THE TIME HAS COME! I’M COMING HOME! I remember booking my ticket back in January and thinking, it’s only six months….. I’ve counted down every month since then, and now it’s time to go home! 
Several of you have been asking about my travel arrangements, how long it will take, etc, so here’s the game plan: I have my night class tomorrow night, and immediately after that, I’m going to drive to my friend, Melissa’s house, where I’ll park the car for the duration of my trip. She’s going to drop me off at the Hitoyoshi bus station, and my bus leaves at 9:40. I’ll arrive at Hakata shortly after midnight and then make my way to the Fukuoka Airport, where I’ll stay the night. The only downside is that Fukuoka closes its airport at 10:30……so I’ll have to make Camp America outside the front door. 
(I would never, ever, EVER think about staying outside a closed building by myself in the States, but this is Japan, and I feel completely safe doing that. Besides…it’s not really worth it to find a place to stay that night seeing as how I’ll be getting to the airport around 12:30AM and have to check in at 5AM.) My flight leaves Fukuoka at 7:10AM and I go to Tokyo. From there, my flight leaves at 11AM bound for Dallas/Ft. Worth. Here’s the funny part: my flight actually arrives at 9AM…..as in two hours BEFORE I took off from Tokyo. Ha! Ha! Ha! It’s like I’m from the future!! I have a long layover in Dallas, and my flight from there doesn’t leave until a little after 1PM. I land in Nashville at 2:40PM, and Mommy will be waiting at the gate ready to pick me up! 
The last leg of the journey will be the car ride home from Nashville to Paducah. All told, this little journey will cross fourteen time zones and take me thirty-five hours to complete. Shew!
It’s strange how small the world is. In the grand scheme of things, Paducah is just a small southern town in Kentucky, not that popular of a state. On the other side of the world, Yunomae is a tiny dot in the middle of mountains on a map in Kumamoto, a prefecture known for its rural-ness. Yet it’s amazing the people I’ll run into over here! I received a Facebook message from this girl in my town last week. Her name is Kanae, and she’s friends with my friends Melissa and Krista. She said that she lives in Yunomae and heard that I was from Kentucky. She wondered if it would be possible to meet me because she’s moving to Kentucky on August 4th. That’s cool, right? Yet it gets better! She’s not moving to the big cities of Louisville or Lexington but rather sleepy ole Murray, KY!! I couldn’t believe it! I told her that I graduated from Murray State University and that my hometown of Paducah is only forty minutes from Murray. Crazy! What makes this story even better is that my manager at the BOE was telling me yesterday that his daughter is moving to Kentucky on August 4th. I was thinking wait a minute…..and then it dawned on me that both people have the same last name, so of course he’s her father! Small world! Kanae and I decided to get together, and I’m going to have her over for dinner tonight. I’m very excited to meet her! I’m also excited to see why she’s going to Murray. I always wondered how or why international students ended up in tiny little Murray, KY…..
Yesterday when I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things, I used our point card like normal. Each time we go in, the cashier scans it, and once we spend a certain amount, we get a 300 yen coupon! That day when she scanned it, the register started playing “Happy Birthday.” Ha! Ha! She looked at me and asked if it was my birthday recently. I told her it was last Friday, so she gave me a coupon. Yay!
Some of you all might remember that I applied to the JET Program TEFL grant program about a month ago. What’s that, you ask? TEFL=Teaching English as a Foreign Language. It’s an online program that I can do to increase my teaching abilities. Plus, if Ian and I decide to go elsewhere after our time in Japan, a TEFL certification would probably help me find a job easier. TEFL certification costs anywhere from $150 upward, but the grant program will cover $150 of tuition fees, so basically I could get this for free. Only a limited number of ALTs are chosen for the grant. I applied to the grant program a month ago and then expected to NOT get it after talking to Mary. She said that she applied for it last year and heard that preference goes to city ALTs, not those working out in the countryside (like me). I had written it off, but this morning I received an email from my supervisor saying that I had been selected! Woo-hoo!
One story that I forgot to write about last week was the snake in the school. No, you didn’t misread that. 
During the summer, most of the doors are left wide open so that a breeze can pass through, allowing little annoying critters in like mosquitos, flies, and moths. (It’s an everyday occurrence to see teachers stop what they’re doing, reach for a fly swatter, and smack whatever is flying through the air. They’re REALLY good at it, too and never miss! I now understand how Mr. Miyagi was so good at catching flies with chopsticks in The Karate Kid. He probably had lots of practice in his native Japan!!) However, the other day I heard Ms. Higashi, the office lady, scream in the hallway. One or two teachers ran out to see what the problem was. I was on my way to class a few minutes later, and Ms. Higashi was trying to tell me something, making an S motion with her hands and Ssssssssssssssss sound. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to put all of that information together. SNAKE. IN . THE. SCHOOL. Mr. Fujiwara confirmed my suspicion and told me that yes, Kai-sensei (the groundskeeper) had to be called to remove the snake from the hallway. My gosh, had it been me who found the snake……I would have had to take the rest of the day off in an attempt to NOT have panic attacks. *shudder*
Originally, I thought this would be the last blog before I leave, but I think I’ll have time to cram in one more tomorrow. This one is just a little short and sweet summary of things I felt like blogging about. Hurray!
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