What Comes After Peace Corps?
Originally written August 25, 2010
Dear Readers,
Many people have asked me what I’m going to do after Peace Corps. Like most volunteers I’ll be heading home, as I have opted not to do a third year. So they say, what are my plans. So is my answer everyone:
I really don’t know.
My options seem to be one of the following two: grad school or work. Of those I’ll probably try to work. I like the idea of grad school. I like academia. I like abstract thinking, I love learning, I love the university atmosphere. For a while I even considered becoming a professor. But for the time being I don’t know what I want to study.
As those who’ve read my earlier posts know, for a while I considered linguistics. I still like the idea of linguistics, but I don’t know now that I am the right person to go and find informants to learn their language and write a grammar up about it. I haven’t ruled that out though and I still firmly believe that we as a species should make an effort to preserve and cherish our various languages and dialects. But I don’t know if I feel the calling to field linguistics I once felt.
Others have suggested then I become a translator or interpreter. I think I could enjoy these jobs part-time. The problem is, though, that one often needs to specialize in one or two second languages and focus on them as well as focusing on a specific area or two to specialize in, say medicine, law, computer technology, economics, or so on. What isn’t obvious to many is that it’s simply not enough to know a language to be able to translate it. Most of us lack technical legal or medical jargon in our native languages, so we often don’t learn or even need it in our second languages.
That’s not to say I couldn’t do it, and I have been thinking about areas I do find interesting. Perhaps linguistics, for example. One thing about working as a translator that appeals to me is that I could perhaps work freelancing. On the pro side: I’d be working for myself, choosing my own clients and making my own hours, which also means I could work out of my house from my computer if I so desired. The con side, or maybe optimistically I should say the challenges would be marketing myself and taking the time to build up my professional reputation and clientele. And since it would be my own business, I would be in charge of keeping my own books, at least until I could hire someone to do it for me, if I felt it was worth it.
I’m not yet sold on translating though. I have a natural knack for it and am considering it as a second means of income, but frankly I feel I’d become bored with the work after awhile. Naturally, it also depends on what I’m reading and translating, but even so when I do repetitive jobs, while for the first few months I immensely enjoy them (such as when I edited my Chinook dictionary) I then grow tired and need a change of scenery.
A few people, including my family, have suggested I look into working for the government. With my interest in languages, traveling, and other cultures I could probably be valuable, and there’s probably truth to that. I really don’t have much to say to them about this because I haven’t yet looked into it for myself in any great depth. Many PCVs go on to work in the Foreign Service.
These are my feelings about this so far though. I’m fairly certain I do not want to go into the Foreign Service, at least. I have no real interest in being an ambassador; to put it bluntly I feel my spirit needs more freedom to move around. In this way I guess I’m a bit of a contradiction because I also know that in many cases it helps me immensely to be told what to do. But to not be able to speak my own mind would bother me. The other thing is I read a book about Foreign Service life last year. I don’t know much about the line of work, and this book focused primarily on the home or family life: what it’s like to travel around, how it affects your children, and so on. It actually sounded very unappealing to me, especially after Peace Corps. It sounded exhausting and draining, and I’m already sufficiently tired from living here to think about living what appears to be a somewhat chaotic life again.
I think I’m looking for something simple right now. In many ways Peace Corps *is* of course simple, but the living conditions can be quite trying and I’m ready to move back into something that more closely resembles my old standards of comfort.
I have considered studying how to teach English and doing that abroad. I’ve tried teaching English here but didn’t like it, so I’m wary of this option. However, when I was trying it here, I had no idea how to present material, and I didn’t and still don’t know how to tell if my students cared enough or understood enough for the lessons to matter. One problem I’ve run into (doubtless other teachers have faced this as well) is when I ask my select group of pupils if they understand what I’m saying, they always say yes, and I really doubt they do understand it every single time I ask. They also never ask questions, or if they do, they are so shy that the whisper the question to someone braver to ask. I’ve tried to convince I won’t scalp them if they speak up, but I guess they don’t all believe me. Maybe I don’t have any skills as a teacher. I certainly am not sure that I do, or that I even have the heart of a teacher. But it’s not something I feel I’ve given a fair shot.
Besides, if I want to try to live abroad again, which I do, by the way, teaching folk to talk ’merican might be one of the easiest ways to get my foot in the door of acquiring a visa and staying for longer than a month or three.
Where am I hoping to go? I few ideas have crossed my head. Germany, most notably, and I have a friend in Berlin how has told me she would be willing to assist in my relocation there. Europe in general has lots of appeal to me, and especially Germany, because I think it’s an amazing country, I feel I get along with the people, I love the language, and foreign languages are more easily accessible there. I often wish I had been born in a more multilingual community.
Lately, actually I’ve been getting a renewed interest in Japan, though. Vague motions beneath the surface, but there. This is kind of surprising because I haven’t had much of an interest in going to Japan since I was a freshman in college, planning to do a study abroad there that didn’t work out (for more on that story go back to the very first entry or so of my blog).
