Done with training... off to DAIGO!!!

In a couple of hours, I will shove off from Tokyo's Asakusa Central Hotel, and spend the night in Mito. In the morning, I will frantically run around trying to convince the town of Daigo-machi that I am a real person, and that I am really here. Then I will get an apartment, and a car, and a keitai (cell phone). Then I will crash.

Steven Wagner, from the Atlanta area, will live in apartment 102. I will live in 101. 6,500 miles from home, and I live next door to another Georgia boy from 2 hours away. Small world.

I will be split between two junior highs, and 3 elementary schools. This is gonna be IN-TENSE.

The jet lag is crazy. I'm doing my best to be genki (fine, happy, swell, upbeat) and keep everyone else the same. I'm really looking forward to being in Daigo and seeing my 'home' and getting a feel for the town, wandering around in the woods, and just breathing deeply.

I must say, there are some rather overwhelming undercurrents of emotion, already, but I'm so happy to be here, and can't wait for the adventure ahead.

Now where did I put my train ticket....

日本語で Nihongo de 'in Japanese'

This, ladies and gents, would be Daigo-machi. The name of Daigo is smack in the middle of the picture. It's three characters that look like an upside-down 'V' with a horizontal bar, a funky 7 with a horizontal bar, and another one with a box on the left with a cross in it, crammed up against a small 't'. Good luck, he he.

Well, I'm off to re-pack... for the third time... and probably not the last.

Remote Publish

What's green and has wheels?

Grass! I lied about the wheels.

Crisis Averted... Nothing to see here folks.

Do you know what makes me really happy? Not losing my passport.

I realized a few days ago that it wasn't where it should have been, and I figured it had gotten placed in a pile of stuff or fell under the bed. I poked around, didn't find it, and put off actually finding it for tommorow. Well, last night rolled around, and I REALLY looked, and couldn't find it anywhere... and I mean ANYWHERE.

I was up until 2 hunting and praying. This morning I was supposed to drive to Miami to pick up my work visa, but I realized that w/o the passport, it wouldn't do me any good. They would have to re-issue a new work visa for a new passport, and even the expedited passport would take 2-3 weeks. So I came home again and took my room and the stuff that I had packed apart, bit by bit. Let me tell you, few things are as demoralizing as unpacking your stuff for a huge trip before you even get there. Its like admitting defeat, psychologically.

So my mom sudgests, "Maybe you left it at the consulate." I say, "Mom! No. (With a very sure, almost demeaning tone.) I'm sure I didn't do that. I mean, I'll call, but I am positive that I did not do that. I remember looking in my backpack and seeing it in there, while I was on the beach, after I left the consulate." (Keep in mind, I regularly manufacture my own memories on a regular basis.)

And now, let us read from the book of Second Humiliations 3:19

"And Lo! Joshua was in most grave error, and did make an utter fool of himself!"

Me and my brilliant forethought, which have learned to save me from myself, had left my passport with the official at the embassy ON PURPOSE so that I wouldn't lose the passport while I was waiting for the visa to get processed. Brilliant, huh? I know, I know, a very clever move. Actually remembering that I had done that and saving myself a real crisis of patience and faith would have been equally nice. Though, I must say, it is good to have all the benefits of a crisis of faith without any of the actual dangers that would would make the crisis at all dangerous.

So, all is well. I'm driving back down to Miami tommorow to pick it up, and all is well.

Crisis averted. 6 days to take off, and all I gotta do is repack. Whug.

My side of Japan...

This is a map of Daigo-machi and the surrounding area. I will be somewhere in Daigo for the coming year, teaching English in the public school system. Its a pretty neat area, from what I've been able to gather.

There are hot springs all around... Japan being a not-so-dormant volcanic island, after all. It gets so cold in the winter, though, that nearby Fukuroda no-taki, which is Fukuroda Falls, the third most beautiful waterfall in Japan, freezes solid. People even ice climb up it apparently!

Well, that's the breakdown on my little village. As always, if you're reading this, you've got a place to stay when you come to visit Nihhon! Sayonara <{><

The countdown begins... 9 days, 17 hours

This is the home stretch, the final ten days before take off. At 9:36 AM I will fly out of Tampa, FL, and will land at Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan at 4:20 PM Tokyo time. All in all, that should take about 18 hours. I'll have to sleep on the plane, because otherwise I will be staying up for about 36 hours straight, and I don't think I've ever even broken 25 consecutive hours of consciousness.

People ask, "Are you nervous?" I should probably be more nervous than I am, but I've got Chad Hubbard and Cynthia Suich being nervous for me. That's more than enough. Plus, I'm more concerned about my Dad going to Kenya. All in God's hands, and all in good time. I've never found anxiety to be a worthy mate.

9 days and 17 hours to launch. Now where did I put those Japanese flashcards?