Plans? Perhaps?

So neither of the friends I am staying with has a traditional 9-5 job, though they are both employed and work hard. Their non-traditional job schedule allows them to spend more time with their kids and with each other.

This has led me to do a lot of thinking: The types of 9-5 jobs I am interested in are in the public policy/law realm, but I have also hesitated to enter the realm for a few reasons: 1. Those realms are not 9-5, but take more time 2. I am not sure I am the 9-5 job type - but is this a valid reason, or simply a case of the "I can't"s? 3. I am afraid of becoming corrupt, since these realms are corrupting, or of having a job that is just busy-work for some non-profit, and hence unfulfilling.

I got a certificate in teaching English over the summer, and more and more I am just leaning towards getting that certificate validated by the Israeli authorities/taking extra courses if necessary, training to tutor people for SATs, which I think there is a niche market for in Jerusalem and which I could be good at, while also getting an MA in Jewish education, and teaching Jewish studies. I wonder if such a course would be intellectually fulfilling however, and also if the micro efforts to change society by affecting the lives of the individual children who comprise its next generation would lead to dissatisfaction that I'm not doing anything on a macro scale - which maybe I could do if I went for a PHD in Jewish ed and tried affecting Jewish education policies and curriculums in the Israeli public education system. I would also like to institute "shabbat exchange" program, where different students went to houses of people from other segments of Israeli society for shabbat, though organizing Orthodox people visiting secular homes could prove tricky. I do think that part of a good Jewish education means knowing what a traditional, technology-free shabbat is like, not because of religious reasons, but because this is what observants shabbats were like for our ancestors, and because knowing what is being spoken of when someone speaks of a dati shabbat is important for improving understanding between religious and secular segments of society.

I have a friend who is pregnant and we've been having lots of conversations about her pregnancy, and the whole thing has made me think about doula-ing as well: I find the entire process of pregnancy fascinating and would love to find out more about it from a medical perspective, and to help women physically and emotionally through this life-giving process, including the adjustment of having a new baby. Also, I found it really fulfilling to care for my grandparents in the hospital, but found the death and sadness that surrounded me to be depressing. Doula-ing involves caring for people, often in hospital settings, but minus the whole "depressing" aspect - God-willing, assuming things go well, it is for happy reasons one is providing this care.

Maybe I can combine these careers: Teaching English and Jewish Studies part-time in school settings while also SAT tutoring and Doula-ing and maybe going for a PHD in Jewish Ed?

Hopefully such a schedule would give me time to seriously blog about politics and society, as well as to write (by which I mean creative writing).