My very busy weekend begins with a full dress rehearsal of Arsenic and Old Lace this evening. It’s been a long and bumpy road getting here but I think we’re ready! We’re doing dinner theatre performances tomorrow and Saturday evenings followed by an afternoon matinee on Sunday.

Flagstaff Players is a small community theatre group that puts on one major production a year. A small core group of people are instrumental in seeing that everything that needs to happen happens but it’s definitely a team effort involving the entire cast and a small production crew. This year, in addition to my stint as interim director and taking over a lead role midway through rehearsals, I’ve also provided a few costumes and props, helped paint the set and been in charge of ticket sales!

Putting on a play is a lot of work but it’s worth it all when the lights go up, the play begins and I feel the audience respond. What a rush! I’m essentially a very shy person but when I’m onstage, I get to be someone else and it is so much fun!

Just in case those who saw last year’s performance are wondering, there will be no jungle girl costume this year! I’m playing the role of a little old lady; a very crazy little old lady.

Today I started packing away the things we won’t need between now and leaving for Japan. It will seem odd to see empty spaces where our things have always been but the job will be much easier if I do it a little at a time. I emptied the china cabinet today as there was nothing in there that I can’t get along without. I also cleared out a cabinet in the livingroom. It didn’t take long for me to begin to realize how much stuff we have and how much work it’s going to be to pack it all up! We really are a society that thrives on excess. Perhaps learning to live in a much smaller space with much less stuff will be a valuable exercise for Richard and I.

Our working visas arrived in today’s mail, exactly one month before our departure date! That’s the final piece of paperwork clearing the way for us to go as planned. On the visas we are designated as Specialists in Humanities/International. Pretty impressive sounding considering that we’ll actually be working as teachers of conversational English!

On another note, I’m feeling much better today. The back has improved significantly and the arms, though still feeling a little bruised, are also better.

This evening I feel a bit like I’ve been run over by a truck!  Richard and I each had four needles today; two in each arm.  Vaccinations aren’t necessary for travel to Japan but, because we want to spend our vacation periods exploring Southeast Asia, they’re a recommended precautionary measure.   We’re now well on the way to being protected against typhoid and hepatitis A and B as well as tetanus, diphtheria and influenza.   We have to have a second hepatitis injection just before we leave Canada and hopefully, a third one in Japan six months from now.  Malaria is another concern in some of the areas that we hope to visit but since there isn’t a vaccine available we’ll have to look into getting antimalarial medications in Japan.

We have three main holiday periods to look forward to during our year in Japan.  The first, called Golden Week is eight days in length and falls at the beginning of May.  We’ll have the second one, a nine day Summer Vacation,  during the first half of August.  Winter Vacation, much like our Canadian Christmas holiday, is approximately two weeks in length and begins on Dec. 23.   In addition to these longer breaks, we’ll have a number of days off throughout the year for various national holidays.

We haven’t planned exactly how we’ll make use of our vacation periods yet but Korea, Thailand and Cambodia are high on our list of places to visit and Hong Kong is an absolute must.

I hurt my back during my weight lifting workout today.   I was lowering a 90 pound barbell to the floor the same way I’ve done a million times before, being careful to use my legs and not my back, when I felt something in my lower back snap.  I knew right away it was bad news!  Hopefully it’s just a temporary setback though and not something serious.  I took some muscle relaxants which seem to have helped somewhat.  I could take more in an hour or so but the first ones made me feel kind of dozy and I have drama rehearsal this evening so I’ll avoid them until afterward if I can.

I also had my first bone density test today.  Since I consume large amounts of milk and weight bearing exercise is supposed to be great for your bones, I don’t expect any problems but I’m at an age where it should be checked.

We’re going to miss our treadmill and our free weights when we’re in Japan but we’ll probably make up for the lack of a regular exercise program with the amount of walking we’ll be doing and we’re also hoping to pick up a couple of used bikes at a reasonable price so we should manage to keep in shape.

If we had traveled to Japan a year ago or even just a couple of months ago, Richard and I could have taken two suitcases each weighing up to 70 pounds apiece. Unfortunately, as of November 1, 2007 the maximum weight per bag was reduced to 50 pounds. For the two of us, that’s a total of 80 pounds less! I know that I don’t have to start packing for awhile yet but as Melaina says, I tend to overthink things and I’m beginning to wonder how we’re going to manage with these new weight restrictions.

