So today was my last full day in Canada, and I would have to say it was a pretty good one. I woke up at 6am and then said goodbye to Milo and Mia (and the rest of my family, but I’ll see them again at the airport). Then I drove to Marla’s house and spent some time there before her mom drove me to the subway station. I then took the subway to meet Ryan for lunch. Ryan got me a couple pictures to bring to Japan, which was really nice but I can’t post them here because they’re hardcopies. After lunch I took the subway back downtown for the final orientation meeting, which was pretty boring.  I did get my visa though, which is pretty cool looking. After that Marla met me and her dad treated us to dinner at the Bier Markt. Then Marla and I came back to her house, where we plan to watch tv for as long as we can stay awake.

All in all it was a very good day. I got to see my best friend, stay with Marla, and I got two free meals. Japan better be pretty nice, because I’m really gonna miss everyone here.

Yesterday Marla and my parents planned a party to celebrate me leaving the country, and lots of my friends and family showed up. I was really happy with how many people came because it’s not often I get to see some of my family, let alone everyone in one place.

Also, I ended up getting several gifts, and tons of money from people which was incredibly generous. I just want to thank everyone who came again, because I really appreciated the good wishes and the great send off.

Here are some photos Paige and Marla took:

See all the photos

For the past few weeks I have been corresponding with my predecessor in Asago, who is an ALT from Ottawa. He noted in his most recent e-mail that it would most likely be his last until we had switched countries. This makes perfect sense, as I am living in just under two weeks and he is leaving Asago slightly before then. However, I was still somewhat surprised at how quickly it had come. I know I’ve been counting the days until I leave, and am aware of exactly how much time I have left, but for some reason knowing that Ian is almost done there makes it seem much more immediate than my upcoming going away party, or all the luggage and supplied piled around my house.

Also, in his last e-mail Ian included several more tips for living and working in Asago, as well as an essay he had written about his experience. Frankly it scared the crap out of me. I guess I’ve been so bombarded by excitement and optimism from those who are planning everything that I haven’t really thought much about the challenges. I won’t get into all of those right now, because they are Ian’s experiences and I will provide my own when they actually happen. That said, there is one that I would like to share: Ian informed me that he just had his first bite from a Mukade which had snuck into his house and hid in his hand towel. This is a Mukade:

Apparently their bite is like a bee sting.

So I had decided early on that I would create a blog for my time in Japan. I used a blog to keep track of my senior thesis project, and I feel that this is even more appropriate. After looking around a little I decided that I didn’t really want to deal with the hassle of setting up new webspace (my current space with Morpheus Media will expire relatively soon), and some of the other online blogging services didn’t really seem appealing. Since I liked using WordPress before, I was happy to see that I could easily create an account on their web based system. So that’s what I did. I haven’t really gone over everything carefully yet, so commenting may not be that easy yet (or it could be too easy and there may be some garbage there soon).

Anyway, the point of this post was to describe some of the preparations I’ve done in order to be somewhat prepared for moving to the other side of the world for a year. Thanks to help from my friends and family, I have tons of Canadian memorabilia to give away as omiyage. Also, I have started picking up the larger gifts that I will give to my principals, co-workers, etc. I’ve been shopping a few times and have gotten nearly all the clothing I think I will need (although I’m sure this is not quite accurate). I’ve gotten my vaccines, converted some Canadian money to yen, ordered a laptop, and done a bunch of other small things that needed to be done. I think technically I’m doing pretty well in terms of getting ready, however I keep feeling like I’m running out of time very quickly and something important won’t be done. Fortunately, the JET Programme is very good at keeping things on track, which I really appreciate. I can’t actually imagine how much more complicated it would be if things like Visas, travel arrangements, and accommodations weren’t taken care of for me.

Anyway, that’s my first post, more will be up soon.