The Quest for Cheese

Now here is a familiar scenario: a mouse is in a maze, and at the other side of the maze is a piece of cheese.

The mouse can smell the cheese, so he starts to look for it. Even from the very start, he has to choose between several different paths. So, using his nose and his gut feeling, he chooses which path he believes will get him to the cheese. He gets further and further, certain that he is getting closer to the cheese. And just when he can almost taste it, he hits a dead end. He can’t go any further.

At this point, the mouse has to make a choice. There are several choices available to him, but basically they boil down to four options:

1. He can give up. He can decide to just stay where he is, or he can just go back and exit the maze from the entrance, and decide to forget all about the cheese.

2. He can go back to the start, and make the same decisions again. He can keep trying the same route over and over and hope that for some reason, the maze will change in some way, so that the route he tried and failed at before will now work for some reason.

3. He can try to climb over the wall. With tremendous strength and a bit of luck he might be able to jump high enough that he can get over the wall and continue on his route.

4. He can go back a little bit, and then try a different route. He can keep trying different routes and different directions in an effort to get the cheese.

The thing to remember about this scenario is option number 4. If the mouse keeps trying different routes, and never gives up, eventually he will get his cheese.

My scenario is not unlike our friend, the mouse. For over five years, I have dreamt of living and working in Tokyo. In my mind, I can envision having my own apartment, with a kotatsu, a Japanese-style kettle, and a shower toilet. For more than five years, this vision has been alive in my mind. This is my cheese. And, in smelling the cheese, I have tried options one through three, above, and now I’m in the process of trying option number four.

To be honest, I tried option number one first. I tried to just close my eyes and let the feeling pass. I told myself that I have a good job in Toronto and a good life, and that I should just forget about Tokyo and be happy living in Toronto. I even created a different dream, a ‘false cheese’ if you will. And I tried to focus on the false cheese, and just ignore my dream entirely.

But real dreams have a habit of not dying. And in my case, focusing on the false cheese just led to hardship for both myself and some of the people I loved the most. And in early 2006, my life pretty much fell apart.

So since my false cheese was gone, I started to try and work my way through the maze. I was off to find my real cheese. I looked hard at ways I could teach English in Japan. I searched through many websites, read countless documents and thought of every way I could possibly do it, but in the end I reached the same dead end: a bachelor’s degree is required, from an accredited university.

So, I tried to go to university. I spend a few hundred bucks and went through the complicated process of applying to both York and U of T. I mean seriously, why do they make it so complicated? Anyway, U of T sent me a rejection letter, and York didn’t even process my application before the courses started (even though I sent my application in on time). So, I had reached another dead-end.

So I created a new false cheese. I tried to create a life in Toronto that was as close as possible to a life in Tokyo. I worked downtown, I took transit everywhere, I lived in Korea town, and I shared a tiny apartment with a rotating cast of young, single, Japanese women. I spent most of my evenings conversing with Japanese people over foods such as curry, spaghetti, omelette rice, and temakizushi. I ate bibim-ba, kim chi, and maki rolls at local restaurants on a regular basis, made frequent trips to the local karaoke bar, and played 4-player Mario Kart until my thumbs were going to fall off. How could life be better?

But still, deep inside my dream was still alive. I felt like I was living a dual-identity: at work I was ‘pretend’ Jonathan, and at home I was ‘real’ Jonathan. I tried to work hard at my job but I had no passion, no drive to succeed at it -- at least, nothing beyond the simple desire to do a ‘good job’. I was told I should study and get certifications, etc. But really, I had no interest in servers, programming, etc. aside from the extra money it might bring in. The main thing I really liked about my job was my constant interaction with other people.

And then in early 2007, I discovered that with ten years’ work experience, I could potentially get an Engineer’s working visa, and do IT work in Tokyo even without a degree. It would be very hard, given my limited language ability, but I thought if I really try, it just might work. If I could just get over there, and talk to recruiters, and meet and greet and shake hands, surely something would surface.

So, I saved my money, and planned. I never ate so much tuna in my life ^_^ I bought a laptop, a plane ticket, a couple of suits, some dress shoes, and I booked a place to live. I hopped on my plane, sure I was going to find my cheese. Sure I was going to live my dream.

