Single life

As I approach my 30th birthday I keep thinking that I should be kind of settled, and I don't mean married and with kids, but at least have a sense of direction, either be in a stable relationship or have a job I want to keep until I retire... And then I look at myself and find someone in quite a lot of debt trying to get out of a messy divorce, having a job that I like but can't see myself doing long term (at least not in this company) and in a country I never envisaged myself living in. It's not all bad, but it's not good either. Don't get me wrong, I know there's millions of people in the world for whom my lifestyle is beyond their wildest dreams, but for most of us in the developed world is not something very conventional.

I would like to find a guy to share my life with, but that's not likely to happen any time soon, if ever, so for the last few days I've been thinking... What if this is it? What if I never find that person? Am I going to turn into some bitter old spinster living alone in a house full of cats? Not very likely considering I hate cats. So how do I see myself living in let's say 20 years...

And this is where the fantasy starts: a little house at the top of a hill with a garden and 5 dogs (Labradors, Golden Retrievers, St. Bernards... you know what I'm talking about, proper dogs, not annoying barking rats), a teaching job in some rare school where work feels rewarding instead of a constant battle against spoilt brats, surrounded by a close net of family and friends, always busy with trips abroad or having visits from any of my long list of friends spread all over the world...

And daydreaming about all this is how I came across with the "9 tsubo house". It's a really clever Japanese design from the 1950s that was reinterpreted a few years ago by an architecture firm, and is now sold for the Japanese market. The idea is that it can make a good spacious home for a young family. And although I really like the simplicity of it I don’t see how a family can live in such a small space... Don't these people need privacy? However, for my western point of view it would make an amazing home for a dog loving spinster like my future self.

In case you get curious this is the website: http://www.9tubohouse.com/eng/index.html. It's not a very good one, mainly because not all of it is translated into English and most of us mortals can't read Japanese, but you can also google it and there is plenty of other articles all over the net...