No news is good news?

Things are pretty quiet on the "moving to Japan" front right now. I think our main focus is on the upcoming wedding at the end of May and graduation before that. However, J is mailing his packet today to officially accept the position in Japan.

Something we did find out since my last blog is that J will be leaving at the beginning of August, but I won't be able to come until about two weeks later. That isn't exactly what we had been planning, so it put us in a tailspin for a few minutes, but we've both accepted there is nothing we can do about the situation for now. For now, it appears I will be flying off to Japan sometime in the middle of August. We have to buy plane tickets soon! Right now prices for one-way tickets in August are upward of $600. Not as much as I was expecting.

-maria

It's all happening so quickly.

Where do you begin a new blog? I've often wondered that, and even now, many new blog beginnings behind me, I have no idea where to start.

I'll explain the purpose of this blog first: My fiance and I are packing up our lives and moving to Japan (or 日本 for any Japanese-speaking readers out there) in August, but not before getting married at the end of May and cruising around the Caribbean on our honeymoon. J, my fiance, spent three weeks in Japan studying abroad two summers ago. He enjoyed his time there very much. I, on the other hand, have never been out of the United States, so this is a whole new ballgame, so to speak, for me. This blog is to keep in touch with friends and family, to share our adventures (and probably more so our misadventures) with the world, and to entertain myself in the process of moving, learning about a new culture, and figuring out the world around me.

J and I eating at a Hibachi restaurant (where else?) to celebrate his new job opportunity.

I should also mention we are both graduating college next month and this move comes as a job opportunity for J to use his degree in English teaching by working with an English teacher in Japan. At this point I have no clue what I'll be doing to occupy my time while J works. I'm hoping to have my dependency visa switched to where I can work around 20 hours a week, but I'm still unsure of that process.

The whole idea of leaving the lives we know for a completely wide open future is scary, but very exciting. The process of gathering necessary documents to legally move and stay in Japan is intimidating and long. But I'm ready. We're gonna be newlyweds, broke, and immigrants, but we're determined to be happy!

"In the world through which I travel, I am endlessly creating myself. " -Frantz Fanon

-maria