The Whole Erk Catalogue Tales of a Geek Abroad

These are the players in my life right now. In some places names may be changed to protect the innocent.

My Family
My mom seems to be proud of me, but she's also a little upset. We've had our differences but we're pretty close, and I've never been more than a few towns away for more than a couple months at a time. She's doing a good job of not letting it show, but I do think this is pretty rough on her in some ways.

My little sister, Robin, doesn't seem too troubled. I think she's excited, as this is the kind of thing she'd be interested in as well. I'll be sure to send her a lot of cool Engrish shirts. I also have to frame the painting she gave me a few years ago and bring it along.

My dad lives in Calgary, and at the time of writing this I haven't had much time to hang out with him. I'm going out there as soon as I can to do some renovation work with him. He and his girlfriend will probably come visit me in Japan as their schedules are more flexible and they have more means than my mom, so I think he's taking it a lot easier. He lives with my stepmom, Zdenka, who is great. She's a graphic designer and my boss, I do mostly the computer end of things although I help with the graphics too. I still can't believe I was lucky enough to land a job like that, and that I can actually hold my own in that field.

I hope I get a chance to visit my grandparents before I leave... no, scratch that, I will make time. I could be gone a long time and they're getting old.

My friends
First on this list goes Jen, the most important person in my life right now. I've known her less than a year and she's affected me more than I can say. I'm sure you'll see a lot more about her in the Diary section.

My best friend Zabby is "chou" excited for me. She wanted to go on JET as well, but she doesn't seem that let down. She has a new boyfriend who's keeping her from getting envious I think, plus she just isn't the envious sort. I hope she applies to JET again next year, or a private japan exchange like NOVA... it would be great for her.

My other friends might come up from time to time, particularly Jon, but I can't think of a lot to say about them right now.

The University
I'm almost done at Thompson Rivers University now, but here at the end of May I still have a bit of work to do. My professor is Mairi, and I may mention her on occasion, particularly if I talk about my research.

JET
So far I know nobody related to the JET programme. I hope soon I will be able to add my predecessor in Natori-shi to this list.