the postgrad life: malaysia.
"Do you know what you're doing after you graduate?" - I've been asked this very question at least one hundred times in the last month or so, and I am absolutely thankful that I do know (not least because it'd be horribly depressing if I didn't. Also, it's nice that people care, but I think I speak for all of the Class of 2012 when I say I'm downright sick of being asked that question.)
The answer: I will be teaching English in Malaysia as a Fulbright Scholarship English Teaching Assistant (ETA)! In case you're not familiar, the Fulbright Program is a prestigious program administered by the US State Department that allows one to study, conduct research, or teach abroad for a year. For ETAs in Malaysia, it's a 30 hour a week gig in one of three states, Terengganu, Pahang, or Johor, mostly teaching English, with other responsibilities depending on the school I'm placed in. I don't have much else in the way of details - I don't even know where in the country I'll be! - but for now I can say that I will have a Malaysian mailing address from January to November 2013!
Because Malaysian ETAs don't start until January, they said they'd notify me anywhere from early March to late May, which is really just a way of saying they'll torture you while they make a decision. Fortunately, I found out in late March, so the waiting wasn't all that bad. UNfortunately, as ecstatic as I was that I got the Fulbright, this posed a serious challenge to my well-being, seeing as the last month of college was the busiest and most taxing period of my life by at least double - it's extremely difficult to focus and write a 42 page thesis, for example, when you've got one eye halfway around the world.
In the past few months, I've been asked, "Why Fulbright?" a lot. Truthfully, I realized some time ago that my two (sad, I know) marketable skills are neuroscience research and teaching. I've been doing lab research for the last two and a half years and will likely go to grad school to do research for another 5-6 years (oh boy!), so I was pretty set on the idea of taking a year or two off to do something different - i.e. teaching.
People also ask me, "Why Malaysia??" I've got an answer for that, too. I have never taken a Romance language, ruling out Europe/South and Central America, nor Arabic or Hebrew, nixing the Middle East/North Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa doesn't really do the Fulbright ETAs, just research. So basically, Asia. At some point early on in figuring out post-college plans, I had the romantic fantasy of backpacking/scuba diving/eating delicious food in Southeast Asia. Among Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, Malaysia appealed to me the most because of 1) the superb clash of cultures and customs (especially with Islam), 2) the fact that Malaysia is the most developed country (after Singapore) in the region but still has pockets of extreme poverty, and 3) the 75 ETA grants, as opposed to 25 or fewer in the other three countries (not gonna lie, this was a factor).
Needless to say, I'm pretty excited. :)
Sparknotes Version: Brian is going to Malaysia to teach English! Hooray!