Next Stop: Japan!

I guess I will make the official blog announcement, for anyone that I haven't told already - I was accepted into the JET Program and will be going to Japan for one year to teach English. I leave on August 4th -- yes, that's really soon!!!

So far I only know that I will be somewhere in the Shizuoka prefecture, but I don't know which city or town yet. About a 2 hour train ride from Tokyo, Shizuoka is bordered by Mt. Fuji to the North and the Pacific Ocean to the South. It is famous for green tea, mandarin oranges, and hot springs. I've even heard it called the Japanese Riviera....oooooohhhhh :-) From all accounts, it is a lovely place to live, and I'm really excited about it.

Here is the official website:

http://www.pref.shizuoka.jp/a_foreign/english/index.html

So for now, I am working at Oakland Aviation High School as an enrollment and marketing person. OAHS is a small charter school that was started by my friend Jay Dunlap, who is also the principal. The job has made my time at home a wee bit more stressful and intense than I had planned, but it's also been a tremendous learning experience for me.

Ok, that is all for now.....if this post sounds a bit uninspired, it's probably because I only had a late night last night and am just about ready to surrender to the napping urge that I have been fighting off all day.....writing is just too big a task for me right now!