I guess this is it, I am making the "packing entry." That's right, I have two suitcases which, as I write, are sitting-one empty one mostly full-in my room next to piles of clothes and miscellaneous things competing for the chance to come with me. Packing is not nearly as hard as I imagined. I have plently of room for everything I am bringing-if only I could make some space for a guitar. C'est la vie. I think I may have to buy one in Japan which shouldn't be too hard considering I will be living next to the city where Yamaha was born.
This last week or two seems to have passed at speeds much faster than the average week. Strange that when I have been trying hard to take everything in that time should go faster. It occured to me the other day as Josh, Justin, Jamie, and I were walking back from a epic game of frisbee at an elementary school that it was to be my last Wednesday before leaving. I tried to hold on to it in case I am asked what Wednesdays are like I can say confidently, "Wednesdays-oh man, they're great. The sun doesn't set till past seven. Everyone has picnics and sometimes we throw some dice. By the end of a Wednesday, you ar e exausted but it is an exaustion you are glad you have."
Gotta go figure out what Fridays are like-

Blogger focuses so hard on not misspelling 11 (elven) he adds a "t" to the spelling of himself.

Everett Man to Fly Across Pacific in Possible Attempt at, "Finding Himselft."

As I have only eleven days left with which to write as an American living in the United States I better fire some posts off quick,then, later we can return to these early posts and contrast them with what will surely be more interesting, and possibly more singularly clear and concise, future posts. To those of you who are confused by the last sentence because of its implications rather than its longwindedness, let me explain.

I am moving to Japan to be an Assistant Language Teacher (or ALT) in public schools through a company called Interac. My contract is for one year after which I can decide to extend it if I wish. As you can infer from the address of the blog, I will be living in a city called Kakegawa and more than likely I will also be broke. We have only to wait and see.

As of today my expectations are as follows:

1) Being a farily tall, white, and blue-eyed American fellow-I will stand out

2) There will be many foods I am not familiar with, some of which may seem like things that were not meant to be eaten-I would be a fool not to eat all of these things and to eat them with gusto.

3) I run here, I will run there-which may add to expectation one.

4) The Japanese culture is different than mine and despite my research and training I will surely screw up, in fact I should probablly steel myself to the probability that at least the first few weeks will be almost a continuous string of cultural screw-ups.

5) Things in Japan are smaller, for instance apartments. (for which I am surprisingly excited)

6) Japan is pretty, in ways that here is not-or at least in ways that will occur to me because of my unfamiliarity with them.

7) I really don't have that many expectations.