Well kiddies, 'tis about one month before that terrifying time when I board a plane to destination unknown (okay, not quite so unknown.) In fact, in one month flat, I will be sitting, probably twitting with nerves, at a pre-Departure Orientation, asking myself if this could really be happening, if I forgot anything, who are my fellow Kagawa newbies.
They've started releasing information about the Tokyo Orientation, and AJET has sent us all a pretty PDF file crammed with bureaucratic goodness. Still no word from my predecessor or BoE (Board of Education) though. People on the JET forum say not to worry, that I'll most certainly get contact information before I leave, but I am the eternal paranoid. Lately I've begun packing boxes (mostly of books) only to unpack them, realizing that even if I did finish packing them I'd have no idea where to send them. At least I have a better idea now how to ship them.
With only a month left, the inevitable questions have started floating to the surface on the JET forum; these questions largely consist of one common theme... "What the F*** was I thinking??" One in particular-a post about dealing with long distance relationships-touched a little of a raw nerve. I've been awful lonely 'round these parts this summer.... What with most of my friends up and graduated and gone. Soon I'll be leaving too. Will I fall out of contact with everyone I know on this side of the Pacific? Will I make any friends in Japan... or will I be as lonely there as I am here?
It's such a strange realization, that time has crept up on you. I've been planning and schemeing and dreaming about JET and Japan since my early years in high school. Even once I discovered I'd been short listed, I was 98% excited, 2% nervous. But as the time grows shorter and shorter, I'm becoming 50% excited, 50% terrified. What will life be like, I wonder? What will the people be like? I guess... there's nothing to do but jump in and find out.
And blog about it, of course.
They've started releasing information about the Tokyo Orientation, and AJET has sent us all a pretty PDF file crammed with bureaucratic goodness. Still no word from my predecessor or BoE (Board of Education) though. People on the JET forum say not to worry, that I'll most certainly get contact information before I leave, but I am the eternal paranoid. Lately I've begun packing boxes (mostly of books) only to unpack them, realizing that even if I did finish packing them I'd have no idea where to send them. At least I have a better idea now how to ship them.
With only a month left, the inevitable questions have started floating to the surface on the JET forum; these questions largely consist of one common theme... "What the F*** was I thinking??" One in particular-a post about dealing with long distance relationships-touched a little of a raw nerve. I've been awful lonely 'round these parts this summer.... What with most of my friends up and graduated and gone. Soon I'll be leaving too. Will I fall out of contact with everyone I know on this side of the Pacific? Will I make any friends in Japan... or will I be as lonely there as I am here?
It's such a strange realization, that time has crept up on you. I've been planning and schemeing and dreaming about JET and Japan since my early years in high school. Even once I discovered I'd been short listed, I was 98% excited, 2% nervous. But as the time grows shorter and shorter, I'm becoming 50% excited, 50% terrified. What will life be like, I wonder? What will the people be like? I guess... there's nothing to do but jump in and find out.
And blog about it, of course.
