Day -43: The Best News

Wahoo!! We got the best news! Looks like my wife has been placed in Mie as well! ... In fact, in the euphoric afterglow of receiving the news, I think I may even have told the person acting as our interface to the JET Programme that I could kiss him >D. (Names have not been mentioned to protect the innocent.)

Thank you to the organisers of the JET Programme for working so hard to make us happy :D. It's such a relief to know that my wife will have a sense of purpose while being in Japan. (Not that she wouldn't have found a sense of purpose, but rather it's so comforting to know what that sense of purpose is before leaving for such a foreign country.) I think it's really a testament to the fact that the organisers recognise the importance of making sure that everyone is comfortable and feels secure when they first arrive. Maybe it's an acknowledgement that we're about to embrace a huge amount of change, and perhaps the organisation is hoping it helps provide a degree of security for us.

Despite the fact that we haven't received definitive proof of where exactly (i.t.o. the city) we're going to be living, I feel quite confident that the organisers are trying their utmost to make sure that my wife and I are placed within a reasonable distance from one another.

So now, it's on to more practical things:

For starters, in exactly one weeks time the Cape Town JETs will have our local pre-departure and orientation meeting. As far as I understand it, the intention is to meet-and-greet, and it serves as a platform to ask any questions we may have.

I'm not sure whether I'm being a bit blasé about it all, but so far, I don't really have many questions... other than questions about medical insurance, which is a bit of a concern for me, and even then, I don't think it's the kind of questions this meeting is intended to answer.

I am looking forward to meeting the other adventurers that will be joining me on this journey :D. For that reason alone I'm very excited about going next Saturday.

In the meantime, we have a lot to do this week:

• Officially request my visa from the Japanese embassy
• Prepare our apartment for rental
• Read the General Information Handbook (200+ pages)
• Familiarise myself with the Accident Insurance Policy Guide (which is a document we received in the post this week)
• Oh... and learn Japanese :D

Nail Biting Stuff

So it's been a week since I heard about being placed in the prefecture of Mie for my tenure as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) on the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (JET Programme).

This is wonderful news, as my wife and I had asked to be placed somewhere Rural. Even if we're placed in one of Mie's larger cities, it's still going to feel a lot less urban than living in the CBD of one of South Africa's capital cities. :D

I am very excited about my placement, but there's a fair amount of anxiety about my wife's placement which is still inconclusive at the moment. Even though we've received some reassurance that the programme tries wherever possible to locate spouses within a reasonable distance from one-another, it's still not the kind of conclusive reassurance that we as Westerners derive from, for example, both my wife and I signing a legally binding contract saying "By signing below you accept your position at location X."

This is apparently a typical difference between Western-business-philosophy and Eastern-business-philosophy. In fact, when I contacted the powers-that-be regarding progress for the second time this week (Ok, I know, I know I probably should have been patient and not phoned twice in one week, but it's something that's really causing us a lot of anxiety!), I was told in a fairly firm tone that my actions seemed to imply that they had the information and were nonetheless withholding it from me. I was then told that when they know, they'll let us know.

Now just to be clear, this is not the modus operandi here in South Africa, where customer service is, without being sensational, honestly quite appalling.

What follows is not an exaggeration:

On the same day that I followed up for the second time on progress regarding our placement, 

• I had arranged to meet someone at my apartment between 9am and 12am for an inspection. She never arrived and did not try to contact me. I followed up with her to find out what was going on. She then said she needed to speak to her husband and then would phone me back... which she did not.
• I had to go back to the Department of Home Affairs that still had no record of us giving them a very specific official document, despite us giving them a copy... certified by the police... twice. They didn't inform me that anything was missing. I had to phone them to find out that they needed my input.
• I met a letting agent who said she would pop in to our apartment before leaving after her day's work. She didn't arrive that day (although in her defence she did come the next day).

So the point I'm trying to make here is that here in South Africa, if you want something done, you need to follow up and make sure that things are proceeding smoothly.

Now I'm in the position where I feel stressed and have been discouraged from pro-actively seeking reassurance.

Mamma Mie! This is going to be a bumpy ride.