We're three days away from our 'business' trip to Tokyo. We will arrive there on the 19th (Sunday), the day before our scheduled Embassy interview at 2pm, on the 20th. Takeshi also recently found a hospital in the same area as the Embassy, which is qualified to perform his mandatory 'check-up' and possible vaccinations, in the green-card process. He scheduled his hospital appointment at 9:30am, and the information said to "please allow up to 2 hours for the appointment", so that means getting out by about noon. Then we trudge off to the Embassy.
Takeshi plans to wear his very dashing suit, which he has been wearing so far, for job interviews. I have no such 'business' outfit to wear to the interview, so I will probably pick a nice long-sleeved top, and a skirt to wear. I have debated whether I should bring along my Nikon, but in the end, I'll probably want to bring it, since I'm not sure we'll ever get to go to Tokyo again (for reasons other than working on the green-card!). I know that we need to go back at least once more, for the second/final interview. They say that it will not be mandatory for me (the petitioner) to come to the second interview, but there's a good chance that we'll just go together again.
Along with dealing with the process of the visa, we are also at the same time working on research about locations to possibly move to, back in the States. Takeshi has given me the task of researching possible art colleges (online OR campus-based), which I would want to attend; he stated that he knows he doesn't have enough knowledge to help me do this anyway. It is my business, of course! I have found an equal amount of online and campus-based colleges which I am interested in pursuing, so far. Last night we decided to have each of us write down a list of 10 cities which we were interested in moving to, compare our lists, and whatever cities we both said we were interested in, we would do some (extra) research on them. Takeshi is away almost all of the time, for work, so I have been the chief researcher so far - putting together tables of info on certain cities. The four cities we both were interested in are: Seattle, WA. Atlanta, GA. San Francisco, CA. and Boston, MA.
There's a good chance that we may be moving back to the States within this year. Even now, I've begun to think about how weird it will be to be back in the States. Even though we've been here for only a year so far, I feel like I've begun to 'settle down' here a bit. It feels like we've been living here forever, to me! I've already begun to think about what I'll miss about Japan, and what I've been missing about the States. I do regret that we'll no longer be near Takeshi's parents, again. And at the same time, after moving to another state in the U.S. (which is probably nowhere near my home-base, MD), we will not be near any family or friends as well. This will be an interesting, fun, painful, frustrating, and significant change in our lives. Truthfully, I'd want to keep living in Japan instead - if it weren't for the fact that I have a significant disadvantage job-wise, here. Takeshi would be bringing in most of the income, if not all of it. I would love to find a graphic design job in a bigger city here, but that is looking less likely to happen within a short amount of time, or even at all. There are many other reasons why I'd have a harder time with finding a good paying job here, just like him. So I do believe that moving back to the States is a good choice for us, mainly because we would both be able to be employed full-time, in both of our fields.
I think sometimes, that I wonder to far into the near future, and make myself frustrated and paranoid! So I'll stop for now, with the wondering about ten million different possibilities, and go make dinner instead. :)
While in the state of mind pertaining to family, here are some photos from when my parents visited!
I would love to show a photography of my mother-in-law, but I ended not taking any direct photos of her! Just a few photos of her, off in the distance. Haha. Darn. I'm sure my dad, Takeshi, my mom, or my father-in-law probably has a photo or two of her!
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