Random thoughts, comments, observations and general fluff from a random bint who left London at the end of September 2004 to embark on a new life and new adventures in Tokyo, land of the cute.... and is leaving mid-June 2010 - and counting!

Thursday, July 22, 2004

Countdown: Nine Weeks to go


I bought a toothbrush, some toothpaste, a flannel for my face
Pajamas, a hairbrush, new shoes and a case.
I said to my reflection, Let's get out of this place...
[Squeeze, Tempted]


Sooooooooo........
I love 'Tempted' and it always pops into my head and becomes my theme tune when I'm in transition, or wanting to be, which is several times a day at the moment.
Everything has happened so fast. I sent off my application to go to Japan just over three weeks ago, and within just over a week I'd had my interview, been offered a job, and accepted it . Whilst I don't have the exact departure date yet, it will be end of September or beginning of October. I'm panicking, but only slightly.
At the moment everything is in chaos, or at least it isn't, but should be and will be when my lists all turn up and the reality of just how much needs doing in how short a time is there in black and white.
I made a list of everything that needs doing. Somewhere along the line another couple of lists and some random notes have been written about everything that needs doing. I'm not sure where any of them are at the moment, but as soon as I find them....
In the meantime though I'm skirting the things that really need doing and doing the things I want to do - reading and watching everything I can get my hands on about Japan, (one advantage of working at the BBC is getting my hands on all the programmes made about Japan, even if most are from the late 80's, early 90's) and attempting to learn Japanese (why won't my brain take it in faster?) and to get a good enough grip on English grammar (why didn't we get taught it in school?)

And, of course, the reality is that in my head I'm already in Japan. I'm already there running around that classroom getting three year olds to 'touch yellow', I'm wandering around supermarkets trying to figure out what's what and what I should do with it, I'm airing out my futon and loving not being in shared accommodation, I'm adoring no longer having a desk job, I'm making new friends and hoping my students (obviously not the three year olds) will ask me out for a drink soon. I'm driving around Tokyo with my ex flatmate, experiencing her country after she experienced mine, I'm learning more and more of the language every day, I'm watching sumo, I'm karaoke'ing....I'm loving everything and can't get enough of it.

Now if only the 50 billion things that need doing before I leave would sort themselves out, then I'd be happy.