Japan

So, I finally finished applying to the JET Programme... Now I just have to wait until mid-April to find out if I was rejected, or will need to schedule an interview.

That was probably the most involved application form I've ever filled out. Way more involved than my college application. The essay even took longer to write! I don't know if I had an unusually easy time getting in to college due to my deceptively high SATs, or if A&M, being a public school, is forced to streamline their application process... but JET's is pretty involved.

I had to...

1. fill out a 23 page questionnaire, sign it, and xerox it twice.
   
2. write a 2-page essay and xerox it twice.
   
3. make three full color copies of my diploma. (Since I didn't know how to safely remove it from the frame, I just put the whole thing face down on the copier. Worked suprisingly well!)
   
4. make 3 copies of my birth certificate (which I had to order by fax from Arizona, since the original was stolen in Mexico)
   
5. Get two letters of recommendation from non-family members. Each letter to be accompanied by a form, then xeroxed twice along with the form and all three copies placed in an envelope and sealed and signed across the flap
   
6. Collate all of the above into three sets, with the original-signatures all in the same set, each set paperclipped in the upper left (no staples!), and the two letters of recommendation floating loose with a self-addressed stamped envelope for their reply, all in an 8.5"x11" or slightly larger envelope.
   

Of course, additional snags were that the first letter of recommendation, from my Aikido instructor, was written waaaay late. I asked him early, but he kept putting it off. Eventually I got him to pre-sign the envelopes, pre-sign three pieces of paper, and email me a word document that, if printed on a pre-signed page, would place his signature in the right spot. So essentially, it was a pre-forged authentic signature, if that makes any sense.

Due to some slight procrastination on my own part as well, I had to stay up until 4am Saturday morning finishing it all up and putting it together, and then pay a fortune to FedEx it overnight and make it to their office in DC on Monday morning. But I'm done! I sure hope they don't use "timeliness of application" as an unwritten criteria; I really want for this to work out.

Why? Well, partly because of my lifelong interest in Asian cultures and in the more popular anime series. But my real interest in the JET Programme came from reading a blog called "I Am a Japanese School Teacher", which is now called "Gaijin Smash", and was apparently a lot more popular than my random stumbling led me to believe.

Well, that's enough to say for now. Wish me luck!