man, it sounds like you and I lost our jobs at about the same time -- I thought about going to Japan to teach, but I hadn't had a single actual class at that point, and I just wasn't confident enough in my teaching-myself-a-foreign-language-I've-only-heard-and-haven't-spoken-to-a-native-ever skills or lack thereof. But man, if I'd had the opportunity to take Japanese in college, I wonder if I might've ended up over there too? What-ifs...