Currently Listening To: (I’ve) EIKO – Hologram – “Sukarabe no Inori ~Brown Sugar Style~”
State of Being: Content

Nearly every day of the week, I’ve been dealing with some sort of business regarding making my study abroad session in Hirakata City, Osaka, Japan happen. As thankful as I am for my mother’s assistance, it can become quite irritating talking business with her. The fact that she is a secretary in a high school and computer-illiterate doesn’t compute with me, but it’s the truth. Aside from that, she has been very helpful in making calls that I’m too busy to make myself while working 10-4PM, 5 days a week.

Yesterday, I had ridden with my father to NYC to the Japanese Consulate in order to obtain my Japan visa. Shaian had a chance to see me all primped and pretty because of my father insisting on first impressions in the city, which we had a nice, heated talk over when I showed up at his house in casual wear. Anyway, I had been told (and read on their website) that the process is supposed to take a long time. However, I was only in the consulate for about 20-25 minutes. 10 of those minutes were spent shivering nervously while keeping myself occupied with Angel Sanctuary #4, a compulsive purchase I made on Tuesday…along with Air Gear #1. I blame my mother. She wanted to check out Payless (the Waldenbooks was right next door) after we had already purchased a new pair of shoes for me in Marty’s. I’m such a “bad kid.”

After about a week of waiting for my grandmother-in-law (is there such a thing???) to finally be able to pass on my e-mail address to a woman stationed in Tokyo that she is friends with, I received her e-mail today. I could tell Hasegawa-san was native to Japan due to her few, but painful english mispellings, though I couldn’t help but get all gushy and “awwww!”-like while counting how many times “please” showed up in her e-mail. She seemed very sincere and could relate to all that I am dealing with to get there. Though I plan to send a short e-mail of apology to Kansai Gaidai, hoping they will consider assigning someone to bring me to the university, Hasegawa-san asked when I would be coming into Osaka Kansai Intl. For the sake of having an adult contact, I would rather indirectly inquire if she would be willing to meet me there, despite the 500 mile inconvenience [that she mentioned]. Depending on how receptive she is, I’ll know whether to send that e-mail to the people in charge of arrivals at KG.

Money matters are still in their closing stages. I need to make sure that my home college isn’t taking on student fees when I’m not going to be there. Also, making sure that my loan money can be transferred to my housing payments at KG. After that’s sorted out, I will be discussing some sort of help-you-help-me agreement with my boss in order to receive some sort of financial aid. Right now, his base suggestion is to extend my internship (as if it hasn’t been extended already XD) for a longer period, pending that I can still give aid to his company overseas. That sounds great, but now I’ve been brainstorming of a way to somehow get a laptop into my hands before August 28th, my date of departure. With a chunk of my money going towards my $1201.10 round-trip tickets, and $260 towards mandatory KG fees, I could only afford one if I could find one with a monthly payment plan that I’d still need help paying, or someone gives me the difference of whatever decent one I can find online. However, I still have at least two more decent checks coming in. This is all a very tight situation, seeing as how I still need enough money for textbooks, food, and just pocket cash just in case. Can you say “major steps of faith/hope?”

Still…it really does looks like it’s going to happen. Since this all started in middle June, everything about this has been uncomfortably bumpy and time-consuming. I really think that this is just the preliminary stage. Nevertheless, I’ve been very collected about it all. I hope the road smoothes out for me soon, since none of this has been simple for me to stand strong in. While my mother is trying her best to accept that I’m going to pull this off, I’m grinning at the fact that I’m on the brink of doing what no one in my immediate family has done before, and so much more.

+ Alexiel +
// Reika //
~ Kana ~