Getting Closer

I received my Certificate of Eligibility on Thursday of last week, filled out my Visa application (with included awful picture) and sent all the necessary documents to the Embassy of Japan in New York on Friday. It takes 7-10 days to process, so by the 12th or so, I hope to have my documents back and ready to go.

I've also set my departure date, which is very soon - January 21st, Sunday Morning. Bought my tickets and everything. I plan on arriving at Narita on the 22nd, spending the 23rd and 24th with my host family, then taking the train down to Shiga Prefecture on the 25th. I've plotted out the train course and everything, using a nifty tool I found:

http://www.japanrail.com/JR_hyperdia.html

My spacebags aren't here yet... I contacted their customer service, to no avail... If worse comes to worse, I'll just pack the old-fashioned way, just my winter stuff, and have Julian ship me the rest before he heads over himself. As for the computer, there's no way it's fitting without the spacebags, so that will be shipped too, I guess. Sigh... It's better that I'm going ahead of Julian, in the event that I forget anything.

I realized that flickr posted the pics in a format that's a little big - I changed the output already, so when I post more pictures, they won't be so wide.


That's about it for now.

A Brief Update

I'll summarize recent developments and changes in bullet form:

• I've made contact with the other teacher who is starting at Diamond Head at the same time: her name is Rachel and we actually have a surprising amount of things in common. She has spent more time in Japan than I have, and her knowledge of the language and of teaching is greater, so I hope to learn a lot from her. She reminds me of this friend I had in high school, Kristin.
  

• I've been working on my meishi (business card) lately. I think I've come up with a decent design. I need to go to staples and buy the paper for the cards now. Because in Japan, you are nobody if you don't have a meishi.
  

• The packing dilemma has been addressed and somewhat solved. It was funny because during our discussion, Rachel and I both discovered our intentions of utilizing our packing space to the utmost by purchasing - you know it - SPACEBAGS!!! I'm getting mine for Christmas from the parents, as well as a set of luggage so I don't need to borrow anyone else's.
  

• Finally ordered winter boots. I really hope I don't need to send them back. It's already snowed pretty bad in Rochester, and my feet are getting cold...
  

• Shopping: Going on Saturday with my mom, as well as on next Saturday with Romina to get random last minute stuff, as well as holiday shopping. I think I'm pretty much all purchased out for my Japan preparations.
  

• Dentist's visit Monday - still need to stop wasting time and make a doctor's appointment.
  

Now for Changes in the Blog:

• I have a flickr account now - what's good about it is that it will link AUTOMATICALLY to here if I tell it to, so I can post remotely, which is hot. I am going to upload the pictures from my NY visit with my host family to test it out. From what I've seen, the titles for picture posts will appear in Yellow, so it's even easier for people to pick out the info.
  

• Note the changes in the sidebar with links - I am affiliated now with J-list. They are a pretty nifty site for buying Japanese things while here in the states. I recently bought some random things from them to save myself the trouble of having to hunt down certain products while in Japan.
  

I really hope I'm not forgetting to do anything important. I really want to get everything squared away and all my loose ends tied up nicely before I go - so far, I am planning to depart in mid- to late- February. I need to discuss some more things about the apartment with Velika, when I get the chance.

In the Meantime...

Just figured I'd check in with what's going on...

Basically I've been waiting to get my COE (Certificate of Eligibility) back from Angie. She said Velika (current employee) got hers back in 4 weeks, but it can take up to 3 months. I hope it doesn't take 3 months. It's the last thing I need to get my Visa finalized. She needed my diploma (original!) and pictures from me and a signed contract, etc.

Here's what I need when I apply for my Visa in NYC:

• My Passport
• 2 45mmx45mm recent pictures (I hope July is recent enough, I'm not getting my pictures taken again... 7 dollars -_-)
• 2 Official Visa application forms
• Documents certifying purpose of visit (for me that would be the COE and my Contract)

Then it takes 7-10 days to process. Not too bad...

So my observations about people's reactions to my going to Japan. I am kind of surprised that a few people have asked me how much money I will be making. As if it's their business, but I humored their question. Simply put, I will be making more than I'm making now. That being said, it is still a very modest salary.

But I made one thing clear to those who asked me, I'm not going for the money. I'm going for the experience and the knowledge of the language. I want to teach and see how well I do. It's a challenge for me, and it's going to be life-changing. This I know! It's an adventure, so it's scary and exciting at the same time. It's something I'm doing to prove to myself that I can.

Also, it seems that many people think that they don't have meat in Japan - they do. Most of it is imported, so it's expensive, but they have plenty of fish and other sources of protein if I find that I can't pay for red meat (even on my income, I could probably manage one meal of red meat a week at least, which is about what I'm eating now, so I shrug that comment off).

Since I will be up in the mountains, I am guessing that much of my diet will consist of rice, vegetables, and tofu or other soybean products. I like miso. So that's not a problem for me... I've purchased a cookbook of simple everyday Japanese meals, so I hope to try my hand at it before I go. Oh... and I won't have an oven. I will have a 2-range stovetop. I don't cook in the oven as it is now, so that's not that much of an issue.

I've been researching the area where I will live. From what I can see on the Google map, it looks like there's a lot of golf courses. Also, the friends I have that are in Japan now are all very far away. Except for Mio's sister, who I hope to spend some time with.

I've also been doing some shopping for clothes and planning what to pack. Packing shouldn't take me that long, I won't need to pack nearly as much as I had anticipated. The computer will probably be the hardest packing job. I really hope I saved the boxes from when I got the computer, that will make it about 10x easier.

As for clothes, I still need a nice jacket and a pair of boots, and maybe another suit. I only have one as it is, but from what Angie described to me for the dress code, I may not need more than one.

So there's a summary. I'm looking into getting a new Digital Camera as well as a Nintendo DS for their electronic kanji dictionaries. I guess the stylus makes it ultra handy. These are things I could ask for for Christmas. I also wanted to get a new printer, because the one I have has been aggravating me lately. I have had it for 5 years, so maybe it's time.