Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Moving forward

Once again I have failed to update this blog in nearly a month. This time, however, with good reason... nothing much has been happening... I haven't been so much "busy" as distracted... until the last 24 hours when some big pieces seem to have finally be fallen into place.

A few days after my last post I went to get my pre-employment physical. Making a long and frustrating story short it took two weeks to get my results (perfect health) back. Normally I'd patiently sit back until the doctor did his thing, but I ran into a situation where it was the Thursday before, and I needed to have the document physically in Japan on Monday. Luckily things happened and through the magic of FedEx everything got where it needed to go on time.

In the mean time I've also gotten my teeth cleaned and eyes checked. I hear from my dentist that Japanese dental care is about on par with British dental care, so it looks like I'll be seeing the dentist when I come home for a visit. I didn't buy new lenses or frames at the optometrists this time for two reasons: one, my prescription hasn't changed that much and two, I hear I can get cheap glasses in Hong Kong and it gives me (another) excuse to fly over for a weekend (along with getting a few cheap suits tailor made.)

Okay, I know you don't care about all that, you want to know what happened yesterday to rouse my from my blog-less sleep. Well, it seems that I will be living in the city of Kobe, Japan this time around. For those with little or no idea: Kobe is a city of 1.5million people in the south of Japan's main island and is located near Kyoto and Osaka. Still doesn't ring a bell? Head over to the local steak house and order a Kobe steak. Besides very expensive beef, Kobe is also know for being rocked by a devastating earthquake about 5 years ago.

Lastly, in addition to learning which city I'll be staying in, I also learned that my CoE (a document which allows me to get a visa) is allegedly on its way. The CoE is really the last big thing that could bring this whole thing to a crashing halt. Without it I won't have a visa, and without a visa I won't be able to enter Japan.

I suppose that's it for now. I'll write again as more news comes in. For those keeping track of such things I depart in only 15 days!

Jaa Mata Ne.

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