Life just keeps getting more complicated. Or, maybe not really. My husband casually dropped this line on me the other day. 'We might be getting orders to Japan'. Oh boy. Not only do we not know for sure if this will happen, we don't know when, or for how long, if it's just him or if it's both of us. We don't even know when we'll know any of these things!
I guess this is what happens when you say 'I do' to someone in uniform. The only problem is, where does that leave me and my career? Some of my friends think it would be so fun. I can see the adventure aspect of living around the world for 3 years. It's not permanent. They have great sushi and I could learn to scuba dive. But what am I supposed to do while we're over there for a career? Be Holly Housewife? No offense to the housewives of the world, I wish I would be happy doing that because it would make my life much easier if I didn't feel like I had to do something outside of the home. But it just doesn't do it for me, and since I'm not a nurse or school teacher, my job is also not so portable as to be able to go to Japan and think I'll establish my career as a science writer or editor or advocate, etc. It's not that it's impossible, it just wouldn't help me out to move out of the country while I'm trying to start a career outside of academia.
Someone suggested I can go there and teach English. If I wanted to be an English teacher, I would have studied English in college. Not spent the last 13 years studying science and working in a lab. And my husband doesn't want to give up what he's worked for for the past 8 years, but what about what I've worked for? How is that any different? How is my career any less important than his? Because he's a man? Because he makes more money than I do right now? My earning potential in the future is higher than his, once I finish my postdoc. Why can't he be the stay at home dad if he's the one who wants kids?
Maybe I should start talking about these issues in larger terms, since today is the beginning of Women's History Month. Or maybe I need to become the liberated female I claim to be and do what I want despite what my husband does, and hope we meet up at some point in the future?
Hi there, looks like we started blogging at the same time!
ReplyDeleteAnyways, looks like you are certainly in a tough predicament moving to Japan. However, I believe Japan has some very strong research universities and/or institutes. Would it be possible to do post-doctoral research there? It is my understanding that in labs in non-English Speaking countries they will still speak English (I mean, they have to write in English to publish, right?), although socially it could be quite a bit more difficult. I'm not sure what your sub-specialty in biology is, but perhaps you can turn this into a unique opportunity.
Either way, best of luck figuring out how to handle this potential move on top of your decision to leave your current lab (sounds like it was a wise decision for you both). I look forward to seeing how things shake out.