Getting ready to move- July 10, 2007

It has been quite a month since we heard that Paola got the job with N___. We have been doing a lot to prepare for moving to Japan.

Paola decided that since she has not seen her mom since December, she would go out to Italy to spend some time with her before moving to Japan, especially since she would not see her mom for at least another year once we go to Japan. Because she was doing this, her time frame for getting everything moved was that much less. Actually, she is going to Italy today, July 10, so it came out to about 2 weeks of preparation and moving. My parents were so helpful to both of us by allowing us to ship all of out packed boxes to them to put in storage while we are in Japan. My brother was also helpful in that he decided to take over the apartment in New York, so a lot of stuff did not need to be moved. In any case, moving is still a big project, and people have their own ways of dealing with it. That said, Paola and I sometimes did not see eye to eye on some things, and I accused her of being neurotic with how she works. She would pack boxes up, and then unpack them because she thought that it might be better to pack it another way. She was also just plain anxious and nervous about the whole thing; most people get a bit nervous or anxious with big changes. I am not one of those people, but Paola is, and it took me a little while to realize understand her feelings. We finally shipped all of her boxes to my parents in Los Angeles, and her luggage is all packed, and her itinerary is complete, and she leaves today. Now that everything is done, everything is good, so there isn't much for either of us to complain about.

I have been quite a bit more laid back as far as all this goes. Perhaps it has not hit me yet, but it does not seem like such a big deal to me to have to move. I suppose that things are a bit easier for me since my brother, Mike, is taking over the apartment, and I don't really have to pack that much stuff to ship. He told me that I can leave my books, which would have been the most daunting thing to pack and ship since I have over three full bookshelves. Also, Mike will use all of my music equipment like guitars and amps, so that is a lot of other stuff that I don't have to pack and ship. He will use some of the furniture too. Perhaps I was less anxious and nervous than Paola becuase I don't have that much to do to move except pack up my clothes in luggage and go.

It is just as well that I pack up and go since I have been here in New York for too long. It is not that it is a bad place, or anything like that. Rather, having moved here, and finding out that it is possible to live wherever I want to, after about six years I think that I should move on and see something else. When I still lived with my parents as a kid, I knew that for college I wanted to move far away (I knew then that I wanted to go to New York). I have always had an adventurous spirit in me, I suppose. Unlike some people, I don't like the notion of settling down so right now, and I want to move around. Vacations are great, but I am cheap, and vacations cost a lot of money, so I feel like it is best to just move somewhere else, get a job there, and, in a sense, get paid for being on vacation. I suppose that the best possible job for that sort of mind set would be a travel writer, or travel critic. But, I don't have that job, and I don't know anyone who can help me get that sort of gig, so I have to work with what I know. It just so happens that teachers are needed everywhere around the world, so it works out for me.

Like Paola, I am going to see my family before we move to Japan. That means that in about a week and a half, I will go to Los Angeles, and spend my last month in America there. I also am excited to see a lot of my friends there, whom I haven't seen since last summer. Paola will come out and meet me in Los Angeles in late August for about a week or two before we move to Japan.

There are some curious things about our job in Japan. Certainly, we have been told that we have jobs, and that we will be able to move there and work there in September. However, we do not yet know where in Japan we will be (it could be Tokyo (our first and only choice) or Kyoto, or Osaka, or Sapporo, or anywhere else in Japan. We don't know. Another thing is that we don't know exactly when we are going to go. They have not given us a specific date yet, but have only said September. That could be early September, or late September, or somewhere in between. This is in contrast with the other company, A__, that offered me a job back in May. When the rep called me to offer the job, he knew what city (Nagoya), what branch in that city, and even the address where I would live. In any case, it has caused some anxiety in me, since I know where I would like to go, but don't yet know.

Another issue is with the travel visas. Paola is taking her passport with her when she goes to Rome. However, the Japanese in America are going to need that passport since they have to issue the work visa. There is some nervousness becuase of this issue, but in the end, I am sure that it will all work out.