Sweet Baby Jesus I'm going to Japan!

EEEEEEK I HAVE A FEW DAYS LEFT BEFORE I BEGIN MY NEW LIFE IN NIHONLAND.

I'm feeling a mix of...

• Starting a full-time job ugh. Gotta pay back my loans ugh.
• OH DEAR GOD I'M GOING TO BE ALONE IN JAPAN I DON'T EVEN SPEAK (much) JAPANESE. SAD FRIGHTENED PANDAS.
• DO I EVEN LIKE KIDS??? CAN I TEACH SMALL IMPRESSIONABLE CHILDREN???
• OH DEAR GOD I'M GOING TO BE LESS THAN AN HOUR FROM MY FAVORITE CLUB ATOM AND THE SWEET LEGIT HOTEL UP THE STREET FROM ATOM.

I wonder if Atom was around during the super ganguro popularity peak...

I'm sure the first few weeks will be interesting, and not always a "good" interesting. It will most certainly be a *very expensive* interesting. I truly hope I don't forget anything, like how I forgot the tickets to Slutty Jin's show when that was the central purpose to spending an obscene amount of money and flying to California.

My last day at work is Valentine's Day. Boyfriend isn't very happy that I'm pulling a double that day, because it means he doesn't get treated to dinner, but he's not paying for my day trip to Hiroshima so too bad. I have to make money off of all the people willing to pay for a four-course dinner and hopefully tipping out in accordance with the price of it. I'm sad that I have to leave all my friends, because I would consider a number of them good friends after having worked there for more than a year. We get on each other's nerves and work sucks sometimes but everyone comes back the next day forgetting what happened; it's nice and yet kind of weird. Like Jersey Shore when they all get in fights but eat Sunday dinner together (unless you skip out and get a banana and come back expecting everything to be peaches). One keeps telling me, "Don't be a stranger, okay??? We're still going to be friends when you're in Japan!!!" We are :)

I know I have way more stuff to do than I can think of to prepare for the big transition. I've been trying to get it all done, and I'm fairly certain I've gotten the important stuff done. Got the year's supply of contacts (maybe I'll go get a pair of those crazy circle lenses later), got the suits tailored and hemmed, got the omiyage, bought all my extra make-up from Sephora; I have my passport and related IMPORTANT items in one folder. I've had two suitcases out and have been slipping things in them every once in a while. I think this may be one big instance where college actually prepared me for something - I traveled back and forth every few months for four years, so I know what I absolutely need and how it should be packed. And having lived in Tokyo before, I have an idea of what I can buy there that I don't have to pack. I'm still giving myself anxiety over EVERYTHING, though.

The teacher I'm replacing and the other English teacher I'll be working with have been AMAZING. I think they know I have a blog but I don't know for sure so I won't name them, but if you read this THANK YOU FOR SAVING MY LIFE IN ADVANCE (pretty much). They have been SO HELPFUL I am forever indebted to them. For serious. It helps that they are American females of my generation; it'd be different if I was replacing some weird dude bro neckbeard who came to Japan looking for a wife. But NO I was blessed to have two awesome girls helping me out!

Over the next few days, I'll be desperately trying to be positive so as not to give myself an ulcer. I'm excited to see a bit of the Kansai area, maybe even a day trip to Hiroshima. I think Nishihara and I deserve some super happy fun tourist time. I'm looking forward to hunting down old friends and going drinking with my long lost Fujiyoshi relative. I want to meet my coworkers too! I have to indulge the positivity and ignore the negativity! Eeeek!