To your good health

Well, it's finally happening... I'm moving out of my house this weekend.

And I don't know if it's particularly that, or my mind just coming to terms with he whole moving house/job/country/ eeek-ness, but I have not been feeling like myself over the last two weeks. Work sent me home last Friday because I looked awful - and I felt it! I ached all over, and just felt exhausted. So I went straight to bed at 5pm and didn't get up until 8am the next day. Since then I have felt fine and then exhausted in waves - when the wave hits, it's like having an out of body experience - the nearest thing I can compare it to is jetlag. Oh so ironic considering my medical paperwork ('this lady is medically fit and well') has only just reached Japan giving them the green light to sort out my Certificate of Eligibility >.< Anyway. Most people I talk to think it is stress related, and so I'm trying to take it a bit easier, and I hope when things get simpler (like when I have no house to worry about) the waves will start to subside. It may or may not be related, but I've been saying my first round of goodbyes as well recently. The local comic shop owners fed me a cup of tea and a farewell hug tonight; and last weekend I went out with all my doll friends for bento at Mount Fuji in Birmingham. Ah yes,I should explain about the dolls. I collect Asian Ball Jointed Dolls - very expensive, made of resin. I have 6, and I'll be taking some of them to Japan with me so expect to see some pics of them here. As a taster here's Kokoro (which means heart in Japanese) with a teddy that one of doll friends gave her on Saturday. I'm looking forward to meeting some Japanese doll owners as the friends I've made here through meet-ups are a cracking bunch. I'll miss our monthly get-togethers.

And still on the subject of Saturday at Mount Fuji (most yummy Japanese food I've ever eaten in the UK) I had the most delicious cake, called matcha - it was so light and fluffy it kind of boing-ed when you poked it. The cream with it is like a sweet red bean buttercream dusted with green tea powder. I certainly hope to have more of this in Japan - oishii desu ne! (Tasty!) Sweet dreams...

Unconventional conventions

Well it feels like progress has been made in the last few days, as I finally got all the medical paperwork sent off to ECC (registered mail!) today. Just don't mention the postal strike in Leamington. Tch. Aaand another carload went at the weekend which is making my house look a bit better ^^; my parents' house is probably looking a whole lot messier though... I'll have to buy them a really giant cake to say thanks at some point!

Aside from the tidying and medical nonsense, I had an absolutely fantastic weekend at Ayacon - a UK anime/manga convention that was held conveniently ten minutes from my house. It was packed with excellent cosplayers, all very friendly and willing to pose and chat, some interesting demos such as kimono wearing by Japanese lecturer Akemi Solloway, and a fantastic dealers room that I really had to run through to avoid buying anything. Except. The lovely Tokyo Toys, who I always stop and chat to at UK anime events, gave me a really good deal on two snazzy luggage tags. For my two suitcases. So it would have been rude not to, ne? Well to finish up tonight, here's a pic of me with the friendly Jon from Tokyo Toys.

Yes I'm cosplaying as Yuki from Vampire Knight *^_^* I only have a few costumes in total, but I'm not taking any with me to Japan as I'm hoping to get some new ones out there. And maybe go to a few conventions to show them off! I really hope the convention scene is as friendly as it is here, and I look forward to meeting some awesome Japanese cosplayers. Oh go on then have another pic of me cosplaying! With a group of friendly Vampire Knight-ers

How is the packing going? And medical matters

I have two pieces of advice for anyone wanting to follow in my footsteps today.

Advice nugget 1: Don't buy things. Or rather, don't keep them.

Um, whose crazy idea was it to move house at the end of Aug again? ^^; One car load of my stuff has already zoomed off up to yorkshire, with my folks...

...now the rest awaits them. Reckon it will all fit?

I completely filled my wheelie bin today after hitting on the idea of throwing away my old bedding instead of washing it. Saves me some packing space. But I know that's not very green, so I stuffed my recycling bin full of paper to counter it. Sorry planet. And I've got at least another 2 loads of paper recycling already! And the amount of storage shelves and that I have is ridiculous. The good news of today is, a few things I've advertised for free on facebook have already been snapped up by friends. Hurrah!

Advice nugget 2: Save money. A lot of money. And patience!

I went for a chest xray today which ECC requires me to do, as part of a medical record the Japanese labour law requires them to have. Here's how it works:

1. I book medical. Doctor gives me check up and fills out ECC form. ('This lady is medically fit and well') <-- hurrah. I give Doctor £89 for his 45 minutes.

2. Doctor gives me a separate form to request I have a chest xray. I book xray appointment.

3. I go to xray, hand over the doctor's form and pay £75. The report from it now goes back to my doctor.

SO.

Tomorrow I need to 4. Call the doctor and get them to give me a copy of the report (you can bet they'll charge me for it) so I can

5. Send ECC form and xray back to ECC. (Registered post to Japan...) 

6. Wait for ECC to send me a certificate of eligibility so I can then

7. Go get my Visa. (Travelling down to London £_£)

With me so far? The only good thing is, I believe this is the most faffy part of the process. It's not the most expensive though, I've already done that... the flight.

Oh yes. The flight.

I had to get a flight which arrives 4-6 days before my training begins. But it had to be early, and not on a Sunday. So me and my folks spent a good hour pouring over flight comparison sites, and plumped for the best one we found: 13 hours with KLM, flying from Birmingham to Amsterdam, then Amsterdam to Kansai. Arriving Saturday 9.30am Japanese time. 4 days before my training. The cost = £715.

So lets do a quick reccy... £715 flight plus £164 medical costs =My new job is costing me £879 so far! This is not a money-making career move people. But as some keep saying to me, I'm sure it will all be worth it! ^__^

Irrashaimase! Welcome to my blog ^_^

Hullo. In exactly two months I will be flying out of the UK to Japan on a one-way ticket. I've given up my job, my rented house, and a rung on a career ladder to do this. So if you've ever wondered what it's like to just ditch it all tomorrow (almost...) and move to another country, then feel free to join me on the journey. 

A few questions and answers:

Why Japan?

I'm a huge manga, anime and J-drama addict. Because of this I've been on holiday to Tokyo twice, and enjoyed the sights, the culture and the language. But I feel like I've only seen a teeny sliver of what the country has to offer. So I applied for a job, with the hope of learning more about life in Japan. 

What am I going to do in Japan?

Teach English with a company called ECC (see my website list for more info on them) To get this, I had to attend a group interview session and do the hardest grammar test of my life! Oh, and I did the interview last September. Patience is a virtue when it comes to landing a job like this >.<

What am I doing between now and 9th Oct?

Still working in my current job, where I'm a sub editor for a communications agency. I finish there on 9th September. Then I'm off on holiday to America for a few weeks before I fly out to Japan.

What kind of stuff am I going to blog about?

I'll tell you what it's like to move to another country, all the highs and lows, and I'll share what I learn about Japan with you. I love taking pics so expect loads of those too. I'll update as often as I can. 

Why 'two suitcases'?

Apart from hand luggage, that's all I'm taking to Japan on the 9th. My whole life in two suitcases! That won't even fit my manga collection XD but as I'm a complete clutter-holic, I think it might do me some good. I'll keep you posted on that.

Got another question?

Feel free to post comments/questions at any time and I'll do my best to answer them. Thanks for reading (^_^)/