I'd have greater control over the curriculum for next year, plus I know the job description, the level of stress (low), the level of pay (comparatively high), and I could be in a far worse position geographically.

It just annoys the hell out of me that the position on nenkyu (holiday) is so illogical and ridiculous. It's a fact that I'll have zero to do during the school holidays from late July to mid-August, and despite the fact the schools know and like me, they (or more accurately the BOE) won't make any kind of concession. It is surely in their interest to retain an ALT (me) who the schools get on with and causes no real problems, than bring in someone new. Its an example of a more general problem in Japanese bureaucracy that annoys a number of people I know.

I have two weeks before I have to make my choice...