[mesmark]

If you weren't a teacher, what do you think you'd be doing?

How does your current job compare with the alternative?

[susan53]

I don't know what I would be doing, but I know what I would like to have done - worked on sub-nuclear physics and cosmology. Unfortunately, I never discovered I had any interest in science until long after I'd finished school - where I was always channelled into humanities courses. Maybe I wouldn't have made it - I was lousy at maths and physics, but then most of my teachers weren't at all inspiring. Who knows?

Other possibilities - a gardener or an ethnologist (someone who studies animal behaviour). That was my great ambition when I was about 13. But it meant studying biology - which I loved but dropped because in higher level courses it was obligatory to kill and dissect frogs and mice. Which for me was a non-option. It's a shame how school squashes your dreams ....

[Whistleblower]

Good question Mesmark. I used to be in the military respraying (painting) Aircraft and Military Vehicles that would be ready for deployment. I remember painting all this military gear desert colour and remember thinking about the news in the time about Iraq having WMD etc. I thought bugger and decided to move on because this was going to be a big thing. About six months after I left the RAF, low and behold the UK attacked Iraq.

Anyways, I went to University. And as I had spent three years in full time employment with the same employer (HM RAF) the local education authority had to pay for my tuition fees. Yahoo!

I graduated uni. and the last time I heard from people from the RAF, most of them had been deployed in or around Iraq.

So to answer your question Mesmark, I could have been in Iraq, Afghanistan or any other war zone if I didn't leave the military when I did. But I took the risk and decided to pursue my interest in further education and afterwards decide to work in Korea with the influence and support from my Korean wife.

[clivehawkins]

I came from a Sales and Marketing background but I don't suppose I'd still be doing it now. One of the things that finally got me off my backside to finally do the TEFL course was the fact that I no longer enjoyed it.

I'd like to think that at leat I'd be doing something that I enjoyed although it's difficult to know what. I like what I do now and have no desire at all to change. At a push I'd say something to do with journalism.

What about you? You didn't say.

[mesmark]

Well, I'm a pharmacist originally. I came to Japan in 1999 with the idea that I'd be here for a few years learn Japanese and go back to the States. I was hoping to get a job with a pharmaceutical company in sale/marketing/research upon return.

But plans change and I lovve teaching. Plus the stress is much lower here. If I make a mistake at my current job, someone goes away spelling a word wrong. However, if I made a mistake at the pharmacy, I needed to call a lawyer at best.

So, if I had never come over here, I would probably be in a pharmacy. If I had gone back like I intended I might be working as a businessman in some pharmaceutical company.

I love the way it has turned out!

[clivehawkins]

Quote mesmark

But plans change and I lovve teaching. Plus the stress is much lower here. If I make a mistake at my current job, someone goes away spelling a word wrong. However, if I made a mistake at the pharmacy, I needed to call a lawyer at best.

Yes, you're absolutely right. Our mistakes are easily rectified and you get time to do it. In my last job if I made a mistake with the price \ lead times \ material it could cost hundreds of thousands of pounds (and my job!)

The stress is different in teaching though. With other jobs you can switch off when you get home but I find even in the evening and sometimes during the night ( ) I'm fretting about lessons \ ideas etc. Maybe that's just because I've got too much going on at the moment.

[livinginkorea]

I came from a computer and business background from university but I ended up hating my course. I liked the business side of things but hated the computer side of it. I was offered a job just before I went to Korea and it was that defining moment in my life. Do I stay and work at this stable (government) but boring job or do I go to Korea and try my hand at something that I may not like. Well I thought that I would see what would happen for a year and if I didn't like it I could always go back. I'm still here now!!

Also I worked part time in a restaurant/bar when I was in uni and I could have went down that road too!

[iankendal]

I think I would be writing a travel book, because I love to travel.

[Donney]

I have two jobs now and I hate one and love the other. In the mornings I work in an insurance broker office, and I can't bear it. Which was one of the main motivations to start my school, which even if right now is costing me money I love it.

I can easily stay in the insurance business but I am not going to, so I guess my path is quite clear now.