But a few months after arriving here, I reached another dead end. Lacking a work visa, lacking truly fluent Japanese, and lacking advanced and senior IT skills, I was unable to secure an IT job, despite my work experience. I came so close, so many times, but in the end, the visa processing time always turned out to be the deal breaker. For a help desk or support job, it’s just easier to hire some guy with only 1-2 years experience (or even no experience and just a certification) who already has a work visa.

As in option number two above, I kept running down the same path and running into the same dead end. I ran down it again and again, hoping for a different result. But it never came.
So, I had to try another option. My friends at the guesthouse suggested teaching English. I told them I had been down that road before, but they suggested option number three. They said that maybe I could jump over the wall – just try to get a job using my college diplomas in lieu of a degree. I was skeptical but I thought maybe it was worth a try. After all, I’ve read reports of people in Japan who’ve actually been able to do it.

And again, I came so close. I got a job offer and everything – and they said they would sponsor my visa and everything looked great. But in the end, it all fell apart, and I reached the exact same dead end that I had reached in 2006.

I will continue to go down this path a few more times, but at the end of the day I have to be prepared that this path might not work, and I have to think of new paths. I have to find a new way to get my cheese.

So, with that in mind, a couple nights ago I drew up a new plan, a new path to the cheese. It’s still in rough pencil, and there are a few unknowns about it, but based on what I’ve learned, here is my plan:

Step #1: Raise money. Sadly, I’m pretty much broke at the moment, living entirely off the scrap money that I get from private lessons. The plan I’m thinking of will take about $2000-3000 of initial funds to get off the ground. There are a couple of possibilities with regards to getting that money:

a. Work illegally in Japan. I have a friend of a friend who runs an English conversation school. It might not be possible, but if she can give me something with steady hours and steady pay, then I might be able to stay here and just raise the money that I need, doing visa runs and renewing my passport when necessary.

b. Work illegally in Taipei. I’m not sure if this is feasible or not, but many people work illegally in Taipei. Again, if I can get a steady job with steady hours, enough to save some money, then this might be a good option.

c. Work in Toronto. Of course, another option is to go back to Toronto and get an IT job there, at least for a few months until I can raise enough cash. Toronto would suck in the wintertime, but I’ve suffered through 34 winters already, what’s one more?

Step #2: Get a CELTA. In order to teach legally in Taipei, I need a TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) or TEFL (Teaching English to Foreign Learners) certificate. The CELTA (Cambridge English Language Teaching to Adults) is world-recognized as a high-standard certificate. It takes one month of full-time intensive study. If I raise my money in Asia, I can get the CELTA in Phuket for $1400 USD. If I raise my money in Toronto, I can get the CELTA in Toronto for $2050 CDN.

Step #3. Move to Taipei and get a job (or, if I work illegally in Taipei, go back to Taipei and get a legal job). With my two diplomas and a CELTA, along with Pi Chen’s help, work should be easy to find in Taipei. I could probably secure a job before I even landed there, although I heard the best jobs are available if you can go there in the flesh and look.

Step #4: Get a degree or get experienced: I found out just a few weeks ago that my school, Fanshawe College, has an agreement with Athabasca University in Alberta. Apparently, with my diplomas, I can get 2-3 years worth of university credits toward a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Arts. Also, Athabasca’s courses are all available online through distance learning. So theoretically, I could get my degree in Taipei after maybe one calendar year or so (depending on the number of credits I need). Just plop $715 CDN down for a course, take the course online, and repeat 10-20 times, and then I have a degree. If that doesn’t work out, even with three years’ work experience, I could work in Japan without a degree (although if possible, the degree is the better option).

Also, working in Taipei wouldn’t be so bad, I think. I don’t know if I would want to live there forever, but for a few years, I think it would be fantastic. It might not be my cheese, but it’s not really a false cheese either. It’s more like a tasty trail of breadcrumbs I can enjoy on my way to the cheese.

So, after all this, I would have a CELTA certificate, a 4-year bachelor’s degree from an accredited Canadian university, and 1-2 years work experience as an English teacher to foreign students.

And then maybe, just maybe, I can finally get my cheese.

I will go to Taipei on the 11th of this month, and come back to Tokyo on the 15th. I will look for an illegal job while I am there. And then, if nothing surfaces in either Taipei or Tokyo before October 7th, then I will go back to Canada, and look for a job in Toronto.

For those of you in Toronto, I sincerely look forward to the possibility of seeing you again.