4 months in… JET Programme deskwarming blues…

16 comments

1. Deskwarming is a horrible way to put it. Learn something instead of just treating it like its dead time. You’re only making yourself feel empty if you aren’t gonna utilise that time to your own benefit.

   However, you already seem too far gone with how you talk about how you wish you could go home sooner.

2. I’m going to hard disagree with the later-half of the other response. It doesn’t sound to me at all like you’re “too far gone.” Actually, I feel like it’s quite common to deal with these kind of feelings, especially during breaks. I know I did, especially around that 3/4 month mark when the shiny newness of Japan was starting to wear off.

   I would say try to hold out a little longer. School breaks (especially Summer, since it’s so long) can be a tough time to deskwarm through. Often times, there’s no one around and not a whole lot to do.

   My biggest piece of advice is to look for things to fill your time with. This summer, I’ve spent a lot of time at my club (I’m part of the volleyball club at my base school). And on days they have practice, that’s about half my day filled. Is there a club you would be interested in joining? Or at least visiting for a few days, here and there? They can be fun, and a good chance to bond with students and co-workers. The other half of my day I spend doing “real work” (i.e. the small amount of tasks I am given, working on my English board–another idea of something you could do, studying Japanese, working through my TEFL course, etc).

   As for feeling more at home in Japan, for me it just took some time. Friends, both foreign and Japanese, help. I would suggest reaching out to the ALTs around you, if you haven’t already, to start. It can be nice having people around who are having/have had similar experiences; just be careful who you hang out with; if they’re always complaining or talking about how much they hate the job, that’ll probably only make you feel worse.

   I’d also be happy to chat with you as well, if you want someone a little more removed from your situation than co-workers/ALTs in your area.

   Hope that helps!

3. what you’re going though is totally normal.

   It can be hard to see past the summer slump, or even to feel the excitement that you had when you decided to apply for the program.

   I recommend using some of your time to imagine the things in life you *do* want. Imagine new dreams, and take a large inventory of what there is that would make you happier.

   adjusting to another country always takes a lot of time, so try to give yourself some more credit. before you give up on the opportunities you have here, (which you are allowed to do at any time you choose, always, quitting is for winners) just make sure that you 100% gave it all the effort you could muster up.

   Japan is a really good place for learning how to be alone, seeking new dreams, and building up personal fortitude. I wish you all the best ! remember that it will absolutely end – it’s only a matter of when

4. Reminds me of a story one of my RDCs told my division in Navy Boot Camp. How they reported to command early because they did not know what to do in Japan.

   What I would say is remember why you are there. Cultural exchange is a two way street. What you could do, if possible, is a simple walk around a town. Take in how people do things, buy from shops you discover, visit places that you normally pass. I realize what I say corny, but sometimes it’s the little things that make the greatest impact.

5. i’ve also been here since about april. have you spent any time chatting with coworkers when they have free time, too? i ended up bringing in picture albums (with photos printed from family mart 😎) to show off. i’ve found that people looooove to see how different your home is compared to japan. even if you have little/no japanese skill, you can just say that’s my family, house, etc. everyone goes hogwild for pet pics. it really has helped me get more comfortable at work and now coworkers show me pictures too! and one even invited me to go with her and her family to visit her parents to tokyo area for the holiday, it’s a shame i can’t budget it in right now lol

   otherwise i’ve been practicing japanese through making flashcards and reading manga. i crochet so i’ve been doing that and listening to office chat.

   i also was really dreading deskwarming but once i looked at it as, hey, we have a few weeks to get paid to just do stuff we want to do, that helps. unfortunately for most of us it’s just a fact of the job.

6. You’re in the low point of culture shock. Ride it out. You’ll be fine 🙂

7. You’re fine. It’s normal to be bored sometimes. School will start soon. Yes it’s boring but the negatives of deskwarming are vastly overstated

8. Just ride it out…most of us are desk warming, some don’t have to be in school it just depends on the BOE…but I think the majority are sitting in teacher rooms so while we may not be near, you aren’t alone hah. Find something to be productive, learn how to do something, iono you’re getting paid to do nothing so light as well get paid to brush up on something you like to do or want to learn

9. Do you speak the language? Work on that prior to anything else.

10. Why are you doing a masters degree back home? I did one and now I’m struggling to get work. Work experience is way more likely to get you into a job, you’re young yet, do you want a PhD? If not, don’t waste the money on a masters.

    I did mine for free through a scholarship while working and I’m so glad I didn’t have to pay for it because otherwise it would have been the biggest waste of money. I’ve applied for over 150 jobs with so far only 1 interview.

    Just make sure a masters is absolutely crucial to your work otherwise I suggest you go for a few more years working

11. I think a lot of people need to just accept that work is probably not where they are going to derive their happiness from. If you are enjoying your time outside of work, and work doesn’t make you miserable, then that should be enough. Work is for a paycheck, not to make you feel fulfilled.

