Right after 9/11--the city that got hit the worst economically was New York, and second worst was Atlanta (because Delta's hub is there), and yeah. In Atlanta, there were no jobs--I couldn't even get a job at a bookstore, things were so bad.
And when I came to Japan, I hadn't studied Japanese formally at all--I was self-taught up through JLPT2. I'd only taught myself for a year or so, and decided "Hey, I can only do so much on my own; if I really want to become fluent, might's well go to Japan. Not like I can find a job here."
Yeah, what-ifs. Although after a few years of English teaching, in general, all people want is OUT of teaching. It's kind of soul-killing--at least working for an eikaiwa was. I quit Aeon because I wanted my soul back and was tired of being the English-speaking dancing monkey. Working at a junior high was OK, but after a while, yeah. I am so glad not to be doing THAT any more.