5 more days

If you include today, it's 5 more days until I take off for Tokyo. The flurry of activity is starting to die down as all the loose ends are straightened out and everything is falling into place. So with some time to spare, let me summarize what's been happening since May.

The first half of June was spent trying to get in contact with the current JET living on the island. I spent countless hours searching through Google for anything and everything about Shinkamigoto. It wasn't until I stumbled upon Theresa's Blog. I learned that she's currently on the island as a JET. After reading through her blog, I fired off an email in hopes to finally get a lead on what I'm getting myself into. Luckily, she responded and told me that she knew the person I would be taking over for! It was a great break because I had no clue what to bring, nor what was already available to me.

A couple days after finding her blog, I received an email from a girl named Victoria. Since then, I've received nothing but useful information about the apartment, area, schools, people I'll be working with, etc. She also informed me that she'll be leaving notes, instructions, and basically anything I need to know. I sincerely hope to meet up with her soon to show my gratitude.

With the information she gave me, I can talk a little about my apartment. I'm going to be living in a two story apartment (which looks pretty furnished to me). She sent me pictures of the main floor, which is much bigger than what I anticipated it to be. The apartment complex itself was designed for teachers, so even my neighbor is a JET. I think I'll leave it at that for now, too many details to explain. Perhaps on another entry I'll go in-depth about my schools, area, etc.

Back on topic, about mid-June I started to collect my things for the trip. With all the information I had, my "to bring" list drastically reduced. I also sent out my passport out to the consulate so they can set my Visa. Around this time, I received an email from a 2nd year JET named Joe. He just introduced himself and gave me the information of the other JETs coming to the island. In my area there are four new JETs. Three of them are 1st years, while Joe is the 2nd year.

Towards the end of June and pretty much all of July has been keeping contact with the island people and collecting stuff to bring. I had a party at the end of June to celebrate my trip. It was pretty fun with all my relatives and friends coming over.

With only 5 days to go, I still have to gather some pictures, maps, and momentos from home to show the kids in Japan during my self introductions.