Imminent Departure

Less than twenty-four hours to go and I think I might be ready--almost. I don't think I'll ever be ready to leave certain people behind. However, just knowing that they'll be here when I return makes my life easier. I don't know about theirs, but I do hope their friends will take good care of them while I'm gone. The other thing that's odd is I think I've gotten a sliver of a glimpse of what it's like to know that one will die soon. I go to movies and watch previews for movies that open after my departure and I think, "oh, I won't be here for that. I'll. Be. Gone." A bit morbid, I know, but that's kind of how it feels. I'll leave behind the friends who watched it with me and they'll still be here and they'll probably go to see it without me, carrying on their own lives without me. Wow, I'm getting kind of selfish. I own that. I've even made up songs about it.

And one note to anyone thinking about applying to JET:

START SAVING YOUR MONEY NOW. It's incredibly expensive to move. I've spent a lot in the past few weeks and that's not over yet. Next week I'll probably spend another $2000-3000 just getting set up in Okinawa. Ah...my island paradise. I can't wait.

The Maiden Blog

Here it is: My first blog. I've often thought about creating a blog, but I never did as I felt it would be too time-consuming to do properly--until now. My thoughts about the amount of time this blog will need to be done properly haven't changed. What's changed is my situation. In 97 days I leave for Japan to start my job as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) for the Japan Exchange Teaching Program (JET).

This is the second year I've applied for this program. The first time I applied was two years ago. I was an alternate that year. Apparently not enough people said, "no, I certainly do not want to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. Let an alternate candidate go in my place." So I did not get to go. This year, however, I made it onto the short list. As such, several people have asked if I would keep a blog about my experiences so they could live vicariously through me. The answer, quite obviously, sits in front of you now. I hope you enjoy it.