Melon Pan

Less than a week and half to go and now I'm just tying up all the loose ends and waiting and waiting.

The biggest thing on my mind is getting everything packed. I did a trial run and failed horribly. I'm going to try again Friday on my day off, and this time with those vacuum sealed travel bags. The ones you suck all the air out of? I've heard they work wonders, so we'll see what I can do.

I've also been gathering teaching stuffs. I raided the local hotel for brochures and maps and things like that, which was kind of fun. I've also gotten a few take-out menus, though I don't know if I'll actually take them, since the places I eat at tend to have half the menu in something other than English. For example, I thought Olive Garden would be a nice example. Nope, most all the dishes are in Italian. Same problem with Chipotle, only in Spanish. So that might not work. But I am taking a couple Dr. Seuss books, which I think will be fun for the kids to have. I want to get some Monopoly money or something, too, but we'll see.

Other than that, I've just been working as long as possible, trying to bulk up that bank account. I have four days left of work, which is actually quite exciting. Sorry the the long quiet spell, but I'm sure things will start to pick up soon. It's so close now!

So this time when I got a phone call at work, I was able to dash into a fitting room and hand my operator duties off to a coworker. Unfortunately, I kept my pen and while I was fiddling with it, I accidentally dropped it, tried to catch it, then stabbed my palm. Enough to draw blood. Meanwhile, I'm trying to carry on a conversation. Yeah.

But as for the conversation itself, I got a bit more information about my placement. I'll be at one junior high for sure, and possibly one elementary school. This makes me really happy, because I like getting to know my students, and not having a million schools will be very conducive to that.

Also, I'll be in a Leopalace! I figured I would be, since other Hitachi placements were saying they were in Leopalaces. They're small, but not shoeboxes, and they're mostly furnished, with internet already set up and ready to go (which is important to me, haha).

Here's a very short Japanese commercial for Leopalace that gives a brief look. I'll make a video of my own place once I'm settled and all that jazz.

I'm happy to report that I am tuberculosis free. :) And the whole process was very easy. I made an appointment on Friday, and basically went in, got pricked with a needle, and left. The doctor didn't even charge me for a visit, just for the injection, and I got a discount since I didn't have insurance. So that cost all of $12. Then today I went back to get the injection site read, and I'm good to go. Some people mentioned they had red spot and that was supposed to happen, but mine was completely clear. You couldn't even see where they stuck me with a needle. That made me a little nervous, but from what I understand, if the redness is under a certain diameter, that means you're fine. I don't know. And yes that's a lousy picture, but the flash kept whiting out the paper and I couldn't be bothered to find better lighting.

So now, all that's left is to pack. I'm going to put in my notice at my current job tomorrow. And that's pretty much it. I still have a little shopping to do, mostly clothes. I still have what, 25 days until I leave? Ah, that late start. So much fun. That just means I have that much longer to work and save, and that all of you people that leave before me need to give me good advice and tell me what to expect, ok? :)

It seems like there are required posts (but not really) going around on my blogroll, which is fun, so I'll take my turn now.

Also, I'm just going to say family/friends are a given and don't count.

1. American Food. And by American, I actually probably mean Mexican. Americanized Mexican. I love Chipotle. If I could, I would probably eat there weekly. When I lived in Provo, I would drive the 30 minutes to the nearest Chipotle at least once a semester.

And there's also the chicken and beef I'm so used to. Having grown up in Kansas, fish isn't really a main staple of my diet. To be honest, I don't think I've ever cooked fish. I've eaten and I really like it, which is good, but I don't know how to cook it. So that'll be something fun for me to learn.

Oh, also, peanut butter and good cheese. Neither are easy to find or cheap.

2. Being Fluent in the Country's Language. I can (or could, at one point) speak Japanese, but it's not the same as being fluent. My kanji comprehension is very low at this point, and my vocabulary is no where near what it used to be. So just not being able to communicate with people is something I'll have to adjust to.