Knowing that we would need one more suitcase than we already had, we recently purchased the largest size allowed by the airline. It will hold a lot of stuff but how will I keep it under 50 pounds? I want to make the best use possible of the space so I certainly don’t want to travel with a suitcase that isn’t full! I’m hoping that if I fill it with our bulkiest and most lightweight items, it will remain under the weight limit. The heavier items will have to go into our smaller bags.

We’re also allowed two carry-ons per person with a maximum weight of 22 pounds each but we’ll probably only take one each as there is a limit to how many items we can manage unassisted and I firmly believe that a person shouldn’t travel with more luggage than they can handle on their own. We’re not sure yet whether we’ll be met at the airport by someone from our school or whether we’ll be finding our own way from there. In either case, we’ll probably be traveling from the airport on public transit. Finding our own way doesn’t worry me in the least but doing it weighed down with large amounts of luggage could be quite difficult.

My favourite director is back and although the play still needs lots of work, it’s beginning to come together. There are moments, however, when I wonder if Arsenic and Old Lace is the play that wasn’t meant to be. With only two weeks left until performance time, we’ve had to replace another cast member. One of our long term actors has been diagnosed with a colon condition and ordered to rest by his doctor. Fortunately, his part was small and we were able to find a replacement for him.

We’re still a little shaky when it comes to remembering lines and we’re not always quite sure where we’re supposed to be onstage but the back room is filling up with costumes and props and a crew is gathering at the hall this morning to construct the set. Before we know it the stage will be transformed, the lights will come on, a hush will fall over the audience and the play will begin! As always, I hope we’re ready!

This morning’s visit to the consulate was quick, simple and not at all what I expected.  There was no sitting down across the desk from an official, no questions asked or answers given.  Documents were simply signed and passed under the window separating us from the lady who served us, we were asked to wait a few minutes while everything was checked and then we were sent on our way.  The visas will be issued on Jan. 22 and returned to us via express post so we should have them in hand a full month before our departure.

On the way back to Melaina’s, we stopped to do some shopping.  For the first time in his life, Richard will be required to wear dress shirts and ties to school so we needed to add a few of those to his wardrobe.  Fortunately, we were able to take advantage of the January sales.  I also found a couple of tops to enhance my working wardrobe but the most exciting purchase was a gift for our unborn grandson.  We bought him a Fisher Price baby swing.  Unlike the wind up models that our babies swung in, this one is pretty high tech featuring 12 songs as well as rainforest sounds!

We’re back in Calgary again.  The Certificates of Eligibility that we’ve been waiting for arrived in this morning’s mail so I called the Japanese consulate here in Calgary and made an appointment for tomorrow morning, packed a suitcase and we were on our way.  The Certificates are issued by Japanese Immigration and are a required part of the visa application process.  We have to apply for the visas in person.  After tomorrow’s appointment, the consulate will hold our passports for one week then stamp them with the visas and return them to us.  Fortunately, that can be done by mail.

I also joined the world of Facebook today.  Actually, my kids have been telling me for some time that this was something I needed to do and when Melaina heard that I was coming down today, she decided to go ahead and set it up for me.  Upon arrival this afternoon, I was introduced to my new account and given a mini inservice!

The decision was made last night. With three weeks left until performance time, I’ve been asked to take over a lead role in our upcoming play. I’ve been working on memorizing the lines for some time now so that I could step in if necessary and replace a cast member who, due to a stroke suffered eight months ago, was having difficulty memorizing her lines. Instead of sitting in the director’s chair at tomorrow afternoon’s rehearsal, I’ll be onstage. Fortunately, the real director, who has been away caring for her ill mother for the past several weeks, is due back on Wednesday. I’m much more comfortable acting than I am directing but stepping in at this late date is far from ideal. I would definitely feel more comfortable taking over this role if we didn’t also have to make another trip to Calgary sometime in the next couple of weeks to visit the Japanese consulate and arrange for our working visas. Oh well, at least life is never boring!