Better I promise!

Ok so as I mentioned this is the first time I've ever had a blog, and now that my life is going to be different all the time and I'll actually have something interesting to report, I promise I'll get better at posting more frequently.  Not that Anyone has missed my lack of posts I'm sure!!  I posted on facebook a while back the link and my mom (who is a more frequent facebooker than I am) asked me on Sunday if I had started a blog yet.  Thus leading me to believe anyone who would actively seek out my blog specifically doesn't know or has forgotten it exists!  Maybe once I start work I'll remind everyone about it!

So to again to an update.  I finished working at the hotel on January 14th...my bosses went for one last overnight trip, so my last work shift was from 10am on wednesday till 5pm on Thursday.  Which stunk, but I do understand since they wont be able to go anywhere for a while as they will have to wait till my replacement has shown they can trust her for such a long period of time alone.  I spent Friday morning and early afternoon packing up and cleaning my apartment as well as settling as many tasks as I could in Petoskey before heading home and then to Florida. 

Saturday morning my mom drove me down to the airport in Grand Rapids.  The day was pretty uneventful, I arrived in Orlando at a little after 5pm...but between waiting for the other passengers for my shuttle to my grandparents and the ride there...I didn't get to their house till around 9pm.  Totally worth it though.  My grandmother was fantastic and escaping from snowy Michigan is something I don't get to do often in winter.  Apparently it was cold in Florida most of the time I was visiting.  I of course, didn't notice.  I kept getting strange looks and people kept asking if I was cold when I would be out and about without a coat, or in a skirt.  I got it really bad the first day it was really nice and sunny...I was out sunbathing in a swimsuit.  The golfers on the hole behind my grandparents house thought I was nuts till I explained I had just arrived from Michigan and this was the weather in June there!  A depressing thought now that I think back on it. 

While in Florida I took my grandma to see my grandpa a lot, he is in the hospital for a little while longer from a broken hip.  He's doing better now though so that is good to know now that I'm in Japan and wont be able to see him for myself.  My grandma didn't want to cook the whole time I was there...and wouldn't let me every time I suggested it.  We ate out for every day for lunch and dinner and the occational breakfast.  Well except the days that we stayed in and had Sam's Club food we heated up in the microwave..or food left over from going out.  Some of those times was really good luck.  We got stuck inside for a few days when there was really heavy rain, and another when there was tornado warnings in the area all day.  That freaked me out!  Luckily the tornado that did touch down didn't come over where we were.  Though it did get pretty close.  It was, of course, my luck that a tornado would threaten when I am visiting!While in Florida I got to meet a lot of my grandmother's friends and they seemed to enjoy having me over.  Hopefully it was genuine and not just being polite! 

My grandparents!  Aren't they so cute together?!?

She stole my sunglasses!

Also while in Florida I got to see 2 of my best friends. They got married last summer and in March they moved down to Georgia with their daughter (my Goddaughter) and I hadn't had a chance to see them since.  Every time they managed to make it back up to Michigan I was swamped at work and unable to make the drive back to my home town.  Even luckier for me the place they live is right on the Florida/Georgia border....so I drove 2 hours and they a half hour to Jacksonville.  We met up for lunch and then went shopping and hung out at the mall all day.  It was a ton of fun and their daughter has gotten even more adorable that last time.  She actually remembered me too, something I find amazing.  I mean she was just over a year old last time I saw her! 

I was at the airport to greet the sun (T_T)

Flying back was not a pleasant experience.  One of my flights had gotten cancelled and I didn't find out till 10pm the night before when I checked my email before heading to bed.  I ended up spending an hour on the phone with Delta straightening it out and changing flights around so I would still land in Grand Rapids around the time mom got out of work to make it convienent to pick me up.  With the cancellation they had me not even leaving Orlando till 4pm, which put me in Grand Rapids at 10ish...on a day where half of the country was to experience extreme weather!!!  I got them to change my layover airport, but because of the change I went from having the shuttle pick me up at 7 to it picking me up at 5 in order to catch my newest flight....2 hours of sleep I had planned on when I picked 10pm as my bedtime.  I think I only ended up with like 3 hours of sleep after all the stress the change caused and the time re-arranging everything took.  I ended up getting into Grand Rapids around 4 instead of 5.  I just had to wait at the airport for my mom a while.  As it was, I got in with perfect timing...my first flight was extremely turbulant the entire way.  I saw more than one flight attendant fall the few times they had to get up and check on us.  The blizzard we were expected hit in earnest when my mom and I were almost home.  I probably would have been stranded out of state till Thursday if I had left my tickets the way the cancellation changed them to!

As for my Visa...as I mentioned in my previous post..I'd been terrified that I wouldn't get my visa in time to catch my flight.  With the huge blizzard and storm on the 1st, EVERYTHING was closed.  I had planned to be waiting at the post office when they opened on the 2nd and head directly to the consulate office to get my COE processed as early as possible.  Of course that didn't end up happening...making me even more worried about flying out as I had lost yet another day.  By 3pm the roads had been sufficiently cleared that I went to the post office (mercifully they were open that day) and then started over to Detroit.  I stayed the night at a friends in East Lansing so that with less diving the next day I could get there earlier in the day.  I turned in my COE and Visa application and begged them to get it done early.  She promised end of day Monday at the lastest, but said she would try for the next day.  (Thank goodness!!) After shopping and hanging out with my friend for the rest of the day...staying up late watching movies and such, I got woken up at 9am by a call from the consulate office telling me they had my Visa ready and I could pick it up anytime (PHEW!!!!!!!). 

Over the weekend I spent as much time with as many of my friends and family as I could, they helped me speed up my packing and errands for leaving.  Moving abroad for a year is no easy task...or at least it isn't when you have loans and bills to keep on top of.  I had to change and set up the payments for the next year for my car loan and insurance.  Plus my cell phone bill which I can't just cancel yet since I have to be in Japan for a while before I will be able to get a phone here.  Anyone reading this blog who is interested in coming  to Japan keep this in mind.  Getting a cell phone contract requires you posses an alien registration card.  Which takes anywhere between 3 to 6 weeks to get once you apply...and applying requires you have an address and proper visa (same goes for a bank account so be prepared to carry a very large amount of cash around with you until you have one.  Japan has very few places that accept credit/debit cards outside of hotels).  Coming to Japan 3 weeks before starting work means I have that much longer before I can even apply....I wont be getting to my town to apply till the 24th of February.  Hopefully I will get there early enough in the day to apply immidiately!