12. This is just my 2 cents to your post:

    1. I guess it depends on what your future occupational plans are and what you ultimately are planning to do with your future Master’s degree. I got alternate listed by the JET Program 10+ years ago and it was a blessing in disguise. I ended up getting my Master’s degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) after this rejection and applied to the JET Program again 2-years later and was accepted. I knew I wanted to be a college English professor, go into teaching, and thus, was using the JET Program as a stepping stone to get some much needed teaching experience. Having a graduate degree for me made teaching in JET a lot more fulfilling, less stressful, and reaffirmed my view that getting my doctorate degree was what I wanted to do. I’ll be defending my doctoral dissertation this October, 7-years on from the JET Program. What you could do is soldier on through this semester and apply to Master’s programs during Fall 2022 for a Fall 2023 enrollment. Get your Master’s and then, if you want, reapply to the JET Program again, as you have 4-years of eligibility left. That or opt for something else once you obtain a Master’s degree.
    2. I have no idea what education level you teach for your placement, but I taught at 6 different elementary schools during my time in the JET Program. I had a lot of down time and at one of my schools, they placed the responsibility of updating the school English board every month on the ALT/English teacher. It passed a lot of the dead time for me updating the English board and they gave me so much freedom to choose whatever topic I wanted. I actually had a lot of fun with it and I chose a lot of random, off the wall topics. Due to the fact that my students English levels were so low, I just wrote the text in Japanese and let me be clear, my Japanese writing ability was absolute butt cheeks. I had teachers on the regular point spelling errors and grammatical mistakes out to me and I was like “what do you want from me fam, can I get a little love for my effort?” XD You can see a few of my English board ideas in the link. It may pass some of the down time for you. I bought construction paper and just made it an arts and crafts type of project. I used my color printer/ink to make each cut out. Sorry about the picture quality being trash.

    [https://imgur.com/gallery/RWotPkP](https://imgur.com/gallery/RWotPkP)

    3. **Podcasts/Music and Walking**: For me, I always enjoyed long walks and listening to music/podcasts when needing to destress or fight off loneliness. This has been my go-to stress reliever while in grad-school (along with binge eating and late night impulse buying XD ) and while I was in the JET Program. Whenever I had a rough day of teaching or that feeling of loneliness fell over me, I’d walk for hours along the docks of my ocean side housing complex and just zone out. This was also around the time I really got into podcasts because I take walks for hours and many podcasts around that time span.

    4. **PowerPoint for your Successor**: It may be a tad bit early to start making this, but if you know in your heart this will be the last year in the JET Program (at least right now), you may want to make a helpful PowerPoint guide for him/her. I always wanted to be as helpful to my successor as possible and thus, when time came for me to leave, I made a 80+ slide PowerPoint for him. It covered information about each school, their responsibilities that may be unique to a given school, specific teachers to watch out for, and the general vibe of each school. I provided information about bills, buying/leasing cars, driving test, and getting kerosene gas for your heater. I provided some helpful pre-departure information like what clothes to bring, gifts/items to offer important people, important items to bring, and what to expect during the self-introduction lesson. I lastly provided some helpful advice from my own insight and experience teaching at this placement.

13. I hate to tell you this, but this is just work. All jobs are like this (unless you get paid to pet puppies or play video games or something). If they were fun, they wouldn’t have to pay people to do them. You’re not doing anything wrong except maybe just expecting work to be something it’s not. Traveling is great and I’m glad you’re doing that, but maybe try making some friends to see outside of work. It’ll give you something to look forward to. It may be a bit harder than in your home country since because you’re not from Japan, it’s an extra layer of “out group”, but it’s definitely possible if you really put yourself out there.

14. I know it’s hard, but try to use the down time to think about your post-JET plans. Whether it’s 1 year or 5 years, when it’s over it seems like the JET years went by in the blink of an eye. Like others have said a masters degree is an option, but even then it’s better to have a career trajectory in mind. Another thing to think about is location. Once you put in your papers to leave the program, time really whips by and many end up feeling pushed out of the country back home. A couple of options: a) no time better than now to get another job and stay in Japan post-JET b) a very good time to pick a 3rd country to explore since you don’t have roots down yet and have to move anyway. Hope dreaming and planning for the future gives some relief to the summer slump!

15. JET is what you make of it. If you’re bored at school, there are things you can do to improve your situation. Some placements are harder to fix up than others. If you want to talk about your specific placement and what you might be able to do, you could talk with your other local JETs or if you got nobody else, feel free to DM me.

16. I feel you. I had a schedule where I teach in the morning and had absolutely nothing to do in the afternoon until 4:30. I got a library card from our local library and borrowed books. I would finish a book or two every week. I started a reading journal to track my reading as well and I would write quotes that I liked from each book I read. Reading is such a sweet escape and I found that my mood significantly improved compared to when I was spending hours on social media or just searching for something to do in the staff room to *pretend* that I am productive. I hope this helps you! Keep fighting! 🙂