let's go exploring

Packing is going swimmingly! Well, sort of. Now that I've put a heap of my books into cardboard boxes, I have to contend with everything that I'm planning on: 1. sending ahead to Kobe, and 2. presumably getting rid of, since there's not enough space for all of them. I feel like I should take an inventory of all the books I own, but I think it's a little too late for that. *g* At any rate, looking through my old notebooks/journals/sketchbooks has the effect of making me flip through every single one of them, albeit briefly.

While going through one of my journals, I also found an entry with brief notes I took on Persepolis for an article in the Free Press a couple of years ago. In honor of my new icon, I'll c&p them here.

( FROM 2008 )

Tomorrow, I have to pick up the rest of my money in traveler's checks from the bank, and then go to the dentist for the last time in hopefully a very long while. The day after that, Ellen is coming over to help me finish the rest of my packing, and then I'm going to the pre-departure orientation in the city. Later, I'm meeting a childhood friend I haven't seen since fourth grade (!) for dinner, and then...after that? Who knows! Probably more packing, I'm sure.

Okay, like I promised! An update on my life. It's been so long since I've written anything here; I feel like I have several months worth of catching up to do. So, first things first:

I found out about my placement with JET, and as it turns out, I'm going to be in Kobe! Not even just Hyogo Prefecture; the actual city. I...just...asj;fkfgjk, wow.



I never expected that for a second. Especially because the first choice I put down on my application was Sendai, Miyagi, all the way back in November of last year. (Which also happens to be all the way in Tohoku.) The best guess I can make is that someone saw I requested an urban placement and that my second and third-place choices were both in the Kansai region, so they figured that Kobe would be a good match for me.

I was lucky enough to visit Kobe last summer, so I have an idea of how the city looks, particularly around Sannomiya. In fact, I remember really loving the atmosphere and architecture because of its strong European influence. Still, I'm looking forward to finding out more information from my contracting organization in early July. I've heard that most unmarried JETs end up in either Hanayama or Gakuentoshi, the latter being the more suburban of the two. Since I'm pretty much dying to know more about where I'll be staying -- and what schools I'll be working at! -- I doubt these next few weeks can go by too soon.

More benefits? Excellent public transportation (which means that I don't need to get a car), plenty of options for entertainment, shopping, and food, quite a few other Kobe JETs in the area, and a tight-knit English-speaking foreigner community along with a large minority population. Since it's a port city, it also transitions from sea to city to mountains very quickly. In addition to that, I'll have the chance to visit Kobe's Chinatown! And from what I remember, it's supposed to be very metropolitan and fashionable, which should be interesting.

I was preparing to wind up someplace inaka, which I would've been happy with as well, but. Yeah. Wow.

EEEE SO EXCITED.

Okay. I've been stalling on this for months, but at some point I figured I should go ahead and talk about my JET interview.

Or in other words, mention everything I've been telling my friends for weeks and weeks, rather than relegate everything to the back of my head while I read JET forum posts. Which, let's be honest, is actually a very tempting option! The results of the interview I had in February are coming out sometime this week (anywhere from the first until the tenth), and as much as I'm trying to convince myself that I don't care about what happens, in all honesty, I am a little nervous.

Really. :D

Part of this may be due to the fact that the application process is so very long. The online app was up in early October, my written app had to reach the Washington consulate by November 24th, I received word that I scored an interview in early January, and my aforementioned interview was on February 16th. That's a month-and-a-half gap. And from what I've found by looking up information online, candidates in the U.S. seem to be the only ones who receive no hint as to what their chances are before the results come out.

So as of right now, I'm going to stop imagining each and every little thing I could have done wrong during the application process, and c&p some post-interview thoughts I had while talking to everyone instead.

( JET INTERVIEW )

And now, all I have to do is keep my fingers crossed a few more days! No matter what happens, I think I can deal with it.

I must have done something right in my application, because I just got an email from the JET consulate in Washington telling me I've been selected for an interview, mid-February.

May I allow myself a tiny moment of exultation? HELL. YES.

To say that I'm excited would be beyond an understatement.