Day -18: !@#$'s Getting Real

Today I sold my car.

Yesterday afternoon I met with a prospective buying in Somerset West, a town close to Cape Town. After introducing the car, the buyer and I agreed on a price and that was that. Super-simple.

But my wife and I drove home with an air of silence as the magnitude of the decisions we've made suddenly seemed so much more tangible. 

We drove home, knowing that there was a pretty good chance that would be the last time that we would be making that trip by car before leaving for Japan.

Even driving around running errands this morning, I knew that if I used that road again, it would probably be with public transport, and I wouldn't have the luxury of just being able to stop and take a photo of a beautiful sunset, or of the mist rolling in.

During the ride home, I think I even heard my wife say, "Shit's getting real." And it is... with less than 20 days to go, shit is getting real.

The buyer made good on their word, and the trade was made. The little car that has served me so faithfully over the last seven years is now in someone else's grubby paws.

I know it's just a material possession, but it certainly feels like our material possessions get imprinted with the memories we make in their presence.

Day -22: Matsusaka

This has been a tremendously exciting week for my wife and I! The board of education informed the JETs that are leaving at the end of their contract that they could start contacting their successors.

On Tuesday morning, my predecessor contacted me via an eloquent and friendly email, and gave me two valuable nuggets of information:


Firstly, I will be living in the city of Matsusaka, Mie for the next year.
Secondly I will be working at two schools for the next year. The schools are:
1. Matsusaka Commercial High School or Matsusaka Shogyo in Japanese (or simply Matsusho for short), and
2. Kameyama High School


Matsusaka

(Thank you JapanGuides.net for this image.)

According to Wikipedia, Matsusaka is a city of about 170 000 people. The city has a large area and as you can see, it stretches across the width of the entire prefecture. Matsusaka means "pine slope", and a neat way of remembering that is that Osaka is actually O-saka, with an honourific O followed by Saka for "slope". Now you know a new Japanese word ;).

It seems probable that Taryn and I will be living about 10km from the eastern coastline of Mie.

Matsusaka Commercial High School

It seems that I will be spending about 80% of my time at Matsusaka Commercial High School. This school is about 5 km from our place of abode, and apparently it's a scenic bicycle ride to work in the morning.

Kameyama High School

I will be spending 20% of my time at Kameyama High School. This school is... actually I haven't figured out where exactly yet :P. I'll get back to you on that one :D.

Iinan High School

Taryn will be working at Iinan High School, which seems to be about 25km away from our HQ at Matsusaka. According to Google this will be a 50 minute commute, however it looks like a mindbogglingly beautiful area, and hopefully the scenery will make the drive worthwhile.

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. 

Mamma Mie!

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

Lastly and most excitingly, it also contained a document detailing the placements of the South African JETs in Japan.

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

List of things to do (before moving to Japan)

This article is going to act as my scratch-pad of things to do and questions to answer before we make our "groot trek" (in English: big journey) to Japan.

I'll try add to this article as time goes by, and hopefully by answering my own questions, I may be able to answer some of the questions other people may have as well.

Questions Still Inspiring Mystery:

Question 1: Decide on whether or not do discontinue my South African medical aid.

Question 2: Is it financially feasible to ship across some of our gear from South Africa? What are the costs, and what are the ETAs?

Question 3: Does Japan have long pants that would fit me (34W - 32L) or will I need to pick that up before I go?

Question 4: Is it true that Japanese shampoo doesn't play nicely with my golden celtic locks?

Question 5: Could I, or even should I, continue my studies through UNISA while in Japan?

Question 6: Organise a managing agent for our property.

Question 7: Organise omigane

Question 8: Organise an international driving license.



Answered Questions:


Question 1: Is our contraceptive pill (Yasmin) available in Japan?

Answer: 

Crap. Apparently not. At the moment we're thinking of trying to convince family and friends to bring it over with them.

If using friends and family as drug mules doesn't work out, we may consider Marvelon which some random forum mentions as being chemically similar to Yasmin. (Legal disclaimer: We accept no responsibility for children created as a result of using Marvelon.) Apparently the pill looks likely to cost about 2000 to 3000 yen per month, or about R208-R312, about twice as expensive as South Africa.

Update: Ok, Yasmin and other foreign contraceptive pills may be available from online stores, although it may take some proficiency in Japanese to be able to navigate these websites. Also, in some of the urban centres it may be possible to find these contraceptives in speciality pharmacies that specialize in supplying foreign medication.

