Quick Update

We are now in Mito for training. Yesterday was an intense day of information overload that I dont have the time to post about now. We did find out a few bits of important information though. I will be teaching at 2 Junior High Schools in Inashiki, and Tessa will be teaching at 8, count'em, 8 elementary schools each week in Namegata and surrounding area. We will be living in a single apartment in Tamatsukuri. We will each be driving our own car that we will have to lease from the company for about $180 per month, including insurance. I start April 6th, and Tessa on the 13th. It would appear that we are some of the lucky ones. Some of the ALTs who arrived here were informed that there were no more full-time positions available. Heart lost out on some of the contracts to provide ALTs to the schools, so some ALTs only have the option of teaching part-time in Tokyo and living in a guest house and/or finding other work. Luckily, we don't fall into that group...That's all I have time for now, I will post more when we have the time.

***It is important to note that this was a decision of the various school boards, not the company we are working for.

The first 24 hours (or so)

Hi Everyone,

Chris has already posted the details of our flight, customs experience, hotel, etc. This is going to be a short one from me because I'm pretty exhausted - woke up at 3:30am today! I'm going to nap a bit so that we can stay up later and get ourselves on more of a schedule.

Here are a few pictures we took so far today. The first one is from my first episode of culture-shock. We were literally 50 feet off the plane, and I stopped in the ladies' room. The first thing I noticed were the ceiling to floor stall doors. But when I got into one, I thought I had opened the wrong door. There was no toilet. Only a porcelain trench built directly into the floor. All I can say is, Japanese women must be super flexible if that's what the typical toilet is like.

The car picture above might seem normal, but the name of the car is a "NOAH" - so, I had to post it for my big brother Noah.

We had a pretty good breakfast this morning at our hotel - it was a buffet featuring Japanese breakfast and Western breakfast options. The Western stuff included omelets to order, bacon, french toast, cereal, etc, while the Japanese spread included rice, cold noodles, miso soup, tofu, and various unknown meats and vegetables. Asian breakfast foods are apparently much closer to what they eat the rest of the day, rather than saving certain foods for only evening or morning.

Then we took a longish walk through the area around the hotel. It was only 6:45am or so (and a Sunday) so hardly anything was open and no one was out. But we did see interesting signs - one read "Yankee's Crew Lounge", another was apparently an American Old-West themed store/coffee shop called "Big Country" (see above). We went into a convenience store where I bought some tweezers and lotion (for your face I think, but I'm not 100% sure) - the clerks didn't speak any English and the screen that lists your purchases had so many characters and anime characters all over it that I couldn't even figure out how much I owed. But hey - we're here to learn!

Later we caught the hotel shuttle into the Narita city mall. We had wanted to see a nearby temple, too, but were so tired that we agreed we would see temples in other towns during our year in Japan. The stores were a bit overwhelming - one had like 10 rows of small anime books. I'm not used to seeing stacks and stacks of books without one word or letter that I recognize! One store was called Mother Garden - it was full of cutesy kids' toys, clothes and stuffed animals. Mainly cartoony-looking stuffed white seals wearing a variety of funny hats and clothing. One kind even sang "You Are My Sunshine" when you pressed its flipper;) I'm going to have so much fun shopping for my three nieces and my nephew!

Today at the mall, I was happy to find a "regular" toilet, although it wasn't without its own oddities. When you sit down on the seat, the sound of water running is played out of a speaker (so no one can hear your own noises, I think?). Then there were various buttons that I didn't understand, probably for bidet functions... Things are certainly interesting here!

We walked out of the mall only to see our hotel shuttle bus pulling out of the parking lot - and the next one didn't come for another 1.5 hours. So we passed the time playing cards on a bench, and I think I counted about ten different little kids who stopped to stare and/or point at us. I hadn't really gotten any strange looks until today - I'm relieved to see that kids are kids regardless of country or nationality.

Now we're lounging around in the hotel room, and will probably take a nap soon.