Since then my interest kind of burned out, but after meeting some people who know the culture better I have been thinking about giving it a second go. I am also interested in learning Japanese, and lately have been becoming more interested in some aspects of Eastern philosophy. Even if I didn’t go there and teach English, I think it would be valuable to study some under some philosophy teachers. Some people go on spiritual quests that take them to places like India. Maybe this is something similar for me.
There is one thing I should say though that I feel is true about me, and this is actually another reason why I don’t think I’m cut out for government work: I don’t think I’m a career person. That does not mean I’m not a hard worker, or don’t want to work, because both of those would be false. But I have several varied interests, and while I know I don’t need to wrap all of them into a job (I’m not sure how one could, anyways) I think that if I worked one scene too long, I’d get tired and become dull. Since our parents’ generation was raised in the career field and it’s spilled over onto my generation of twenty-somethings, this probably sounds a bit strange. But the more I think about it, the more traditional careers seem a thing of the past, and while I’m glad that there are people out there who view the world in a career-mode (often people like doctors, most scientists, lawyers, to name a few) I think I need more variety in my life. It’s a gift: many famous people had this trait: Leonardo da Vinci, Goethe, Thomas Jefferson.
At my heart I am an explorer and adventurer. I need to constantly be learning about the world. I need to support myself but I don’t think it would be wise of me to put a roof over my head if I was going to feel unhappy and stifled.
The other thing I wanted to say this time around was that I’ve worried to much about the future and about what others will think. So I’m dropping it. Like a bad habit there will probably be backsliding, but I’m considering it a lifestyle change. I’ve had too much negative energy and anxiety (any difference?) in my life and I’m tired of it. I do worry about what I’ll be doing: so many options I mentioned, and none of them feel 100% right…what to do??? But then why should I worry? There is a flow to life, and I think we just need to let it take us where it will. As I’ve said before, that doesn’t mean just sit back and let things fix themselves. It’s more like: I have goals and dreams, but I realize that fulfillment can only come from within. Whether or not I become a Nobel prize winning philosopher that they make a movie out of or just a humble English teacher in a Japanese village, whose to say that either life is better than the next? Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t want to work part-time jobs the rest of my life: I have higher dreams than that, but the reason we so often look down on those positions is because of status that we assign it. Yet if that’s what life gives us, is there really anything wrong with it? A redwood is indeed majestic, but do roses or daisies fret about that?
I guess then I’ll just let life unfold at its own rate, the way a plant grows or a stone is polished by the wind at its own rate. I don’t want life to pass me by, I want to live it to its fullest. But we can’t force a redwood to hurry up and grow. Maybe we shouldn’t force life either.
Peace,
Tristan
Dear Readers,
Many people have asked me what I’m going to do after Peace Corps. Like most volunteers I’ll be heading home, as I have opted not to do a third year. So they say, what are my plans. So is my answer everyone:
I really don’t know.
My options seem to be one of the following two: grad school or work. Of those I’ll probably try to work. I like the idea of grad school. I like academia. I like abstract thinking, I love learning, I love the university atmosphere. For a while I even considered becoming a professor. But for the time being I don’t know what I want to study.
As those who’ve read my earlier posts know, for a while I considered linguistics. I still like the idea of linguistics, but I don’t know now that I am the right person to go and find informants to learn their language and write a grammar up about it. I haven’t ruled that out though and I still firmly believe that we as a species should make an effort to preserve and cherish our various languages and dialects. But I don’t know if I feel the calling to field linguistics I once felt.
Others have suggested then I become a translator or interpreter. I think I could enjoy these jobs part-time. The problem is, though, that one often needs to specialize in one or two second languages and focus on them as well as focusing on a specific area or two to specialize in, say medicine, law, computer technology, economics, or so on. What isn’t obvious to many is that it’s simply not enough to know a language to be able to translate it. Most of us lack technical legal or medical jargon in our native languages, so we often don’t learn or even need it in our second languages.
That’s not to say I couldn’t do it, and I have been thinking about areas I do find interesting. Perhaps linguistics, for example. One thing about working as a translator that appeals to me is that I could perhaps work freelancing. On the pro side: I’d be working for myself, choosing my own clients and making my own hours, which also means I could work out of my house from my computer if I so desired. The con side, or maybe optimistically I should say the challenges would be marketing myself and taking the time to build up my professional reputation and clientele. And since it would be my own business, I would be in charge of keeping my own books, at least until I could hire someone to do it for me, if I felt it was worth it.
I’m not yet sold on translating though. I have a natural knack for it and am considering it as a second means of income, but frankly I feel I’d become bored with the work after awhile. Naturally, it also depends on what I’m reading and translating, but even so when I do repetitive jobs, while for the first few months I immensely enjoy them (such as when I edited my Chinook dictionary) I then grow tired and need a change of scenery.
A few people, including my family, have suggested I look into working for the government. With my interest in languages, traveling, and other cultures I could probably be valuable, and there’s probably truth to that. I really don’t have much to say to them about this because I haven’t yet looked into it for myself in any great depth. Many PCVs go on to work in the Foreign Service.
