That's the way she goes, boys.

Hi. My name is *removed for the sake of anonymity*. Last year, when I was drunk, I thought to myself "What the hell am I going to do after I graduate college?" I looked at a globe, I saw the sliver of land to the east of Asia and remembered a long-lost imagined affinity with ninja and the samurai in Kurosawa movies. I then decided that I would move to Japan to teach English. I had some friends that were pursuing that option, so I talked to them and started applying.
I ran through the mental checklist of skills necessary to move to Japan:
- Do I speak English? Check ... though I hardly ever speak decent English.
- Am I American? Check ... despite my youthful attempts to deny any connection with America.
- ... That was it. Not even a third check! College held like, a million checks for me.
I thought Japan would be easy!
Here I am, now. A bit of an emotional and economic trainwreck, preparing myself for a move to the other side of the world. Do I speak Japanese? No. I think I'll wait to learn it on the plane trip over the Pacific. The flight is so long, I just may be fluent when I land. ...Right?
In less than a month, it'll be goodbye to all my friends and family, goodbye to my ol' home in Midwestern America. I'll be in Saitama, Japan just north of Tokyo. In this crazy, modern metropolitan world, I suppose that's the way she goes, boys.
...We'll see how true my suppositions prove to be.