u/tommydelriot

Are any of you on the JET Program vegan? I only became vegan three months ago, but I remember how the school lunches all included milk and pork or chicken daily. I also remember all the school-related enkais having lots of non-vegan food, especially seafood. How do you cope with these situations?

I did JET when I was 33, so I was already older than a lot of my fellow JETs. Now that retirement is looming on the horizon, I’m considering applying again, but after I finish paying off my (American) debt. I’m almost at the point where I could retire, but this would be a nice ending to my work life. Any older JETs here, aged 55+? What is it like teaching there as an older person? Back when I did it, the theoretical age limit was 40 because of the whole age hierarchy thing, where it would be weird if you were older than senior staff, especially principals.

When I think of digital nomads, I picture people moving to other countries for months at a time. I’m wondering if anybody here is just doing it in different cities in their home country? My WFH job allows me to work anywhere in the US, including territories, but I’m not allowed to work in other countries overseas. I thought about disguising my location, but we were told that somebody got fired for doing that, so I don’t want to risk it.

I was at a grocery store today and saw a package that said it was lacto-vegetarian, and then I started thinking deeply about what this meant. It wasn’t until I became vegan a few months ago that I even realized cows needed to be pregnant in order to produce milk. It’s something I hadn’t even thought about. I know being lacto is better than being a carnivore, but damn, you’re still supporting the veal industry. And this is coming from somebody who didn’t eat veal even when I was omni because I felt bad for the baby cows. I thought about all the milk I drank during all those decades of my life, but especially those 13 years I was in primary school. Imagine if at the beginning of kindergarten teachers were allowed to tell the students exactly what happens to a cow in order to produce milk for those little milk cartons, especially how the baby calf is taken from the mom so young. I wonder how many little kids would refuse to drink milk after that.
Pardon these rambling thoughts. It’s late here, but I just had to vent this somewhere.

Location: California. The full situation is a little more complex than the title suggests. My family owned a business for decades, and as it was passed from generation to generation, some of the utility bills were never changed to reflect the current owner. In late 2024, tree on the property fell on an electrical wire leading from a pole (also on the property) to a structure on the property. My dad tried cutting the tree himself, but I suggested we call the electric company instead. I called them, and they said there would be no charge to come out and take care of things. Lo and behold, we received a bill for almost $1000 a few months later for labor and equipment to cut the tree. However, the bill was in the name of my great-grandfather who died in the 1990s. We sold the business in 2025. We were told originally there would be no charge to cut the tree down, so I don’t think my dad owes anything. Also, since the bill is in the name of my great-grandfather, I feel that if we don’t pay it, there will be no repercussions down the line. Should I just ignore future requests for payment? Of course, I don’t want my dad to get in trouble, and he does have the money to pay this, but it feels unfair. Thank you in advance!

I went to Pizzanista in LA just now, and I saw they had a sign that cold/day old slices of pizza are only $1. Today they had pepperoni, veggie, and a Sicilian slice, and the cashier noted, “But they’re all vegan.” I was like, great! I’ll take one of each! Even cold, they’re all delicious! That said, I wonder if it’s necessary for people to know that something is vegan if they aren’t specifically looking for something vegan. The old omnivorous me would’ve still loved these slices, and this pepperoni tastes like non-vegan pepperoni. It’s one thing to trick a vegan into eating meat, but doesn’t seem like it’s tricking anybody omnivorous to eat something specifically vegan.

In a few years, I hope to retire by traveling around East Asia/SEA, staying only up to the maximum number of days allowed by a nonresident visa in each country. At that time, I will move out of my apartment in the US forever. For any of you who do this, what address do you use as your home address in the States? Parents’/family member’s address? A PO Box that looks like an actual address? For anyone in Asia specifically, did any of you find a cheap apartment in Guam/Saipan as a homebase? I don’t really wanna keep renting an apartment that I’m not planning to go back to.