On the afternoon of Friday the 26th May 2012, I received an email from Ryan Keet, the JET coordinator in Pretoria, South Africa. My wife was out shopping at the time, and since she's also a short-listed JET, I decided to chew on my fingernails until she returned home so we could read the email together. (Can you hear the sound of brownie points accumulating in the background?)
After what felt like hours of suspense, we read the email, and as expected, it contained a few more golden nuggets of information regarding our placement in Japan.
In particular, it contained the following information:
- Our departure date:
- 27th July: Fly from Cape Town to Johannesburg
- 28th July: Fly from Johannesburg, South Africa to Tokyo, Japan
- A link to the General Information Handbook for 2012
- Unexpectedly, it also contained a link to the Erin's Challenge, I can speak Japanese website, that apparently facilitates the study of Japanese
- Details about some upcoming meetings and upcoming administrative steps that need to be followed
Needless to say, finding out where we would be placed is a HUGE stepping stone towards being able to prepare ourselves psychologically and emotionally for the unfamiliar waters we're about to plunge into!
So with carefree abandon, my wife and I open the 'Distribution List.pdf' to receive sweet and sour news:
The sour taste stems from the fact that my wife's placement is still 'To be announced' :(. Needless to say, this is causing a fair amount of anxiety as we had hoped to be considered for placement together. My only hope is that the delay in her placement confirmation is administrative, and the powers-that-be know we're married, and know that us being placed within a reasonable distance is paramount to us accepting both positions. I don't think this is an unreasonable request, and hope that they agree.
The oh-so-sweet taste stems from the fact that I have been placed in the cosy and mostly rural prefecture of Mie!
At first I was like, "Mie-ken? Where's Mie-ken?"
<Scratch around... open Google Maps... find Mia Prefecture...>
"Oh... There's Mie. So what's Mie all about?"
<Scratch around...
Read Wikipedia page for Mie...
Read the Wikitravel page for Mie...
Scan the Mie Jet Guidebook (which totally rocks by the way!)>
"Ah! Ok, Mie looks pretty cool... wait, what was that.... Kinki region... Home of the Iga Ninja clan! Awesome!! Dude... They had me at Kinki ;D"
Subsequently I read so much that I woke up the next morning feeling like I'd spent a brutal night at the local Fight Club, but feeling happier too since Mie is now a slightly more familiar place.
I suspect that's gonna become a trend. :D
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