やった！(yatta!)

drumroll please.

we are going. yes.

i just returned from my new york interview and as it stands, we should be leaving for japan in about a month. an estimated date of departure is sebastian's fifth birthday. i will be teaching preschoolers, elementary students, and adults (mothers and other random ladies) at futaba gakuen in goto city on the goto islands.

funny how things turn out, right? over a month ago i heard back from the woman in charge that despite her earlier message declaring that the position was no longer available, i could now interview with the head of the private preschool when he journeyed to new york in early may. she ended up canceling the other candidates' appointments so that he would select me. so i stayed in her house in the historic village of sleepy hollow, visited her preschool for japanese students and taught a few esl classes to four and five year-olds. i met with the rather jet-lagged principal of futaba gakuen and discussed the terms. his only hesitancy, besides for thinking that i would be too "serious" to teach preschoolers, was housing. the teacher who is at the school now was living in an old style apartment but requested a more modern apartment with central air/heat. the apartment is for single people so it is necessary for them to find some place else. his first thought was of us living in an old japanese house so we'd have enough room. he just worried we'd be pestered by the neighboring farmers curious about the gaijin family. i assured him that we didn't care about that. in fact, we would be happy to welcome all the obaasans and ojiisans that come snooping around and offer them tea.

my transportation will be a bicycle. exactly what i wanted to hear.

if all goes well, we are leaving here june 20th, landing at the kansai airport the next day and spending about five days in 奈良市 and 京都市 to visit friends and our old haunts. on the 27th, we'll catch a flight to fukuoaka where we will me the principal and fly over to the goto islands together. i'm thinking it will look something like this...

(from here)

thank you for all your support. this blog will also be moving (and getting more interesting) over to typepad soon. i want a better platform for capturing our experiences. a new and much needed camera is also in the works. so all your loyal reading of my bellyaching and homesickness for japan will finally pay off. :)

hope you guys are all well. and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!