This will be the last time that I write in my blogg while still in the states. I depart for Japan on Tuesday and I have much to do still. My itinerary is as follows:
Dinner with Tomoko and Freddy, Trisha and Michael, Tommy, Lorie and Frankie this evening. Tomorrow: leave for the island and fare well party at Robert Mosses Beach with Sasha’s wonderful Family. Return on Saturday to pack up. Monday: go into the city and pick up my Visa at the Japanese Consulate. Monday evening: drive out to the Island and spend the night. Tuesday afternoon: Leave JFK @ 12:35 for Narita Airport, Japan. Wednesday: go through customs and get money exchanged, then go to the baggage sending desk and send 1 or 2 of your bags up to Kuzumaki, they will probably arrive before I do.
Then I will take the Narita express or Keisei Skyliner to Ueno station, this will take about 1 hour. I will get a hotel around Ueno for the night I arrive because I will arrive around nighttime. It will be nearby Ueno station .Then the next morning I will go to Ueno station's JR green window office and buy my Tohoku Shinkansen ticket to Iwate-Numakunai station.
Once I arrive in Iwate, Numakunai station, my host family, my replacement: Chris Sickels, will meet me and bring me to the house of my host family. I will stay with the host family for one week, then move into my new apartment (Rent free).
During the first few weeks this is what I will expect:
Drinking parities and welcome parties will start early September and these are fun but they will make the next days rough. I will be working.
I will need to bring gifts for the following people because they are throwing me a party: the Mayor, the Board of Education, and my Host Family.
Shopping for food and such.


When I start school:
I will be driving a stick shift and on the other side of the road, it will be backwards.
I will be traveling to 5 schools a week, for English classes at the nearby schools.

I also have a friend in Ichinomiya, Aichi. Yukiko is a girl I graduated college with. She is Japanese and back at home with her American “Cracker” son-of-a-bitch (she calls him). We will be meeting up for a lot of travel. Also I have another friend in Thaiwan, so I am sure I will be traveling to China as well. This is going to be great.

I made sure to say good buy to my parents (of whom I will miss very dearly), my Aunt and her boyfriend Dave, My best friend Holly and Tony, Gerry and Jerry, and my beautiful Grandmother, and a surprise stop from my Uncle Mark and his family. I will miss everyone a lot. But most of all, my cats Darhma and Bub Sumo and of course, You Sasha!

I am feeling a bit sad and scared, but I know that this move is a dream that I have had for 6 years, one that I am living!!! I have done everything I always wanted. I moved to New Orleans and now Japan. For that I am very happy. If I died tomorrow I would know that I did everything that I dreamed about and more.
So, give me some time to get situated and I will post pictures of what I see and write what I feel. I will try to show Japan through my eyes- and hope that many of you will visit, my door is open-
Besides, I have a lot of wonderful memories to take with me- I will never be alone.

I am leaving for Japan in 7 Days- Yippie!!!!!!

I think I could dye content....

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
...one old love she can imagine going back to.. and one who reminds her how far she has come... A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
...enough money within her control to move out and rent a place of her own even if she never wants to or needs to...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
..something perfect to wear if the employer or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour... A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
..a youth she's content to leave behind...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
...a past juicy enough that she's looking forward to retelling it in her old age...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
...a set of screwdrivers, cordless drill, and a black lace bra...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
..one friend who always makes her laugh... and one who lets her cry...
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
...a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family..
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
...eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems, and a recipe for a meal that will make her guests feel honored..
A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
...a feeling of control over her destiny...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW
..how to fall in love without losing herself...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW
..how to quit a job, break up with a lover, and confront a friend without ruining the friendship... and how to change a tire!!!!!!!
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW
...when to try harder... and when to walk away...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW
...that she can't change the length of her calves, the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW
...that her childhood may not have been perfect...but its over...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW
...what she would and wouldn't do for love or more...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW
..how to live alone... even if she doesn't like it...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW
...whom she can trust, whom she can't, and why she shouldn't take it personally...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW
...where to go... be it to her best friend's kitchen table.. or a charming inn in the woods... when her soul needs soothing...
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW ... what she can and can't accomplish in a day.. a month...and a year.

My friend Tomoko came over last night for our block party. it was for our neiborhood watch group. I am in the rockland journal today- i commented on the program we have set up here. It was a fun event though. we got drunk, danced to music, ate food, and made chalk drawings in the street. We also played Hop-Scotch....here is the clip-http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=/20050803/NEWS03/508030355/1019/NEWS03

there also was a treat. there lives a gentalman two buildings down and he is an old Drunk. he was sporting a pare of tattered Blue Geans and nothing else. he has no teeth and tons of tattoos. he came to the event and before we had the music set up he was blarring Cuntry Music. i guess he thought we all like that sort of thing. we made him turn it off. by the end of the night, the beer was tapped and he kept falling in the Gutter- that-a-boy!!!! i will miss him.

They say Water heals….i think they are right, especially when you are a Pisces. We are off to the Hamptons today for a week. The ocean is calling me and it is time to walk in and be fully submerged.
I will write and post pictures while away-

Well, Friday was my last day at work. My co-workers and bosses (minus Mr. Flatulent) took me out for Dim Sum for lunch. That was great, there were 13 of us. Around 3 they had cake for me. I hate cake, but I went anyway. Before I left I placed a bottle of BEANO on my boss’s desk with blue ribbons on it. He is getting back from Japan this week, so I will keep you posted as far as the reaction. I was also going to take a picture of it, but I forgot to put the memory card back into the camera. I posted a lot of pictures of the girls last week.
I know have 20 days left in the states before I depart to Japan. I am getting a little scared, but overall excited. This is an amazing opportunity for me and I know it is a great beginning to my future. I am so pleased!
Japan has sent me an Earthquake Manual- that was so cool yet surreal. There will be some many things that will be completely different for me. I look forward to the culture shock, I have had it before, and I know that it is very healthy for me. I am leaving a lot behind, all the things that Americans take for granted, like too much stuff, and all the extra things that make our lives to easy. In Japan, they don’t have a lot of Stuff and they have been doing fine for Centuries without it. This is going to be great.
In my apartment, because I am an ETA, it will have a lot of things that were left behind by previous ETA’s. my contact person, Chris, told me that there is a washing machine, satellite TV, radio, toaster oven there for me. They do not have dryers. They do not have central air or Radiators either. I will have a gas heater that is all. Though my bed frame is heated under the Tatami matt, this will be great. There is hot springs throughout the area as well for warmth. I can bath with the community or take my own showers. I want to do as the Romans do. I will have a Bicycle and a Car, provided by the Board of Education. I will be driving on the Left side of the road and I will have to get use to driving a stick on the other side in the car.
My work day will be 8 to 5 and I will be driving to 6 schools per week. I will also get a second job teaching and from what I have heard, it pays $100.00 per hour. This will give me extra spending money for travel to Indonesia, China, and India.

That is enough for now, but more will follow….