Anniversary!

It's been pouring down rain all day long, and with it also came more chilly temps! Bleh. Bring back the sunshine, please.

Yes, it is May! On 16th of May (in about a week+4 days) marks 1 year since we got married. :) Our first marriage anniversary. Wowza time flies when you're....alive. Hehe. The 16th is a Saturday, and Takeshi (being the culinary business) can never hope to have the weekend off. So we're going to do something on that Thursday, the 14th, which are his only days off right now. I'm not sure what we'll do - we haven't had time to talk about it yet, since more debating and brainstorming has commenced after getting the approval letter from the embassy, yesterday. I'm sure we'll go somewhere by train, perhaps Nagoya, or Osaka - we can putter around town and then have din-din somewhere. There's not much to do in Suzuka for an anniversary, that's for sure!

Today I promised Takeshi that I would get info online about some FAFSA and college stuff, which will go towards more debating on where to move to. Now that we've gotten that letter of approval, things have been kicked into high gear, with all the planning and such. Nothing solid has been though up yet, but Takeshi is now saying that he figures we'll move to the States by around July or August! That's....like.....reallysoon! (bites nails)

We already requested a date for the final interview at the embassy, last night, online. We requested it for the first week of next month, June. Interviews at the embassy in Tokyo are only on Mondays, so Takeshi will be asking for that Monday off again. This time we are thinking of having Takeshi go alone to Tokyo. My presence, as the petitioner, is not required. Shinkansen tickets aren't cheap, and I'm sure we'll be spending enough money on moving our crap to the States, getting an apartment in the States. etc. etc. etc. sooner than we know it. After the second interview, we were told that our visa will be mailed to us within a week after that! (pretty quick, again, for the government...) After we have our visa, we have 6 months to move out of Japan, before it expires.

I'm fine with the speediness of the process so far, but now I'm getting really anxious about the whole thing. Not about making everything work out in the States when we get there as much, but, more about leaving Japan so quickly! It makes a little sad. If it were an ideal world, we would have more of a "grace period", kind of. It just seems so fast.

I'm going to miss TONS of things about Japan, never mind being close to Takeshi's family. I hope we can buy, like, a crap-load of nonperishable grocery items, and just use one big box for that stuff. I gotta have my dozens of different rice-toppings, and mochi, and instant Blendy mix! Takeshi says that we'll probably take our rice cooker with us, anyway.

Also, we figured out that when we get to the States again, I will have to be the main driver again! Well, at first, anyway. Oh-my-gawd. That's going to be so weird. I haven't driven in about a year, since we came to Japan. Oh - it's not like I think I've forgotten how to drive. It'll just be...weird. Hehe. I'll manage. My Pennsylvania license is still good, but Takeshi's old Alabama license has expired. He said he's planning to get an international driver's license before we head over. And I'm sure it'll be fun to go through the process of exchanging my PA license for another state's license (if we don't end up in PA again, anyway).

Still raining.... :(

I was going to go get some groceries today, but the rain has not stopped all day long, and I'm not about to get drenched (and drown my groceries) while trying to ride a wet bike home. Sigh....gotta' think of something unique for dinner tonight. Tomorrow better have nicer weather! Grrr.