Hello again friends! Lately, a lot of folks have been asking me when I plan to update this blog, honestly I don’t have too many exciting things to share at the moment, so I will probably update monthly until we get closer to our move.  No worries lots of adventures to come, so have no fear!

Non the less I thought I’d offer an update on where we stand with our move to the other side of the world.  As I shared in my last post we are moving at the end of April and things are really starting to pick up at this point (or at least from where they were before).  The frustrating thing is John is also in Japan right now for three weeks and sadly will not return until almost the end of the month, so I guess it’s at a stand still until then.  There was an orientation meeting today to talk about the process and of course this will have to wait until after he gets home.  The most frustrating part of all of this is having so many questions and feeling at times very much in the dark (you’d think a move as big as this one wouldn’t provide so much uncertainty, but alas here we are…clueless).  The exciting news is I’ve been having him bombard fellow colleagues and current ICT’ers (Toyota expats) on what we can expect.  Honestly, everyone has been so helpful and amazing to answer our questions and give us feed back on what to do and not to do.  It’s really an overwhelming process.  Everything kind of happens and then basically four months later you are living in another country.  I’m fairly certain that the first day I wake up in Japan I will be like “how the hell did I get here and holy sh*t we are living in Japan”.

In the mean time we are prepping and planning.  The first task that we took on once Toyota asked us to move was figuring out how to get our cats into Japan.  I certainly don’t want to bore anyone with this, but seriously what a freaking task that is.  After multiple vet appointments, including two rounds of rabies shots, and some blood work, and lots of money spent, Sarg and General’s blood work was sent off to Kansas City Rabies Lab to officially start the quarantine process.  Japan is a rabies free country and therefore a total headache to import your pet when you are living in a non-rabies free country.  It’s doable but a lot goes into the process.  I know that it sounds a little crazy to put my two cats through this move, but honestly no judgments.  We are child free and I can’t imagine leaving them for over a year.  Thankfully, the process so far has been smooth and they are currently in their 180 day quarantine and will finish around the time we move.  The next steps include notifying Japan’s quarantine services at least 40 days before we move and getting an official international health certificate signed in Lansing right before we leave.  Then the fun of pet travel will  begin.  BIGGEST ANXIETY THUS FAR! Our cats can’t even handle going to the vet, I’m not sure how they will handle a 14 hour plane ride, but we will manage.  I just hope to not have to be committed once I get to Japan for a mental break down…maybe a few cocktails on the plane will help! I know that it will be all worth it in the end.  Seriously, my new job title will be “accidental housewife and stay at home cat mom”.  I swear I’m not a crazy cat lady (ok…maybe a little).

Next up on the agenda is our house…wtf do we do with our house?!? Honestly, I have no clue. We’ve been back and forth on whether or not to rent it ,or leave it empty, or to have family live in it and maintain it.  It’s hard when you have to leave your newly purchased home when you haven’t even been in it a year #firstworldproblems!

At this point I’ve made the decision to loosen the reins, let go of the control freak inside of me, and just go with the flow.  This is happening people and to save my sanity I need to just go with it.

Things I am excited about:

1. John coming home first and foremost (like 12 days and counting…14 hour time difference is a b*tch)
2. Our home visit to Japan in March (my first time going before I make this move)
3. Having an adventure of a lifetime with my best friend, love of my life, and our two fur children (sorry I had to get sappy at some point)
4. Honestly, I’m just really excited to travel and see parts of the world I probably would have never been able to see if it weren’t for this opportunity

This is where I will leave you for today.  I promise you as time goes on my posts will get more exciting…but really guys I’m moving to Japan, that’s pretty exciting all on it’s own!