I must be mad.....

So.....hello, person! Welcome to this blog. This blog is going to record my adventures in attempting to find a job in the wacky world of TESL, and the adventures that come with it.

My main goal is to go to Japan to teach English, someway, somehow. When there is a will, there is a way. I'm graduating this year with my BFA in Illustration, and frankly...I must admit, I'm a little burnt out from the experience. Not to mention the field is hella crazy thanks to our economic downturn here in the US.

So I want to chase another dream of mine- going to Japan. It's been there with me since high school, courtesy of Mr. Yoshida and Japanese classes. (I grew up in WA state where they offered the language in high schools).

So, how do I get to that? Well....

As of the date I write right now, the main program everyone recommends to apply to, JET, or the Japan Exchange and Teaching program, has already done interviews and I missed the application date (ALL the way back in October.). I was too busy last semester to try, and the application was a bit extensive. Oh well. Maybe if my journey this time around fails, I'll give that a whack when the apps open for next year in October.

So the alternatives to JET, are private contractors in Japan. There are two varieties-

ALT- "Assistant Language Teachers"- which are what JET hires also do.Various companies provide them, the main one that hires from overseas that is trustworthy (ish) is Interac.

Eikaiwa- Private english conversation schools.....there are tons of them, but only a few companies apply from directly overseas. And alot of them require me to travel to a major city from FL (possibly to flippin Toronto), to interview.

Also on the table is teaching in South Korea or China- I started an application for a program in China but they are backup plans for me.

So....as they would say, good luck to me, or, がんばれ！