Departure

If you look really close..you can see me...wait...

Tomorrow is the day people. I am leaving on an epic journey filled with outlandish expectations and I am doing it all with only a swiss army knife and a pair of chopsticks! It's the story of *cue big voice* JEREMY IN JAPAN (*echo* pan..pan..pan).

Seriously though, I am excited that it is here, but I don't know what to make of my excitement so actually I'm just looking forward to breakfast in the morning because I'm pretty hungry right now. Yay, BK Mocha Joe!

But yes, this isn't a long entry, just one to let everyone know that I am leaving and I will try to get some pictures posted as soon as I can as well as some video (hopefully). Until then, I will catch you all on the flip side...literally...because Japan is on the flip side of the world..if the world were flat..which it SO is..duh! So until then! Ja-ne!

T-9 days

Hopefully these aren't my pilots...

Hello all! I am still in disbelief that in less than two weeks I will be in Japan. That's africkinmazing!

I wanted to give you all an update as to what is going on with my pre-departure life. I recently spoke with a girl who is also in the Amity program named Jessica. She will not be teaching with me but she is part of the Amity program and will be teaching elsewhere in Japan. So why should I even mention the girl? I am so glad you asked. Me, her, and another young woman named Molly are all going to be on the same flight from Detroit all the way to Kansai, Japan. And for those of you who are wondering how far of a flight that is; it will be 14 hours and 5 minutes (give or take 20 for runway problems, geese in the air, engine trouble, or the pilot is stuck in the bathroom...AGAIN!) and will be a grand total of 6,592 miles (geez, that number 92 keeps popping up everywhere in my life, haha real funny dad!). Needless to say (so maybe I just shouldn't say it...) I'm going to be very far away.

But there is hope my friends! It is called IMing and emailing and skyping and even for a lucky few of you I will send you my address while I'm over in Japan so you can send me stuff! Yay! Stuff!

But yes, I will be leaving next Saturday at 9:20AM (there's that 92 again..) from Charlotte going to Detroit and then Detroit to Kansai. Oh, so bittersweet *cue the "Aww's" from the citcom shows*.

Ok, so I have a story for you all. So 14 hours is a long time to be in one spot (although I'm really looking forward to it). And what would any other 6'2 man do in my position? He would definitely try to upgrade to have more legroom. Wait...I'm not paying $2,000 for a ticket, sorry. So the next logical step is to get an exit row. Readers, it seems that the airlines have caught on to the tall mans plight and instead of allowing him to sit in an exit row unabashed the outrageous prices of first, business, or executive class, they have now tacked on a certain status that you must have to get these seats! This comes straight from the website.

Exit row seat (Available to qualified customers with WorldPerks Elite or partner Elite status and business fare purchase)

WHAT!? You have got to be kidding me! What an atrocity! What happend to the days when all coach seats were created equal and sometimes the luck of the draw gave you an exit row seat?! What happened to the days where I used to get exit row seats and then the stewardess would come around and ask my father, "Is he at least 15?" which I would begrudgingly answer, "No I'm not.." What happened to the days when I actually didn't need the exit row seat and I got it anyway! Where have those days gone?! *cue Stevie Wonder*

I wish those days, could, come back once more! Why did those days, EH-VER have to go! Do do do do do do do do do do do do do!

Ok back to our regularly scheduled rambling. There is a silver lining in all of this, but since my favorite color is purple, I'm going to call it a purple lining. I do have an isle seat *cheers!*. And I am only a couple rows back from Molly and Jessica. So all is good and fine and God is the supreme ruler of the Universe that knows that Northwest airlines if full of crap for charging extra for what should be a regularly priced seat because they know that their "regular" seats are too darned cramped and they still won't do a dag on thing about it!

Well, now all that's left is packing. I finally got my suite pants and a couple of suite jackets hemmed the way I need them to be and now I can start packing. I don't want to start packing too early however because, well then I'll have nothing to wear throughout the week. But I might start the planning phases soon with the actually packing coming Monday or Tuesday.

And remember I will have my same phone number when I get back to the states. I won't be using it while I am overseas, I'll let you all know how you can get in touch with me if you choose to do so over the phone, but I won't know specifically until I get there. Just don't delete my number out of your phones because I will have that same number when I get back to the states. If you want to leave me an awesome message or text me something so I get it when I get back that would be cool. Just don't delete my number because I AM coming back! That's all for now.

-Jeremy The Japanese Punk Rock Star

Youkoso (Welcome!)

Me showing off my ninja skills at the daycare! Ok..not really...

Welcome everyone to my new blog, Memoirs of a Sensei!!! I figured I would make an early post before I leave to get you all up to speed about my pre-departure preparations. I have a hefty checklist of things I need to do before I leave, but the only one I'm extremely anxious about is my visa. I was told on the phone that I would be able to get it stamped in one business day, but I won't feel comfortable until I actually have my passport in hand with a visa stamp inside of it. I'll be going to Atlanta for that next week.

Most of you probably know what it is specifically I'm going to be doing in Japan, but for a refresher-and for those of you who don't know- I'll reiterate.

• I'm going to be in Japan for at least a year.
• I'm going to be teaching conversational English to students aged 0-12 years old.
• I do not have to know Japanese because I will not be speaking any Japanese with the children.
• The children will have a separate class where they will be learning vocabulary and grammar distincitions with a teacher who knows both Japanese and English.
• If I do a good job the first six months I will be approached by a representative of the company about extending my contract for either an extra 6 months (attached onto the year contract I've already signed) or an extra year. As of right now, I'm jus taking this one contrat at a time.
• The company that I am employed with is AEON Amity corporation.
  
• I will be teaching out of Totorri, Japan which is on the Southwest coast of Japan along the Sea of Japan.
• I have to wear a suite and tie everyday. No cartoon ties :-(
  
• It is known for it's wonderful Sand Dunes.
• I will be living in an apartment abou the size of a dorm room and will only be responsible for part of the payment along with the bills.
• I have a washer, no dryer, hanging clothes will be my best friend (any tips Ms. Beth)?
  
• I will not be driving, public transportation is awesome.
• I will only have one hot plate and will be getting a rice cooker, mmm, rice.
• There will be another Native English Speaker (NET) that is also working with me and her name is Becca. I tell you that because she is an outdoors person and I anticipate many explorations with her since I won't know anyone else.

There are also some things I need to accomplish before I leave.

• Get all my kids a going away present
• Buy suites, recreational shoes and dress shoes.
• Get another coat
• Get a years worth of toothpaste, deordorant and contact solution; apparently the kind they have over there for all three is not up to snuff and Amity told me I should do this.
  
• Figure out what kind of luggage I'll be packing in.
• Get my Visa
• Buy converters
• Buy another input plug for my PS3 because my TV in Japan most likely won't have HDMI.
• I have two phone conferences to attend before I leave, one on the 6th and one on the 14th.
• Get a Slingbox so I can watch my TV overseas through the internet.
• Make sure I pack enough books and handheld video games to make it through my 14 hour flight from Detroit to Kansai International Airport..

What this blog will consist of.

• Journal entries to all of my faithful readers so you can know what's going on with me.
• Will try to post new entries at least two times a week, maybe more, but then again, nothing is gauranteed.
• I will be posting videos and pictures.

Please feel free to comment often and tell your friends about the website too. I can only imagine the types of stories and number of pictures and videos I'll be posting. I hope you look forward to it as much as I do. Thank you all.

-Jeremy aka The Black Ninja or the Black Japanese Punk Rock Star