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kodalaiSo, the JET thing is making me very nervous mostly because all of the unknowns. Because we are employed not by the JET program itself but by the school board/local authority, they really mean it when they say every place is different, and it all depends on your location. Things could go great. Or they could go awful. And I really really won't know until I get there. Yesterday I got an email claiming to be my posting information. I freak out, open it up, and read it -- and it's addressed to someone named "Jennifer." Eh? Not only that, but it has me down as having submitted my Certificate of Health. Which I haven't. So I email them back for confirmation, and sure enough, it was mis-sent to me. So now I'm back to waiting again. (Dammit, and I think that posting was for a good location, too. Lame!)
So part of how I am coping with this uncertainty is deciding that if there is one thing that is going to help me make a good start in Japan on the JET program, it is going to be going FULLY PREPARED and with THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT. A lot of times this means INVESTING IN THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT both before and
after I leave. For instance, I have no rain gear. But it rains a lot in Japan during the summer and I will probably be walking or biking in that rain. So it is reccommended that before I go I buy a decent sports quality rain jacket that you can wear in the heat. Also sturdy rain boots and ponchos. The rain jacket particularly is not cheap, but I have decided this is NO TIME TO STINT ON EXPENSES, and while it is not a LICENSE TO SPEND INDISCRIMINITELY, it does mean SHOPPING WISELY.
Once I get started in my new job I will be making more than enough money to cover myself (JETs are promised 3.6 million yen a year, which works out at the current exchange rate to about $31,000.) But renumeration doesn't begin till the end of August and in the mean time I have decided that I will have to cannibalize my savings after all and put the money back into it later. I am really sure that I can pay it back within a few months into my job, but, for example, they reccommend that you come to Japan prepared with $2000 in cash or travellers checks for August expenses before you have set up a bank account, things like 'key money' (apartment first and last month's rent + security deposit) and living setup (which may or may not involve buying things at a package discount from your predecessor.)
Speaking of expensive things, I had a busy day on Tuesday. I went to the doctor's to establish care so I can get my Certificate of Health filled out so I can leave the damn country. There I discovered that my insurance seems to have expired on the 30th of April. Same problem when later that day I went to the optometrist's. My prescription from my old doctor was by this time long expired and also no longer correct, so I basically started with them from the ground up with an eye exam and a new prescription. I now have a very good pair of glasses and I am getting a pair of contact lenses soon but the down side is that it cost me about $1000 total.Ack. Since I don't seem to be covered under insurance, I entered a plan with them that allows me to pay in payments over six months with no interest, by which time I should be making more than enough money to cover it.
Finally, on the way back from the optometrists I had a blowout on the freeway and the tire tread ripped up my fender and destroyed my headlight. But on the up side, I was planning to replace my tires before driving the car to Austin anyway, and the shuddering sensation that I had attributed to engine trouble is now gone and so was apparently only a tire problem and I am saved the needless cost of taking it to an engine mechanic to try and figure out what was wrong.
My car is in the shop right now and I am going to pick it up hopefully after work today.
It's been a looooong week, and it isn't over yet.
So part of how I am coping with this uncertainty is deciding that if there is one thing that is going to help me make a good start in Japan on the JET program, it is going to be going FULLY PREPARED and with THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT. A lot of times this means INVESTING IN THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT both before and
after I leave. For instance, I have no rain gear. But it rains a lot in Japan during the summer and I will probably be walking or biking in that rain. So it is reccommended that before I go I buy a decent sports quality rain jacket that you can wear in the heat. Also sturdy rain boots and ponchos. The rain jacket particularly is not cheap, but I have decided this is NO TIME TO STINT ON EXPENSES, and while it is not a LICENSE TO SPEND INDISCRIMINITELY, it does mean SHOPPING WISELY.
Once I get started in my new job I will be making more than enough money to cover myself (JETs are promised 3.6 million yen a year, which works out at the current exchange rate to about $31,000.) But renumeration doesn't begin till the end of August and in the mean time I have decided that I will have to cannibalize my savings after all and put the money back into it later. I am really sure that I can pay it back within a few months into my job, but, for example, they reccommend that you come to Japan prepared with $2000 in cash or travellers checks for August expenses before you have set up a bank account, things like 'key money' (apartment first and last month's rent + security deposit) and living setup (which may or may not involve buying things at a package discount from your predecessor.)
Speaking of expensive things, I had a busy day on Tuesday. I went to the doctor's to establish care so I can get my Certificate of Health filled out so I can leave the damn country. There I discovered that my insurance seems to have expired on the 30th of April. Same problem when later that day I went to the optometrist's. My prescription from my old doctor was by this time long expired and also no longer correct, so I basically started with them from the ground up with an eye exam and a new prescription. I now have a very good pair of glasses and I am getting a pair of contact lenses soon but the down side is that it cost me about $1000 total.Ack. Since I don't seem to be covered under insurance, I entered a plan with them that allows me to pay in payments over six months with no interest, by which time I should be making more than enough money to cover it.
Finally, on the way back from the optometrists I had a blowout on the freeway and the tire tread ripped up my fender and destroyed my headlight. But on the up side, I was planning to replace my tires before driving the car to Austin anyway, and the shuddering sensation that I had attributed to engine trouble is now gone and so was apparently only a tire problem and I am saved the needless cost of taking it to an engine mechanic to try and figure out what was wrong.
My car is in the shop right now and I am going to pick it up hopefully after work today.
It's been a looooong week, and it isn't over yet.
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