(no subject)
Job is a slog. Granted it's a lot better than the previous place, but the whole industry is having a race to the bottom in terms of hours and wages/salary and there's very little promotion movement at my workplace.
I started a Master's degree in Language teaching, which is something, and I've passed the first module with a B, which I'm happy with and I'm making steady progress on the next one, then I just have to do the dissertation. Fortunately I only have to do two thirds of this degree as I have the DELTA certificate that grants me a waiver for 1/3, which saves some money.
The post Master's plan is the hard part. There's no salary bump at my job and the promotion ranks are so stilted and far behind I could easily wait 10 years before I could get promoted. And that's even if those jobs don't get organised away in the meantime.
It's looking more and more like I'll have to look outside Japan and whilst I'm not unhappy with that prospect, just the thought of moving my life to another country again makes me want to cry. Sure, that's probably the best part of 2-3 years away but wah. The only jobs in Japan that are likely to pay what I'm worth and have a reasonable work-life balance are either at the company where I am or are five year max university contracts. The uni contracts could lead to PhD but I don't know if I want to think about even more education just yet (at least education I have to pay for).
I was lucky with vaccines, I'm fully covered, but who knows how long restrictions are likely to last in Japan, cases are spiking with the Olympics and Paralympics but the government is showing no more impetus to encourage vaccines and other measurse than they showed a year ago. Travel restrictions are likely to be over onerous until at least 2022.
Honestly, I've been down on work for a while now, I'm sick of the sub-programme I'm working in and my manager barely lets me get a complete sentence out before deciding to start talking again. The base site is fine, but I don't know. It's not that I'm not being challenged, I do have to think about the work I'm giving students and how it should be presented and working with the students, but the sub-programme isn't where my interests truly lie.
I think I'm also sick of just not doing anything. I haven't travelled outside the prefecture since 2019, I haven't seen any friends in person since March 2020. I've been on holiday the past few weeks and have struggled to be productive beyond the minimum.
Take care, stay safe.