Goodbye Kanazawa... Japan

Only a few hours left on the countdown timer.

We've packed, shipped our stuff, and cleaned. We've said "goodbye" to many wonderful friends. But it's difficult to say "thank you" for all the good times, and for all the support in a way that really covers everything.

We'll soon be looking for a new home and a new life.

Back to you on the flipside.

Home strech

A few days ago the guys came to grab our furniture. Then the moving company came yesterday to grab our clothes and other personal effects. Today, we're waiting to meet the real estate folks to close up the apartment.

When we finish with that, we're doing small errands and finishing up business with school.

The exchange rate has been dropping, but that was after we had sent the bulk of our funds home - oh well.

We're left with saying goodbye to a lot of good folks here.

Casey asked about the future of this blog, and my first reaction was to just keep it going. I think I'll keep with that. It's just that my definition of "home" is going to radically change pretty soon.

Yamato (Black Cat) Movers

Mr. Yamada from Yamato Shipping came by this morning with Omi-san of KIT. We had an appointment to get an estimate from Yamato for all the stuff we want to take back with us. The pile of stuff measures about 1.6 x 1.5 x 1 square meters.

It's mostly clothes, books, electronics with a few larger things like my snowboard and a rack we've been using to cart around my projector.

We've been trying to whittle down all the stuff we're bringing home for obvious reasons. Having finished my contract, I can ship home ¥300,000 worth of stuff to America. Unfortunately, even though Hyunjoo is working under the same contract, we won't get an additional ¥300,000 since she's technically breaking her contract.

We made arrangements to have the stuff sent to Hyunjoo's sister's house in Las Vegas. Sending the stuff to the West coast is cheaper than the East coast so we should be able to bring more with us for the same amount of money.

I figured we'd be a little over the shipping allowance, but as it turns out, we're way under. Omi-san said it was the least amount of stuff she's seen in about the past 10 years! Hyunjoo and I were so relieved to hear that.

Immigration Interview

We just finished at the American Embassy.

Hyunjoo's immigration interview is finished at last and all's well so far. If things continue to go well, we'll have her passport back when we return to Kanazawa on the 20th. There should be a shiny new visa for her in the passport and we'll be that much closer to getting her permanent residency status.

I'm not exactly sure what steps we'll have to go through once we arrive in the states. More bureau-crazy I'm sure. The guy at the Embassy wasn't even sure. He slid outta that one gracefully with a "well, that a different government agency..."

We started this process back in November and over $2000 later, we're finally wrapping things up. It makes me appreciate that the Immigration Bill didn't get passed a few weeks ago. We're going through all of these steps and everyone else should have to as well.

Too bad

I was talking with an old friend last week who lives in Kyoto. He's been there for about 10 years. Some might call him an expat, though he might take offense to the label as a few others have. I'm not exactly sure why. I'm pretty neutral on the term myself. That's another story however.

We were comparing life here in Japan with back home in America and he said that he was happy enough to live here because things like the troubling side of the Immigration Bill and the lack of the American Government's effectiveness in Iraq and at home just made the idea of living in America unpleasant by comparison.

I had to bite my lip, because I would probably just say something that would just damage our pleasant, but "convenient" friendship. I think part of getting older means developing a pretty "rough lip" - at least in my case.

I don't want to step on toes here. Everyone has very different experiences and reasons for living abroad, whether temporarily or indefinitely. Nor do I mean to reduce someone's reasons for living abroad, because these situations are usually based on very complicated decisions.

I suppose I felt like he gave a poor reason to live here in Japan, but perhaps no better than the one I had for coming here in the first place. I also know that I felt defensive to his remarks as he knows that I'm headed back to America. I'm looking for an opportunity, he's only commenting on the negative media-driven image of America that's fueled by daily internet bytes and an annual two-week trip back home to oblige his family.

I realize that it's part of the "survival package" of living as an expat. And perhaps I even wore that mask myself before my decision to return to America. And perhaps that's a part of exactly why I'm returning to America now with Hyunjoo.

Goodbye

The KIT and KTC staff threw Yasuko, Hyunjoo, and I a farewell party since we'll all be leaving before the next term begins. It was a really cool gathering since both entire-staffs rarely get together.
Click on the pictures to see a larger version of the slideshow.

The check list...

This is just a rough list of what we gotta remember to take care of on our way outta here.

• selling the car
• reservations for Mt. Fuji
• arrangements for Alicia's visit
• reservations for Lee folks once they leave Kanazawa
• sell / throw out everything we're not packing up
• buy tickets to Seoul
• job hunt!
• Las Vegas vs. Salt Lake City
• garbage runs
• sign out of the apartment
• wire money to America
• shut off utilities
• hike Hakusan
• clean the apartment
• luggage service to the airport
• fly outta here
  

Hyunjoo's Petition for an Immigrant Visa

We've made the decision to move to the States and we've begun the process for her immigrant visa and eventual lawful resident card (green card). We've started to fill out the I-130 and G-325A (for the both of us).

What are the steps?
What are the forms we'll need?
How long will this take?

http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/services/residency/family.htm
http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/services/residency/index.htm
http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/visa/tvisa-ivgeneral.html
http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/visa/tvisa-ivi130checkmail.html

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?act=idx