Hurry up and wait.

If you read enough military fiction, history, or biographical accounts, you will inevitably come across the term "hurry up and wait," most commonly uttered by the foot-slogging infantryman. Military operations require much planning and logistical support, but as the famous axiom relates, no plan survives contact with the enemy. The enemy in this case of course is the unexpected, and so best laid military plans often starts to unravel as delays pop up, due to bad weather, mechanical failure, or other acts of god. These delays trickle down to the lowly pre-mission infantryman, who has scrambled to get his kit sorted and ready, only to be told to wait while other elements of the operation play catch-up.

Hurry up and wait.

I am, of course not a soldier, but it is still a sentiment I can appreciate. After the flurry of preparation, mainly getting my certificate sorted and delivered, I'm now marking time in a sort of JET limbo. Allow me to clarify.

By now, virtually all of the Ottawa short-list, and most of the Toronto short-list JETs have gotten their placements (EDIT: This is pure speculation on my part, based solely on the replies to the "Placement" thread on the Toronto JETAA forums. I don't really know, at this point, what percentage of Canadian JETs have gotten placement offers at this time). The upgraded short-listers (that is, upgraded from the alternate list) have, as far as I can tell, not recieved word of placement. This makes sense of course. Those who were from the start on the short-list had almost a month to accept and deliver their paperwork to their JET Co-ordinator. On the other hand, the alternate-listers had merely to formally accept their alternate list status, with their paperwork required only in the case that they got upgraded to short-list.

Paperwork is sent to CLAIR, the Japanese agency responsible for the placements of JETs across Japan. The short-listers presumably had their paperwork sent at the beginning of the month, some time in the first week of May. The upgradees on the other hand probably have their paperwork sent overseas as it comes in to the JET Co-ordinator's office. So if the original short-listers are even now being informed of their placements, no doubt my placement will come perhaps a week later.

This is where the anxiety kicks in. Being on the JET short-list means that I will be going to Japan, barring any bizzarre discrepancies between my medical certificate and my application form. As it stands, going to Japan is as guaranteed as it's going to be barring acts of god, dog, or whatever else the cosmos throws into the mix. But there is still that nagging doubt in the recesses of my psyche, of not going, of somehow being rejected at the very last of selection stages.

Hurry up and wait indeed.

Of course my worrying has not stopped me from buying a new laptop. More on that in a later post though...