The Final Countdown

I just hit me...WE'RE MOVING TO JAPAN!!

It seems as if I haven't convinced myself yet that we'll be living in Japan for a year.

This past week has been incredibly busy for the both of us. We had our final yard sale and going away party. We packed, cleaned, and vacated our apartment with the help of my parents and little brother. We drove to Clovis with the cats to visit Tyler's side of the family. Then Tyler's parents drove us to San Antonio to drop off the cats with Tyler's brother and his wife. Tyler will be staying in San Antonio for a couple more weeks then she will be joining me in Japan just in time to celebrate our one year anniversary.

If you've been following our journey, you'll know that I am writing you on the eve of my departure. Thanks to the Holiday Inn that has free WiFi and my air conditioned Ford Focus rental car, I am able to keep you as up-to-date as possible. I have around five hours to waste before I can check in to my hotel. Tonight I will be attending a Pre-departure Orientation and reception to follow. I will breathe my last breathes in the US tonight then depart for Japan early tomorrow. I will follow the sun around the globe (literally) until it I arrive in Japan on Sunday in time for 2-3 days of orientation in Tokyo. I believe I will be in Ichinohe by Wednesday or Thursday. Many things are unclear at this point, but I will keep you as current as/when I can. I promise.

Thanks for following!

4th of July trip to Northern NM

We went to Eagle's Nest for an old fashioned, all-American 4th of July celebration this year. I was craving the type of 4th of July you read about of see in movies. Here are some of the pics from our trip.

Pic of our place in Japan, check out how close we are to the train!!!

Alright, I'm just kidding. This is the type of humor you're subjected to when you work in an architecture firm. Don't you wish you were so lucky?

I know, I know. It's been a while

I'm not sure it the Sandias are becoming more beautiful of if I'm coming down with a case of pre-departure home sickness, if it even exists.

It's hard to believe that we will be leaving for Japan in less than a month; I'm starting to enter "Panic Mode" as we have so much to do still. Before I leave you anxiously awaiting another blog entry, I want to let you in on some updates. I have added a feature to the blog that allows you to subscribe via email. You will receive a copy of each post from the blog as they are posted. I have not used this before, but it seems pretty convenient. To subscribe, enter your email in the box to the right and follow the instructions.

Just a quick update on our end

Not much has changed since we've last posted, but I figured I would update you with a few of the details on our end. We've decided to look for part time work to raise money to help us get to Japan and stay out of debt. Tyler just completed her two week training and started working her regular schedule for the call center. I am anxiously awaiting the approval to start my new job auditing lifeguard's response to emergencies at the pools. Also, I will be going into the studio with my band on Friday and Saturday to record a 4 song demo cd (maybe we'll be big in Japan).

We have not done much more preparing for Japan. We've begun getting rid of useless junk at our first of 2 yard sales n which we rose $450! I also purchased some "inside only" shoes per a requirement at my schools and I picked up some gifts for my prospective students. Tyler had the great idea of handing out New Mexico quarters to them. I have been speaking with my predecessor who has been an awesome resource for us. He has given me lots of specific information that will help us with these final 2 pre-departure months. Thanks a lot Scott. Also, the JET coordinator in Denver, Jessyca, continues to amaze me with the wonderful job she is doing.

For those of you that are using the links above, we have added another one that we've found to be quite helpful called "All About Teaching in Japan" and one for entertainment purposes called "Japanese Bug Fights" (courtesy of my dad).

Until later....

Placement in Japan

We recieved news of my placement in Japan today! We're moving to Ichinohe, Iwate. Ichinohe (meaning "First Door") is a town of ~15,000 people in the state of Iwate. Iwate is the largest state on the main island of Honshu. Ichinohe is (apparently) located in the Northern area of Iwate, but we have a difficult time finding any information on our town.

Cold fronts from Siberia make this area very cold from late October through May which may make for some snowboarding opportunities as there are a few ski areas that are relatively close.

I've been informed that I will mainly be teaching in an elementary school and middle school and will be teaching an adult conversation class a couple times throughout the year. We will be living in an actual house that I believe my contracting organization owns. Hopefully this means rent will be cheap.

We missed Architecture school so...