Friday, July 31, 2009
Leaving Tommarow
The eve of departure. Tomorrow I leave for Japan. Well first Dallas then Japan. I will have two days of training in Tokyo and then the capital of Iwate prefecture and then finally I will be in Ichinohe. It will be great to finally be there or at least on my way. It will be best when Samantha is there but its great to get started.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
New blogger
Hey guys! Its'a me: Samantha.
Okay, I just thought that I'd stop by and let y'all know that I'll be writing in this thing from time to time too... guess I should write about something more interesting that that.
I think that before this point, I was simply ignoring the whole "moving to Japan" thing. It's only now starting to hit me with any real force. So far we've only been packing Caleb up. (We're currently living with his parents and the majority of my things are still with my parents.) With the trip to Nashville ( and the subsequent international plane ride for Caleb) arriving tomorrow, I've finally had to consider the prospect of packing my life into two suitcases and a backpack.
The thing is, you can't pack your life into two suitcases and a backpack. You can't even pack all the stuff you want into two suitcases and a backpack. This is the first step to packing for an international move: realizing that you're going to have to leave most of this crap behind.
Living in a digital age has afforded me certain comforts. I don't have to choose between beloved photos, seeing as my entire photographic library will fit onto a jump drive about the size of my pinky finger. I don't have to use valuable space and weight on books. The internet offers up a wide range of literature for free or paid download. ( If such a thing were not available, I would probably come over with two changes of clothes and three hundred paperbacks). Tapes and CDs give way to MP3s and so on and so forth.
And yet I'm still absolutely sure that I don't have enough space.
(I'm sure by the next post I'll be saying that I have too many things, and that I'm starting to consider leaving everything.)
Okay, I just thought that I'd stop by and let y'all know that I'll be writing in this thing from time to time too... guess I should write about something more interesting that that.
I think that before this point, I was simply ignoring the whole "moving to Japan" thing. It's only now starting to hit me with any real force. So far we've only been packing Caleb up. (We're currently living with his parents and the majority of my things are still with my parents.) With the trip to Nashville ( and the subsequent international plane ride for Caleb) arriving tomorrow, I've finally had to consider the prospect of packing my life into two suitcases and a backpack.
The thing is, you can't pack your life into two suitcases and a backpack. You can't even pack all the stuff you want into two suitcases and a backpack. This is the first step to packing for an international move: realizing that you're going to have to leave most of this crap behind.
Living in a digital age has afforded me certain comforts. I don't have to choose between beloved photos, seeing as my entire photographic library will fit onto a jump drive about the size of my pinky finger. I don't have to use valuable space and weight on books. The internet offers up a wide range of literature for free or paid download. ( If such a thing were not available, I would probably come over with two changes of clothes and three hundred paperbacks). Tapes and CDs give way to MP3s and so on and so forth.
And yet I'm still absolutely sure that I don't have enough space.
(I'm sure by the next post I'll be saying that I have too many things, and that I'm starting to consider leaving everything.)
Monday, July 20, 2009
Packing
Everyone asks us how we will pack up everything for a year in two bags. The answer for me (Caleb) is that I wont. I'm allowed two fifty pound bags, but I want to take just one. With carry one and personal item. The things I'm packing are mostly dress cloths and some personal entertainment items. I'm not going to take a bunch of books because there are books in English there and even if I took a whole suitcase full I would just run out later rather than sooner. Thats why its better to bring a couple of books that are important like my Bible and the book I'm reading. I'm not going to bring a bunch of tee shirts because I can get those there and some I'm sure will be left by old teachers. Some jeans for the weekends will be nearly the only casual pants I bring. There really isn't that much I have to take. I will mail myself things like my big winter coat rather than pack them. When I went for a year as an exchange student one bag was enough so I dont think that it could be different this time. I think that I will end up being able to get it all in together.
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