Application Process, go!

I have an internship; you all know that by now. I leave in less than two weeks, so I thought it may be a good time to explain how I went about getting it to begin with. It took almost a year to do... So here it is, the awesome timeline that is applying for and getting an internship through the military:
December:

• Receive email through program listserv about this new thing the Navy's trying, internships for librarians on bases abroad
• See that it has a listing in Japan.
• Have everyone I know inform me that there's one in Japan and I should apply (Thanks, guys! you convinced me it may actually be worth it!)
• Notice that I either have two weeks (haha) or several months to complete the application
• Begin application. There's forms to fill out and recommendations to be made.
• Look into auditing a Japanese course. Realize I can't until the next year.
• Begin looking into course options if I left for a semester, with the assumption that taking a class abroad would be very bad for my GPA and attempts to actually learn. Email several people, and learn that half of the things I wanted to take are school media and closed forever, or only offered on a very irregular basis.
• Sign up for four classes for the spring semester to make up for possible being gone.

January-April:

• Realize that taking four classes is a BAD idea. Never do it; trust me.
• Work on application when not dying from four work-heavy classes.
• Sign up for a summer class to make up for possibly being away for a semester.

April:

• Turn application and recommendations in. Yes, it did take me that long, but mostly due to the realization that nothing was due until JUNE and the agonizing process of deciding who would possibly want to write a recommendation for me.
• Sign up to audit a Japanese course, just in case. Also because I was losing my skills at far too rapid a rate. This actually involved far more paperwork, signatures, and frustration than applying for the internship. Ten signatures, to be exact, and most of them from people I had never met before. "Hi, I'm trying to audit Japanese 201....Yes, I've taken Japanese before. No, not here. Japan. Yes, I know that this is not part of my program, thank you. Yes, I do know that this class meets four days a week...Why? So I can learn more Japanese? What do you mean I'm about halfway through the material for 201 already? Crap. No; I never learned casual speech. Right. I'll get right on it."

June:

• Begin to freak out about hearing back, seeing as I was supposed to have heard by the end of the month.
• Study casual Japanese. Realize that I forgot the past tense. Study the past tense.
• Receive and email about a phone interview. Freak out, then take interview. Am asked very basic questions and whether I'd be OK about being in the US instead. Get asked about my Japanese background. This is confusing and contradictory.

July:

• Get asked to take a second interview. Date of interview changes several times.
• Take summer course and worry about interview.

August:

• Have second interview (phone) while on vacation in Toronto. Spend the few hours beforehand trying to find a quiet place. Nice hotel people let me use their business office. Get asked more about what I know about libraries and managing people, as well as about where I lived in Japan.

September:

• Late in the month, receive phone call (ok, miss, then have to call back) informing me I'm in and have been assigned to Atsugi, Japan. A bunch of numbers are thrown at me, then i'm asked if I need time to think about the offer. I have no other offers. Accept.

November:

• Given two weeks to complete a ton of paperwork, apply for a special passport, get First Aid/Red Cross certified, and provide plenty of documentation. Do this.
• Hear from my mentor. Learn about where I'll be and what I'll be doing. Get excited. Begin regular correspondence
• Realize how much my Japanese skills suck.

December:

• Learn where I'll be staying and receive all pertinent information.

And that's how it went. It wasn't as hard as it could have been, and the most frustrating thing was waiting. Honestly, I think I only got a position because I happened to speak enough Japanese to get on a train and the base there just happened to be overworked, understaffed, and willing to deal with some grad student who's never worked at a library in her life.
Now, to see how it goes.

Oh, and that guy who tried to blow up a plane and burned his pants instead? Thanks. Now airport security is going to be a nightmare for me and you've added a good four hours to my already long trip. I so look forward to it.

Testing, testing...

Here's the deal, folks. As most, if not all, of you know, I somehow snagged an internship through the gov. at a base near Atsugi, which, in turn, is near Tokyo. I will be working on a base library for three months on several projects.
This blog has been created to keep you all on top of what I am doing in Japanland. As such, it will be about my about my internship and how I am navigating the scary world of military life. Chances are, it will quickly devolve into talking about good things I ate and places I want to go, but we can pretend that it will be all professional anyway.

Here are some quick to-date factors (I will catch you up on the official process later):
-Everything I know about the military comes from stories from my AF girl cousin, TV, and books. It confuses me, so this will be fun.
-I have never actually worked in a library before...huh.
-Being by Tokyo, the base I will be living on is also close to my old home of 生田 (Ikuta), 5 Ships Women's Dormitory and Golf Studio, a giraffe river water measure (see below), one elementary school, one middle school, and the OK Supaa Supermarket.
-I really don't speak as much Japanese as you think I do. Seriously.

giraffe-san