僕とお金の関係、その2 ・ My Relationship with Money, part 2

先生に「バイトしたいですか？」と聞かれたことは、いろいろな仕事やお金に関して記憶を思い起こした。数年前、テキサス州に住んでいた時、僕は父の勤めていた会社で働いた。なんかインターンシップのような仕事だった。あまりいい給料をもらわなかったけど、お金をできるだけ貯めて、そのお金で大学に行きたいと思った。しかし、いろいろあって、他の人にほとんどの給料をあげたので、結局、お金をあまり貯められなかくて、大学に行けないようになった。その時の気持ちをよく覚えていないけど、お金を他の人にあげることがいらいらのことだった。でも、大切な人を助けるためだったので、しょうがないと思った。

インターンシップは終わって、仕事がなくなった。その前の時とその後の2，3年間、NEETだった。仕事を探す気が全然なかった。でも、また父のおかげで、偶然に父の会社に入った。その仕事は最初に難しくて、ストレスが多かったけど、よく頑張って、何とかなった。同僚は面白くて、友達みたいだったし、あまり仕事をしていた感じがなかった。その仕事でお金をいっぱい貯めた。

1年半後、父は首になって、遠い場所に新しい仕事を見つけた。以前にもその話について書いたしたことがあるが、自立になるか、家族に連れていくか、決めないといけなかった。家族に連れていくことにした後、あと一週間仕事を続けた。その一週間に、同僚は面白いことを言った。「男になれ！」と数回言った。つまり、自立になれ！って。でも、僕はあまり男らしくなりたくなかったので、そんなことを言われても、全然効かなかった。

数年後、大学に入った後、英語の先生になるために英語の授業でボランティアをした。よく頑張って、いろいろな経験ができた。その経験について日本語の先生と話したこともした。次の学期にもボランティアをするよと先生に言ったとき、「お金をもらいなさい！」と先生に言われた。先生はそんなに僕と親しくなかったので、先生の言うことは変だった。それに、僕はいい経験ができているから、お金は要らないと思った。経験だけで十分だって。

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When my teacher asked if I wanted to do the part time English teaching job, it brought up memories I have related to money. When I was living in Texas, I worked at the company my dad was employed at. It was like an internship. It didn't pay much, but I wanted to save up as much money as I could and go to college. However, some things came up and in the end I gave most of my money to others, thus I wasn't able to save up much money or go to college. I don't remember how I felt at that time very well, but it was irritating to give my money to other people. But, I was giving it in order to help someone important, so I didn't think I had much of a choice.

After the internship ended, I didn't have any job. Before that job, and for 2 or 3 years afterward, I was a NEET (a Japanese term for someone that is Not Employed, getting an Education, or Trying to do so). I didn't really feel like finding a job. But, by coincidence and with my dad's help, I was able to get a job where he worked again. That job was tough and stressful at first, but I worked hard and got through it. My coworkers were funny and were like my friends, so I didn't really feel like I was working. With that job, I was able to save a lot of money.

About a year and a half later, my dad lost his job and found another one far away from where we lived. I've previously written about this before, but I had to decide whether to move out and become independent, or to follow my family. After I decided to follow my family, I continued working for another week. During that week, one of my coworkers said something interesting. He kept saying, "Time to man up!" In other words, he was telling me to move out on my own. But, I wasn't really interesting in being manly, so even if I was told that, it didn't really affect me.

Several years later, after I had gotten into college, I did volunteer work in an English classroom in order to become an English teacher myself. I worked hard and got lots of experience through that work. I talked about my experiences with my Japanese teacher as well. When I told her that I was going to continue volunteering during the next quarter, she said, "You need to get paid!" I wasn't really close with the teacher, so it was a little weird for her to say that. Not only that, but I didn't think I needed any money because I was gaining some experience. Just getting that experience was enough, I thought.