First thing to understand about me is I am a planner. I have plans for vacations I want to take with C in high school already. I started considering moving back to Japan when C was born. I really started planning the details six months before I applied to the JET Program, and more than a year and a half before we moved here. Now with a year and a half left, it’s time for me to start planning our return to America. Two years in Japan is what I always planned. It’s the perfect amount of time for us I think. Career, money, travel and learning Japanese-wise, both positive and negative, it all boils down to 2 years. I also don’t plan on returning to Texas when I move back, so I have to set up a whole new life in a completely different city.
So here is what I’ve started looking into for our return. I don’t have an answer for most of these – honestly I have more questions than answers at this point – but just food for thought (and my own organizational sanity)…
Timing – if we leave Japan at the end of July/early August and school starts in the states in early September, how to get him registered for school from half a world away, find a place to live, get a car, a job and insurance, and get all of our stuff from storage in Texas to Seattle. How to travel and enjoy the last few weeks in Japan and still make it back in time to set up a life, adjust to reverse culture shock, Jet-lag and settling in, before the start of the school year.
School registration starts in February in Seattle…
How to logistically get myself to Seattle for a visit to see if it’s really where I want to live permanently before we leave Japan. Pretty sure it is, but I’ve never actually been there, so I want to visit first. My idea is this Christmas holiday, fly from Japan to Texas, drop off C in Texas with my parents, fly to Seattle, spend a few days there and then fly back home to Texas. Spend Christmas with family and then C and I will fly back to Japan. Not exactly a relaxing vacation for me, but I’m not seeing a whole lot of other options. I could break it up into 2 separate trips but that would be so expensive it’s not worth it.
Oh – and what to do with the cat for 2 weeks while we’re visiting home.
How do I fit in everything I want to see and need to do in a few days in Seattle?
How do I register C for school from Japan? There is a school in Seattle that offers a half day Japanese Immersion program that I would love for C to be able to get into, however I won’t be a resident until a few weeks before school starts. Will this program be full by then? And it says that 2nd graders will need to test into the program so they can keep up with the work that is taught in Japanese. When is that test given? Plus it’s in one of the most expensive parts of the city, so basically I’m looking at studio apartments to get us residency status before I can think about looking for a more spacious place.
There is talk about the school potentially becoming an open enrollment school (anyone living anywhere in Seattle can attend, not just the local neighborhood kids) however that opens up a whole other set of issues I don’t want to worry about until I have to. If it does become open enrollment, there is the potential for a lottery system if too may people apply to get in. On the other hand, we could live in a cheaper area of seattle….
How quickly can I find a job so I can fill out a rental agreement and afford said studio apartment? Or better yet, is it possible to have a job set up when we arrive in Seattle?
How am I going to make a studio apartment work with a three bedroom house’s worth of stuff, a kid and a cat??!! Even if it’s just short term….
How to I physically move stuff from Texas to Seattle? How much will it cost to hire someone to help me get all my stuff to Seattle and move it into my apartment?
Is it possible to not need a car (at least for the short term) in Seattle? Depending on where my job is in relation to where we live, maybe bike and bus are options.
After school care – where/what is available and can I reserve a spot for C before establishing residency? How much is it and can I afford it?
Insurance!!! Good gracious! Insurance is a huge question – even if it is temporary or private insurance and with the new rules for Obama-care how does all that stuff work? (please keep political comments to yourself)
Culture shock – how do I do all of this and help C through reverse culture shock while probably dealing with it myself. At least when we moved to Japan I had a week before C arrived to set up everything, get utilities, a phone, etc established….In Seattle, I won’t have that time to get things established before C arrives.
And…how will he react? He reverted to a screaming 2 year old for a little while when we moved to Japan because of the stress of the move and new school. Now he’s back to his usual sweet self, but how will his behavior be affected upon our return? I think we’re both going to be exhausted the first few months back.
Money – how much is this all going to cost and can we travel and enjoy Japan while still saving enough to make it through (with some emergency savings) another international move?
Seattle is much more expensive than Texas. What is the cost of living and how do I know my potential salary is fair and how much do I need to be asking for based on my experience and work history?
How will my 2 years in Japan negatively affect my chances of getting a good job in my field quickly? Also, with few contacts in Seattle, I don’t have a network of co-workers to ask around for job openings like I do in Texas…
Positive things about moving to Seattle are:
I have a friend in Seattle who can show me around and works in the same field, so they may be able to help me find a job
I am quite certain it’s ‘where I belong’
I love the rain!
It’s a big city for design and advertising, so I’m hoping finding a job won’t take too long. Even if it’s just freelance for a little while, I can deal with that.
Farmer’s Market!!!!
Coffee!!!
Larger Japanese community and immersion school for C
It’s quite daunting when I try to think about it. Even more so than moving to Japan where housing was already set up for me, someone was here making sure the utilities were scheduled to be turned on the day I moved in, I had a job and insurance lined up, and C was already enrolled in daycare. Though there were a lot of stressful unknowns moving to Japan, there are just as many if not more unknowns about moving back. At least I will know how to go about getting things done, and I can speak the language. Plus my friends and family will still be far away, but much closer than now if I need to ask for help or advice.
...and this is why I plan things so far in advance!
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