after Japan

Okay, I know I'm a planner, and it's probably a bit much for me to get too detailed planning what I'll do when I return from Japan. I don't even know if I'll return in August 2012. I could stay another year with the JET program or look for teaching jobs in international schools in Japan. If I want to, I'll do that, because it could be easier any way. I do not know how much luck I'm have in the US schools since I'm returning in August, and since I didn't have much luck this year!

But I can try. My one idea is to settle in Alexandria, VA/Washington DC and look for teaching jobs or go to grad school. I want to live in a big city (at least at this point), there is a really neat Spanish/English bilingual church there, the Alexandria schools are well-funded and full of ESL students, and I have a VA teaching license. I can also keep my eye on openings in Harrisonburg and around the country.

But my real crazy idea came this morning when I was surfing the internet and came across the Fulbright Scholar program. Apparently, the US government sends US citizens to different countries as teacher assistants, like what I'll be doing in Japan. The awesome part is, they go to tons of different countries, including Spanish-speaking countries! The program doesn't offer a great salary like JET does, but it could still offer me a chance to learn another language! I could go to Mexico, Spain, Argentina, tons of other Latin American countries, or even Korea or Russia. It's a fun idea, but it seems hard to plan for, because you need to apply by October! I don't think I'll know what I want to do next year by October! But maybe it's something I could do in the future.

I do really want to get proficient at Spanish. One thing I've heard about Japan is that some areas have a lot of Brazilians. I really hope I'll be in such an area, because Portuguese is similar to Spanish, and maybe I could pick it up! Crazy idea? Who knows! Creativity gets you everywhere.