These are my feelings about this so far though. I’m fairly certain I do not want to go into the Foreign Service, at least. I have no real interest in being an ambassador; to put it bluntly I feel my spirit needs more freedom to move around. In this way I guess I’m a bit of a contradiction because I also know that in many cases it helps me immensely to be told what to do. But to not be able to speak my own mind would bother me. The other thing is I read a book about Foreign Service life last year. I don’t know much about the line of work, and this book focused primarily on the home or family life: what it’s like to travel around, how it affects your children, and so on. It actually sounded very unappealing to me, especially after Peace Corps. It sounded exhausting and draining, and I’m already sufficiently tired from living here to think about living what appears to be a somewhat chaotic life again.
I think I’m looking for something simple right now. In many ways Peace Corps *is* of course simple, but the living conditions can be quite trying and I’m ready to move back into something that more closely resembles my old standards of comfort.
I have considered studying how to teach English and doing that abroad. I’ve tried teaching English here but didn’t like it, so I’m wary of this option. However, when I was trying it here, I had no idea how to present material, and I didn’t and still don’t know how to tell if my students cared enough or understood enough for the lessons to matter. One problem I’ve run into (doubtless other teachers have faced this as well) is when I ask my select group of pupils if they understand what I’m saying, they always say yes, and I really doubt they do understand it every single time I ask. They also never ask questions, or if they do, they are so shy that the whisper the question to someone braver to ask. I’ve tried to convince I won’t scalp them if they speak up, but I guess they don’t all believe me. Maybe I don’t have any skills as a teacher. I certainly am not sure that I do, or that I even have the heart of a teacher. But it’s not something I feel I’ve given a fair shot.
Besides, if I want to try to live abroad again, which I do, by the way, teaching folk to talk ’merican might be one of the easiest ways to get my foot in the door of acquiring a visa and staying for longer than a month or three.
Where am I hoping to go? I few ideas have crossed my head. Germany, most notably, and I have a friend in Berlin how has told me she would be willing to assist in my relocation there. Europe in general has lots of appeal to me, and especially Germany, because I think it’s an amazing country, I feel I get along with the people, I love the language, and foreign languages are more easily accessible there. I often wish I had been born in a more multilingual community.
Lately, actually I’ve been getting a renewed interest in Japan, though. Vague motions beneath the surface, but there. This is kind of surprising because I haven’t had much of an interest in going to Japan since I was a freshman in college, planning to do a study abroad there that didn’t work out (for more on that story go back to the very first entry or so of my blog).
Since then my interest kind of burned out, but after meeting some people who know the culture better I have been thinking about giving it a second go. I am also interested in learning Japanese, and lately have been becoming more interested in some aspects of Eastern philosophy. Even if I didn’t go there and teach English, I think it would be valuable to study some under some philosophy teachers. Some people go on spiritual quests that take them to places like India. Maybe this is something similar for me.
There is one thing I should say though that I feel is true about me, and this is actually another reason why I don’t think I’m cut out for government work: I don’t think I’m a career person. That does not mean I’m not a hard worker, or don’t want to work, because both of those would be false. But I have several varied interests, and while I know I don’t need to wrap all of them into a job (I’m not sure how one could, anyways) I think that if I worked one scene too long, I’d get tired and become dull. Since our parents’ generation was raised in the career field and it’s spilled over onto my generation of twenty-somethings, this probably sounds a bit strange. But the more I think about it, the more traditional careers seem a thing of the past, and while I’m glad that there are people out there who view the world in a career-mode (often people like doctors, most scientists, lawyers, to name a few) I think I need more variety in my life. It’s a gift: many famous people had this trait: Leonardo da Vinci, Goethe, Thomas Jefferson.
At my heart I am an explorer and adventurer. I need to constantly be learning about the world. I need to support myself but I don’t think it would be wise of me to put a roof over my head if I was going to feel unhappy and stifled.
The other thing I wanted to say this time around was that I’ve worried to much about the future and about what others will think. So I’m dropping it. Like a bad habit there will probably be backsliding, but I’m considering it a lifestyle change. I’ve had too much negative energy and anxiety (any difference?) in my life and I’m tired of it. I do worry about what I’ll be doing: so many options I mentioned, and none of them feel 100% right…what to do??? But then why should I worry? There is a flow to life, and I think we just need to let it take us where it will. As I’ve said before, that doesn’t mean just sit back and let things fix themselves. It’s more like: I have goals and dreams, but I realize that fulfillment can only come from within. Whether or not I become a Nobel prize winning philosopher that they make a movie out of or just a humble English teacher in a Japanese village, whose to say that either life is better than the next? Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t want to work part-time jobs the rest of my life: I have higher dreams than that, but the reason we so often look down on those positions is because of status that we assign it. Yet if that’s what life gives us, is there really anything wrong with it? A redwood is indeed majestic, but do roses or daisies fret about that?
I guess then I’ll just let life unfold at its own rate, the way a plant grows or a stone is polished by the wind at its own rate. I don’t want life to pass me by, I want to live it to its fullest. But we can’t force a redwood to hurry up and grow. Maybe we shouldn’t force life either.
Peace,
Tristan
posted by Tristan | 7:49 AM
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