I've finally commited. The papers are signed and the visa is on it's way. I'm moving to Kawagoe, Japan, to teach English to a bunch of Japanese kids.
I first came across the notion of teaching English in a foreign country during a Mandarin class at the local community college. Personally, I was only trying to learn Mandarin so I'd be able to understand old kung fu movies. But spending a year living in Asia sounded good too. So I looked into teaching in China. Wasn't gonna happen. Almost every site I found wanted a "deposit" of a grand or so. So I kept looking. I was kinda into the whole Chinese thing, since I now knew about 5 words. But like I said, China wasn't happening.
So I looked at Japan. There are 4 main private English teaching companies in Japan. They all have easy applications, and offices in the US and Canada. So I found the closest one and applied. Nova had an office in San Francisco. I spent a lovely day up in the city. Interviewed, got some Dim Sum, attended an anti-communist rally, it was great. Anyways, I thought I nailed the interview, but after a month or so I got a rejection letter. Whatev.
I was down to 3 companies left. 2 of them were in Toronto. I really didn't want to go to Toronto. So that left 1 in Los Angeles. I flew down, spent the weekend at my buddy Dave's, an got the job. **Edit** I deleted the reference to the company I work for. Someone got fired for blogging some negative comments! **/Edit**