This could also fall in the category of not being fluent in the culture. I'm sure I'll make lots of Japanese faux pas, which I'm not so much looking forward to, but that's all part of the experience. Plus, my job is to speak English, which I can do, so it'll mostly be in my personal life where I'll have to worry about it.

3. Driving on the right side of the road. And my car. I've only had my car for a couple years, but it is my car, and I will miss it. My placement is a driving one, so I'm going to have to learn to drive on the left side and all that craziness, which will be interesting. I'm definitely taking my good driving charm, heh.

And...I can't really think of everything else. I'm not going to miss my current job. I don't have a place of my own right now, so that doesn't exist to miss. So yeah. I'll probably think of other things once I don't have them anymore, but I'm sure that'll be another topic for another day.

Since I interviewed for this job waaay back in May of last year, you can probably imagine how unreal and intangible this feels. Especially since I was initially going to start in August and got pushed back to March. Which got pushed back again (sort of) to April.

But now, as I'm gathering all these legal documents and am starting to get emails on a weekly basis, it's finally starting to sink in. Plus, my coworkers comment on it daily. They're all really excited for me and ask how many days I have left or remind me when I have an unpleasant task that I'm only there for another month, and so on and so forth. I also get emails and facebook messages from friends and family wishing me luck and wanting to know the latest news.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it finally feels like I really am going back to Japan. To teach English. This has been one of my life goals since at least early high school. And it's just really, really exciting. :)

In other news, I've acquired my International Driver's Permit. It was so quick and easy to do, too. There was a AAA office fairly close by (about 15-20 minutes), so I drove over there on Monday. All I had to do, since I'd taken my passport pictures at Walmart after work one day, was fill out one piece of paper and pay $15, and now I'm allowed to drive not only in Japan, but hundreds of different countries, should I feel the urge. For the next year, at least. Which is pretty cool. The whole process took maybe ten minutes, and the majority of that was because I was being super careful while filling out the one, single-sided form. (And it was all just basic, name, DOB, address, etc.) The lady who issued it was super nice and said I got an A for filling it out perfectly. Heh.

And I was lazy and didn't post the inside, too, but it has my info and a picture inside. Very official.

I've also set up my TB test, which will be next Friday. They get to stick me with needles. Yay. >_> Hopefully that'll go smoothly. I'll sure I'll get an interesting story out of that.

But once that is done, that's all of my official work that needs to be done before I leave. All that's left after that is packing and work and more packing and more work.

楽しみに〜

Amazingly, I've already gotten my visa! It reached the consulate Tuesday, and must've been processed right away in order for it to get back to me today, Saturday. Awesome.

It's very pretty, I have to say. That's not a great picture, but you get the idea. That's a page in my passport (which I'm also very glad to have back). My CoE was also stapled to the opposite page.

So things are continuing to move right along. We went shopping the other day for some clothes, and I am stocked for all the bottoms I need, now I just have to make sure I have tops. I think I'm good, I just need to sort out what I'm bringing and if I overlooked anything.

All that's left of officially business is my TB test and my International Driver's Permit. I'm planning to do my IDP on Monday, which is my day off work, and then just the TB test! And packing! Lots of packing.

Today, after a long and difficult process, I got my plane tickets. Thanks to my Dad's frequent flier miles, the grand total was only about $150. Not bad, right? And many many thanks to my parents for footing that bill.

But it did take about an hour of messing around with flights and times and airlines. Turns out April 4, the date I'm supposed to arrive, is Easter this year. Yeah.

In the end, here's my itinerary:

Day, Date			Departure City and Time	Arrival City and Time
Sat, 03APR10			KANSAS CITY INTL (MCI) 7:30AM	HOUSTON BUSH INTL (IAH) 9:30AM
Sat, 03APR10			HOUSTON BUSH INTL (IAH) 10:50AM	NARITA (NRT) 2:20PM (04APR)

So the tickets are bought. My visa app is in the mail, I have all the passport pictures I need so I can turn in my drivers license app next week, and I have the number for the doctor for my TB test. Things are moving right along.