My life, Onegai Shimasu!

The handover is about to begin.

Have you ever given your life over to someone else? That's exactly what I am about to do. Not my whole life of course, but my life in Japan. My job, my car, my apartment, a lot of my belongings. My year here is up, and it is time for someone else to step into my shoes now. It's a weird feeling.

I'm waiting at school right now, and my successor and Micah's successor will be arriving in 20 minutes or so. They'll be fresh from the whirlwind arrival and 3-day orientation in Tokyo, and probably exhausted and overwhelmed. For the next few days, Micah and I will basically be training them to take over our lives. Because of overlapping contracts, both of us will be sharing the apartments with our successors for about a week, which luckily they agreed to readily. Today I had to finally move everything into my spare room, and get the apartment completely ready for it's new resident, even though I will still be there. I wanted it to feel as much like HER place as possible, so I got everything of mine confined to a small space in the spare room and left the place sparkling clean. I said goodbye to my apartment about an hour ago, because it's no longer mine. So far, that was one of the saddest goodbyes I've had to say -- I love my apartment!!

I think it will be fun actually, showing the two of them around town, taking them to all the good stores and restaurants and sharing all the helpful tidbits we have acquired during out time here. Most people on this program don't stay to help their successors, and the newbies spend the first month in a state of confusion and cluelessness. But Micah and I decided this was a much better way to do it; plus, neither of us is quite ready to leave our quiet little beachside town just yet.

I remember my arrival day as if it were yestday, probably because it was one of the most miserable days I had in Japan. Really! I hated that day. It was blazing hot, I was absolutely exhasted, totally nervous, and totally overwhelmed. And on your first day in your home prefecture, you have to take a hot 4 hour bus ride, sit through an even hotter opening ceremony, make a speech in Japanese to a whole bunch of new people, and then meet your supervisor and school principals. And usually, its blazing hot and humid, and of course you are wearing business clothes. What a day! It took about 2 weeks for my head to clear after my arrival. Hopefully the new people will be in better shape than I was! They have gotten a lucky break in the weather at least -- it's about 10 degrees cooler today that it has been.

So I guess I've come full circle. I like being in this place (at the end of the cycle) so much better than being where I was a year ago, that's for sure! Not worried about first impressions or making any faux-pas -- in fact I am wearing a tanktop and dangly earrings to work today, something I would have *never* done before. But now, who cares?!? And I'm about to meet two people who will be exactly where I was just one short year ago. In a way, I envy them because their adventure is about to begin, but in another way, I don't envy them at all!

Let the great handover begin!

Still here!

Hey everyone, I realize it's been a *really* long time since I last wrote! I've started dozens of entries in my head over the last month, and even have a few drafts only half finished, but for some reason I haven't felt compelled to do much blogging. I guess my mind has been pulled in too many other directions.

Right now, it's transition time ... again. Time to pack up my life and relocate, again. Time to wrap up a job and gear up for a new one, again. Time to say goodbye to all the people who have been a regular part of my life for the past year, again. It's a familiar place for me to be by now. If you count the times leaving home and leaving Korea, this is my fourth time doing it. It does get easier, thankfully.

And you know what? I actually really enjoy it - the process of officially ending one phase/place in my life and setting up a new one. Maybe I was a nomad in a past life? I'm not even sure why I like it. Is it the feeling of being able to "starting over," and getting away from all the things in this life that I'm not crazy about? The excitement of something new to come? I've always despised routine and too much regularity, so it's natural that a complete change in my life every few years is appealing to me.

One thing I really love, which I've just finally embraced recently, is packing. Yes, I said it - I like packing! Not necessarily the actual act of putting things in boxes, but the WHOLE PROCESS of moving all my belongs to another place. I like it because it forces me to downsize to only the things I really need to keep. I've always been amazed at how easy it is to amass a whole bunch of shit that I don't really want or need. It's like it happens independent of my will - the stuff just collects and when it's time to move I find myself going, "Where did all this crap come from?" Does it reproduce on it's own? (Now there's a good premise for a bad sci-fi!) But anyways, when I move, I get to, first of all, go through all my belongings and take a full inventory of my stuff, much of which gets forgotten about. And even better, I get to get rid of all that extra crap. And that is really, really refreshing.

I also love the process of moving all the stuff I keep into a new place. Since I get rid of everything I don't want, what left is mostly only stuff that is useful or meaningful to me - which makes the unpacking really enjoyable as well. I feel good about each and every item that I take out of the bag and find a place for in my new room. Sort of like when we used to decorate the X-mas tree -- each ornament has special meaning for my mom, so it was a joy for her to unwrap them and hang them on the tree each year.

And, even more fun, which I am really looking forward to this year, is digging into those boxes which have been left at home, stuffed away in corners of my old room and my parent's attic. You know, the stuff that doesn't need to come when you live abroad, but simply can't be thrown out because it is meaningful or just not practical to take along. Boxes of old letters, trinkets, kitchen stuff. It's going to be extra fun this year because I get to unpack my old classroom boxes after 3 years, and I'm tremendously excited about that.

This particular transition in my life is very different, because I have to get everything set up for my "new life" before I've wrapped up my current life. For most people on my program, it's a matter of getting everything taken care of here, then moving back home and ..... hanging out at mom and dad's house looking for a job for several months. But not for me! Unfortunately, the timing of the JET program is absolutely shitty for people who are teachers back home -- our contracts end only a few weeks before the school year in the US begins. So unless you're willing to be a sub for a year, try find a last minute job partway into the school year, couch surf, blow your savings, live at your parents, or get a temporary sales job - NONE of which I am willing to do right now, you've got to get it all set up from afar, while you are also in the process of bring your life in Japan to a close.

So for the past month, I've been finishing my classes, saying goodbyes to students, packing up my apartment and communicating with my successor, while also job, car and house hunting over the internet. It's a weird thing to do! Dividing yourself between two lives means never feeling fully engaged in either one.

But the good new is (here's the part where those of you who have been yelling, "So when the hell are you coming home and what the hell are you going to be doing?" can relax), I've got it all arranged already! Amazing what can be accomplished over the internet these days!

I'll be coming home on August 8th. 10 days later, on August 18th, I have to report for my first day of work, and shortly after that I'll start teaching. I will be a social studies teacher at Oakland Aviation High School, the same school I was doing administrative work at before I left for Japan. I'll be living in Alameda, sharing a house with 3 people who I've never met (it's much better than it sounds though, trust me), and hopefully riding my bike to work on most days. Just this past weekend, my awesome dad bought me a car, although he is making my pay him back. So all of the major details are taken care of, which takes a lot of weight off my shoulders!

As for now, these last two weeks in Japan should be really enjoyable. I'm finished at work, although I still technically have to go in for a few hours each day. I'm mainly using the time to set things up for my successor. She arrives on the 31st, and we share the apartment for a week. I've got to be all packed up and moved into the spare room before she arrives though, because I want it to feel like its HER place when she arrives. I'll spend a few days showing her the ropes at work and in town, then head to Tokyo to catch my flight home.

And in the meantime, I'm going to bed before 10, waking up around 6 to blue skies and the screech of cicadas, enjoying relaxing mornings, going to work for a few hours, exercising, cleaning the apartment and taking care of all the last minute details. Life is really nice right now. The heat is brutal, but I'm still riding my bike to work, and living 10 minutes for a great beach makes it pretty bearable. Farewell parties are this weekend, and for now I'm just enjoying my downtime before it's time to go.