I'd like to thank the Academy

You know how I was nominated for that scholarship way back in March/April. Well I got a lovely email this morning informing me that I got that scholarship! 80,000 yen a month push 80,000 when I arrive for travel reimbursement and relocation allowance. For those of you not familar with yen 80,000 is about $800 dollars. Think of it as if we had kept all our currency in pennies rather than switch to dollars every 100 pennies.

Thanks to everyone who prayed and fasted on my behalf. Now I may not have to get a part-time job to travel around that gorgeous island!

I'm so excited!

Clear the runway!

Ok. I realize trains don't have a runway, but Ilise got me a going away present. That's it above. She said she saw Mt. Fuji in the book and knew it was Japanese. It's an album of bullet trains and one hundred facts about them. It's meant for kids interested in such things. In fact, there's a whole series of them. It's relatively easy to read, though.

In other news, I have 25 days until take off. I have my visa (Thanks mom for going to Chicago with me), my certificate of eligebility for residency, and a gianormous suitcase (to fit as much of my stuff as possible in). All I'm waiting for now is my address. Toodles!