Over and out,

Tessa

We Are in Japan

We left Sea-Tac at about 1:10 pm in a small DHC-8 twin-prop plane bound for Vancouver, BC. One quick flight later, we were in Vancouver and ready to leave North America; which we did, at about 3:15 pm in a Boeing 747-400. It was easily the largest airplane I've ever flown in, with two floors of passenger seating. It was about a 9.5 hour flight, which of course was long, but the plane was fairly comfortable. We were seated on the right hand side of the plane on the window and the seat next to it. Thankfully there were video screens in the back of the seats in front of us that had a variety of computer games, crappy movies (Madagascar 2, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Sweet November, etc.) and other things to help keep us entertained.

After we finally touched down at Narita airport we went through immigration, got our bags, went through customs, then changed some of our US cash into yen. We then waited for a shuttle to take us to the Hotel Radisson. Driving through Narita, I was surprised at how many American companies had a stronghold in the city. We passed by two 7-11s, a Mobil gas station, ads for McDonalds and Coke. A lot of things were in Japanese and English too. I don't expect that to be the norm everywhere in the country, but it will help ease us into the culture, I think. Driving on the left side of the street in a right-hand drive car might take a while to get used to, if we ever get the opportunity though. Just being in the bus and watching us drive through the city was hard enough!

We arrived at our Hotel at about 7:00 pm Japan time/3:00 am Seattle time. We were quite tired, as I'm sure you can imagine, and fell asleep by about 8:30 pm, waking up this morning at 4:00 am Japan time. The hotel is nice, and it seems most of the workers here are bi-lingual, which makes sense given the amout of tourism they must get here. There is also an "American Sports Bar" and "California Restaurant" here too. Interesting note, like in the US, the hotel here had a copy of the bible in it, but also a copy of the teachings of Buddha.

Japanese money is interesting. So far what I have seen is 1, 10, 50, 100 yen coins and some paper yen notes that don't look too different from some of the newest US dollars. The 50 yen coins have a hole in the middle. My first Japanese purchase was a bottle of apple juice from a vending machine.

Tessa will post soon too, hopefully.

Less Than 13 Hours till Takeoff!

ACK! What am I still doing up? I can't turn my brain off. Too much information to process, and re-process, and on and on.

We said goodbye to 5615 Phinney Ave N. today, our first apartment together and a place of many happy memories for us. Except for the mold problem. Really not going to miss that. . .

Tomorrow we get up around 7am or so, pack a few last minute toiletries, get our documents together, and bid Seattle a fond farewell.

Our first plane takes off around 1pm, then we arrive in Vancouver, BC around 2pm. Around 3pm we get on our Japan Air flight and 1o+hours later we arrive at Narita Int'l Airport! (1:30am-ish PST, 5:30 pm Saturday Japan time!!) Then we take a shuttle to the nearby Radisson hotel and either crash into bed or stay up for hours on end, depending on how we respond to jet lag and time zone issues.

Monday morning we go back to the airport, catch a bus, and 2 hours later arrive in Mito, where our company headquarters are located. We will stay in a small hotel there for several days.

Tuesday morning we begin training, and supposedly will meet a Board of Education, whose directors will ask us fairly superficial questions, and when we pass with flying colors, we might just finally find out what city/town we'll be living in for the next year!!!! We'll also meet 30 or so other ALTs (Asst. Language Teachers) who will all be from other english speaking countries - can't wait to see where they're all from! We may make some good friends that we can hook up with later on.

Wednesday - more training.
Thursday - Moving to our new apartment somewhere within the Kanto region of Japan???
the next Monday - our first day teaching in Japanese schools (we think...)

There's a lot going on for us in the next several days, but we'll try to post at least once from our hotel in Narita just to let everyone know we've landed safely.

Take care, and we hope you'll leave a comment to let us know how you're doing!!

