Change of plans

Nothing is set in stone yet, but I don't think I'm going to return to Japan to teach English. I love learning Japanese, I love the food, I love the people, but I don't love teaching English and that's the problem. Also, teaching abroad is a very temporary solution to the problems that I'm having. I don't see anything long-term in this job (unless I got a job teaching at a Japanese university or returned to the US and taught Japanese in an American one), and I think that's becoming more important to me.

When I returned from Japan in May, I didn't have a job, I had spent quite a bit of the money I had saved (albeit to travel through nine countries), and I had no idea what to do with my life. If I leave again, I'm only going to return to this same spot in a year or two. I'll be 28, have a little money saved up, but still be without a career or even long-term goals.

So, as of right now, here is my new plan: move out to Las Vegas with Daniela and work in her aunt's bakery, while I study to take the Foreign Service Officer Exam. That's the test you take to get a job working in an American embassy abroad. I would be abroad, I would be learning a new language, and there's potentially a career in it. More to come as I figure this out.