Yokohama- bound

A lot has happened since the last time I posted and most of it has happened in last couple of days. On Thursday, January 20th I was called by the head of placement for Interac informing me that my placement would be in Yokohama should I choose to accept it. I knew at the time that I wanted to accept it, but I wanted to talk to my family about things first. I thought "HOW LUCKY!!!" since I have already seen the area (the last time I was in Japan) and I would be placed right near my friends in Tokyo! It's also a huge city, so I don't have to worry about driving and things of that nature. I also have access to the rail system. Time to add money onto my PASSMO! ^_^

Over the weekend I confirmed that I wanted to take the assignment and received an email bright and early Monday morning stating that I would be contacted by the Yokohama office with the dates for training and arrival, which happened a couple days later (2 days ago). Finally with dates in hand I contacted my friends living in Japan (primarily Tokyo) to let them know I where I would be living and what I would be doing. I'm ridiculously excited. :D I will be teaching 2-3 junior high schools in the area.

Today, I bought my plane ticket. I was told to arrive on the 15th of March and I would have until the 20th to find an apartment. Of course Interac will be helping me with all of this (including paying for the hotel I will be staying in), which is incredibly awesome. I'm flying Air Canada (for the 1st time! WOOH!) from Houston to Toronto to Narita. I will have my training in Yokohama from the 21st- 25th. I'm hoping that I will have internet in my apartment once I move in, but that may or may not happen.

For now, I am working on getting everything I will possibly need to live in Japan for a year together. I'm thinking about starting to throw some things in a suitcase (that I won't need to be using here for the next month) just to figure out space and things I might be forgetting. As of right now I also don't know the status of my COE or Visa. I haven't been informed yet, but I'm not too concerned.

And because I don't want this entry to be too boring, here are some pictures of Yokohama I took last time I was there in the summer of 2009.

PS: I never finished reading the etiquette book, but I did read all of Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice and am 1/2 way through Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice. I will finish reading the etiquette book soon though and review it in an upcoming blog.