Question 2: Figure out how to transfer money from Japan to South Africa
Answer: How To: Transfer Money to and from Japan

The JET Opportunity: Part II

Ok, so where was I... oh yes, I remember... I was going to tell you why I consider the JET opportunity to be such a great opportunity for me.

As for my Work: The Present (or at least the near future)

Over the last few years I've been wondering about what I could do to increase the level of satisfaction I was getting from my work. I have known that I've wanted to do something with more of a social benefit, something that would make a difference to people's lives, and something that would allow me to invest in relationships. 

Teaching seems to fit all these criteria, but in order for me to even attempt such a thing, I would need to do a one year bridging course to sidegrade my bachelors in commerce to some kind of teaching diploma. So by being a member of the JET programme I get to benefit from this opportunity that will facilitate me tasting what it would be like to be a teacher for real, without having to invest a year studying, and while earning substantially more than the average South African teacher... Ok, to be honest I don't really know how much teachers earn, but I think JET pays better.

As for my Wife

If my wife is also accepted as a JET participant, then we'll have two JET salaries, which means that we'll really be able to live comfortably in Japan, and hopefully make good progress in beating back our mortgage. This would also serve to close the financial opportunity cost incurred by leaving my career. In addition to this, if my wife is accepted, she would also be happier on a personal level, as she has always found it to be very rewarding to teach, and I suspect even more so if she gets to work with "little people". The responsibility and routine of teaching would also act as an emotional anchor for her; and the financial independence would empower her, as thus far she has been an employee, or even a slave, to her doctorate degree.

As for Japan...

So why Japan you may ask... and many people have (which I've found quite surprising).

As mentioned in my original post, going to Japan has always been a dream. To find that elusive something that I'll remember when I discover it for the first time.

If this is too airy-fairy or wishy-washy for you (and really, if I was reading this instead of writing it, I wouldn't be at all satisfied with that poor excuse for a reason), then I'll provide you with some more concrete description of what I'm hoping for from this adventure.

As for Japan: Nature

I believe that Japan has a lot to offer in terms of natural beauty. We've asked to be placed among mountains. Forests are a given I'm sure. And then there's snow, something that our country has, but very few people get to enjoy it, and there's never enough for the purposes of skiiing. It would blow my mind to wake up in a winter wonderland, with the doodles of Jack Frost graffiti'ed upon my window panes. Despite being of Caucasian descent, this could be my first real white Christmas. (Di dum dish! Enter the first bad race related pun. Yes, South Africans go there, cautiously and with respect, and let's be honest, if it's going to be done, don't you want it to be done by someone with experience walking this little tight-rope?)

<ahem>... where was I? Oh yes, why Japan?

As for Japan: The Language 

In addition to the aforementioned, I love languages, in fact, just this year I've invested time to learn 2. The first being Latin (it's a long story), and Japanese for the obvious reason that it'll be very useful to me when I live in Japan. This Japanese interest of mine is something I'm hoping to bring into my future after Japan, somehow as well. I haven't quite connected the dots just yet, but life has taught me that if you get good enough at something, then opportunities will find you. Also I'm hoping, and here the more enlighten will probably correct me, but I think there's some not insignificant overlap between the kanji used in Japan and that used in China. Chinese is another language I hope to develop some proficiency in before I throw off this mortal coil. In this sense, it may be beneficial for me to pursue the reading of Japanese, as it may simplify my acquisition of Chinese in the future.

As for Japan: Culture

Finally, I'm hoping that by spending some time in Japan, I'll have the opportunity to absorb some of the culture. 

In particular, I would love to assimilate that part of their culture that tries to make even the most mundane and gloryless task into an expression of art. I really and sincerely mean this.

The other thing I like about Japan is that the culture is relatively collectivist, meaning that there is a cultural emphasis on the collective, rather than only on the individual. I know that South African's are supposed to have the whole Ubuntu thing going on, but I just don't see it. Perhaps this is also my own fault, but I'm hoping to be inspired by the relatively collectivist attitude of the Japanese.

As for Japan: The Challenge

Despite being demographically a minority in South Africa, the weight of wealth concentrated in my demographic is such that I never have to speak any language other than English. So in going to Japan, I hope that I will be forced to be the consumer of peoples tolerance. I know it will be difficult on all kinds of levels, but as I expressed to someone earlier this week, only in triumph over adversity can one demonstrate their own strength. For my wife and I, this is part of a trial aimed at sharpening us as individuals; a rite of passage.

Oh my god! It's after twelve... that means I'm about to turn into a pumpk...