The Return

It's kind of a long, swirly path to how to got my job teaching English in Japan, but in short, after a couple of setbacks and changes of heart, I got a phone interview with a school in Sanyoonoda-shi and I suppose the rest is history. It was my lucky day (St. Paddy's Day) and paid off! I've spent the time since then getting my international driver's license (not that expensive, but stood in the wrong line for unfortunately, a very long time) and then my visa (this was a nightmare in which the hardest part was convincing my college to post my degree/transcripts, a long game of phone tag and assertive calls later, stuff got done), and then my plane ticket! Aiiie! But you gotta spend money to make money, right?

I will be filling in for a woman on maternity leave in just a few days, but many people aren't too familiar with the layout of Japan. You know Tokyo and maybe Kyoto and Kobe, famous for the Kobe beef which no one can afford to eat (I ate some "Kobe" beef, as in "this is beef and I'm in Kobe"). However, Tokyo is a long way away, and sadly so is my favorite city Kyoto but Hiroshima is 3 hours by normal train. Sanyoonoda (San-nyo-oh-no-da) is at the bottom of Honshu, the main island of Japan. Population: 68,000 roughly and cute little note is that in 2005 the cities of Sanyo and Onoda combined to bring us the city it is today! Apparently it is a little industrial town, with a manmade beach that I look forward to getting to know called "Kirara" Beach. The plan is on Tuesday I leave for take off at 6:50 am to Chicago, and then from Chicago to Tokyo, and from Tokyo to Fukuoka airport, a measly hour or so away by plane. Grand total of air travel time is around 18 hours with a landing time of 3 am to my sleepy body but around 7 pm to the Japanese population. It's gonna be fun! But really, I mean it.


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