Not so last minute preparations

So the travel agent’s finally told us when we leave for Trinidad. (Have to stop over there before I make my way to Japan.) On July 31st at some ungodly hour of morning I will be at the airport. Between the early morning check-ins and the jet lag, I think they trying to kill me. Then the million hour Tokyo Marathon – um I mean Orientation at the end??? “I say a likkle prayer for me!”

Right now I am trying to get prepped. I was on track and then I got a job marking papers for CXC- which is the Caribbean’s equivalent of SAT or Cambridge exams. It’s only til the end of the week, but when you only have 2 weeks and a few days, a week is a long time. Plus considering I have known where I was going and what I would need since May, I really should be completely ready and packed at this stage. I am not! I have thrown some stuff in my suitcase- underwear and about 2 T-shirts, deoderant, cream, and toothpaste. Clearly that is not all I need to survive a year in Japan.

So today I went and bought some cloth to make a suit and a dress - for a grand total of 2 suits and 1 dress. Lol! Yeah, I know I really making progress towards a whole year of clothing right? I got some stickers for my kids too, because my predecessor on the program said that the kids love it when they get stickers for stuff. I have 2 packs of 270, maybe I should get more. On the upside I really don’t need to buy that much stuff. I am sure I am mostly covered clotheswise, if I would actually take the time to go through my closet. I don’t want to take too much summer clothes, since my town is fall and winter 10 months of the year.

I also need to pick up my hello presents for my Supervisor and my Principal. It seems that this is a time-honoured JET tradition born out of a perversion of Japanese culture. But since it’s been done by my predecessor, heaven forbid I turn up as the only new JET since Adam with no hello presents. I want to get a combination of something nice out of mahogany, a bottle of Mount Gay (which is a Barbadian Rum and also the oldest brand in the world) and a Rihanna CD (also Bajan). For the teachers I’ll work with I am thinking sugar cakes and guava cheese (Bajan sweets) but I want to wait til a later closer to the time to get food stuffs. Oh and I have to get something nfor the neighbours. Probably some snacks as well but I'd like to get them something of substance too.

Despite the fact that I am pretty prepared, I still somehow feel a bit- um stressed??? Like I’ll run out of time or something. It’s hard to believe I’ll only have a week to say goodbye to friends and family. This JET programme is harder on the mind than anything else.

Oriented!!!

So we had our "informal" talk on Tuesday. The Consul General and wife hosted, and we were "informed" by the first JET from my country. We haven't been in the programme very long. The funny thing is I am on the JET programme forum, on Ithinkimlost, on a Caribbean JET facebook group, and I have a couple friends currently on JET. So while this talk may have been news to some, it was just a recap to me. The great thing about it is that it's the first time that all the Barbados JETs have been in the same place at the same time and it was an excellent opportunity to lime (socialise) and find out some more about one another. Funnily enough, I already know all 4 other JETs from different places. But it was still good to talk to them. There are some experiences that your friends will never understand and only the other people in the same situation can identify. JET is one of those things.

Now it occurs to me that I still have a pre-departure orientation to attend at the Embassy in Trinidad and the Tokyo Orientation. But there isn't really any general JET information that anyone can offer me that will be news to me. I really just want to get to my prefectural meeting and orientation. So right now I am feeling a bit over-oriented and there is more to come.

Oh, and we just got the orientation schedule for Tokyo. 9.00/9.30 until 8.00 at night. Hmmm, one day after I've spent 3 days in planes and crossed 9 time zones! Does this seem like the best idea to anyone else? I have the best of intentions, but if I am awake 50% of the time it will be some sort of miracle!