The Home Stretch is in Sight

We got a lot of moving things done yesterday, packing took a load down to the dump and a load down to our storage unit. Hopefully today we can get the last of our "big" things out of the apartment, i.e. a couple boxes, the mattress, one TV, a coffee table and an end table. We have less time today because I have to pick up my work Visa at the Japanese Consulate, teach my last class for SCT, switch vehicles with Tessa's dad, and drive up to Everett for dinner with my dad. At this point, we're shooting to have everything done by Thursday. Every day, we keep getting closer and closer...

On Sunday my mother threw a going away party for me. It was really a lot of fun, and it was great to see so many family members that I haven't seen in awhile. Everyone was so supportive of our trip. There was also a huge spread of yummy food that I am sure to miss in Japan.

Well, time now to take a shower and get ready for another long day...

Packing up!

It's really that time. Chris and I leave in exactly a week, and while we've made some headway there's still a ton to do! I just took this picture, which only shows about 1/3 of our box-filled, half-packed apartment. It's difficult to "find your center" when your home base is chaos. . .ugh.

Tomorrow we take most of the furniture to our storage unit, and will continue schlepping boxes over the next few days, thanks to my Dad's trusty pickup. (Actually, Dad's the trusty one) I haven't seen the unit yet, and keep having images of everything not fitting!

Next week we'll be cleaning the apt, not sleeping, running errands, packing what we're actually going to take to Japan, not sleeping, trying to study Japanese phrases, organizing our customs/flight info, picking up medical documents, dropping lots and lots of stuff at the Goodwill, trying to see friends one last time, visiting family members, not sleeping, and finally, picking up our visas from the Japanese Consulate - mine will be ready only 24 hours before we fly out, how's that for a nail-biter? Hmm....I don't know if this list is long enough ;)

The next time I post, I hope to God that we've received our placement in Japan! Then I can post links to info about that area, and start to find out a bit about it myself. Then I might start sleeping a bit more.

Please message or email Chris and I with your mailing addresses (if we don't already have them) so we can compile a good postcard list!

Take care, and send us luck!

Packing up.

This last week Tessa and I have finally started packing our things up. So far it has mostly been books, DVDs, X-box games, Vinyl LPs, etc; things we won't be needing for now. I loaded up the first round of boxes in my car and dropped them off at the storage space today. And so the move has begun...

Tessa spent this weekend visiting family on Orcas Island. Her family is spread out a lot more than mine, stretching all up and down the West coast and into New York. I'm fortunate enough to have my entire immediate family withing a 1.5 hour drive. I'm kinda starting to realize that I've taken their proximity to me for granted. I haven't visited them as much as I should have, and now I'm going to be away for (slightly) over a year without seeing them. Not to mention the friends I'm going to miss as well. I spent last night bar-hopping with Alina and some of her friends, and some mutual friends I have not seen in a while. To all my friends, I'm going to miss every one of you. Tessa and I are going to do our best to update this blog regularly so you all will know what's going on with us. Please let us know what is going on with you too!

We leave in less than 3 weeks, and I have 10 days left at Sears. Everything is going so fast!

24 Days to go!!!

In some ways, I wish the trip was here already. The anticipation is getting too much to handle. However, looking at the list of things we have to do in those 24 days makes me glad we have them. I don't know how it will all happen. I may start praying for heavenly assistance.

We're still waiting for our visas to show up. I'm watching the mail like a crazy woman, but it doesn't seem to hurry anything up. I guess watched pots and all that. . .

I may be vigilant about visas, but for packing up the apartment? That's a different story. I know it needs to be done, but it's going to be such a big chore that it's starting to loom over me like a black cloud of doom. I think I'm also nervous and a little sad to pack up our life that we've built together in our apartment. Obviously we'll still live together in Japan, but in the beginning we're not going to have much and the apartment there is going to be tiny and barren. But there's something to be said for de-cluttering your life to such a degree - we're going to take only the essentials with us, so it'll be a lesson in undoing our own materialistic tendencies.

Before I go, I'll leave you with this short youtube video. It was produced by our employer, the Heart English School, to entice young college grads like ourselves into moving to Japan to teach.

Enjoy the songs, they're my favorite ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-akA3FXF5B0