State of the Lettow 2011-2012, and the outlook for a new year

[Josquius]

Yeah good luck, even if Jet doesn't work out its apparently pretty damn easy to find a low grade English teaching job in the bigger cities.
Now is the time to be looking into private hires like interac and the like, the school year is ending and the new one due to start in a month or two- the wait for Jet is agonising enough from sending in your application let alone to be waiting most of a year for it to open....

So, the demographic of Languish is transforming into
25% lawyers
25% homosexuals
25% English teachers in Asia
25% "other"

The English teachers seem to have bumped the Scandinavians. 

[Ideologue]

Interlac?  The future is truly now.

[Josquius]

Interlac?  The future is truly now.

[Ideologue]

Legion of Super-Heroes reference.

[The Brain]

Good luck Lettow.

[Josquius]

Legion of Super-Heroes reference.

I had to look up what that is.
Now: ah.

[Caliga]

Personally I think it's a mistake to plan a career doing this ESL stuff abroad.  It's one thing to do it if you're out of options but another to actively try to do it as a career.  The people that I've known that have done it and then come back stateside haven't ever been able to parlay it into any kind of career.

[Eddie Teach]

The ones who do parlay it into a career probably do so over there.

[Josquius]

Its not a career no.
It pays alright and is a decent little job, better than standard uneducated work. Which is totally livable. But there's not much room for advancement even if you do want to teach all your life (Which I certainly don't).
As a way to earn a bit of money and do something interesting rather than sitting around being depressed and unemployed though it is pretty good. Lets you work on your language skills too.

[Caliga]

As a way to earn a bit of money and do something interesting rather than sitting around being depressed and unemployed though it is pretty good.

Yeah don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to knock it... I just think it's a bit odd to actively plan a career doing that as Lettuce seems to be.

[Lettow77]

 Oh, I know there aren't many opportunities for advancement.

To be clear, I want to go to Japan and never leave. The work i'll be doing is secondary- english teaching is just an excellent way to get my foot in the door.

Earnings are almost a non-issue. If I can live in an apartment and pay for internet and tea, i'll be content. Nothing I enjoy doing costs much money. The outer fringe of luxury spending would be having a cat.

  Stifling desire and learning to be content with modest economic means is more sure and secure than grandioise plans. Most more lucrative paths have as a damning indictment against them that they require me to stay in America. America: Not even once

Edit: Brain, your frequent kind affirmations are not unnoticed, but most welcome. It may not seem like much, but it's pleasant to be told to get well soon when you are sick, or be wished well in some new venture. I appreciate it. Um, want a sonnet?

[Eddie Teach]

Have you ever been outside the country?

[Lettow77]

 there was THE VISION QUEST TO THE WEST, which took me beyond the vale of the sacred South. I've lived a fairly provincial life.

[Eddie Teach]

So what makes you think you'll find in Japan the thing you couldn't find in Utah?

[Lettow77]

 Oh ho, I might not! But I have expectations of being able to find housing and employment in Japan- it is a trip launched with much greater care than the one to Deseret.

Also, "more welcoming than Utah mormons" isn't hard to achieve. I've been oversatured with japanese -things- much more so than LDS, and find it more agreeable.  I expect no Elysium in Japan, just a quiet life that doesn't offend my sensibilities. I ask for very little, and I anticipate finding it there. If I don't, i'll review my options, but for sure I won't come back to America.