Yeah, it's been a while...

Is this going to be another year of sporadic blogging? I sure hope not...

Currently in typing into my phone on a train to Sasayama, a "city" where some of my friends live. The train is super packed but I was lucky enough to get a seat eventually, and I can't help but "take a moment" as my friend Brucie says, and think, "did I ever think I would be right here?"

Now obviously not precisely at this spot, as I didn't know the city Sasayama excited until well into my stay in Japan. Come to think of it, I didn't even know the name of my Kobe suburb until I met someone that actually lived there and pronounced it for me. (All through orientation I was saying "Gak-something")

A girl standing near me and is wearing one of those intense fur coats that you would really hope isn't real or else like 7 foxes died for it...

A man next to me is wearing a surgical mask and sleeping, and I'm hoping he hasn't been exposed to the intense strains of flu coming around this area...kind of wishing I followed my mommy's advice to get a flu shot before coming back to Japan...

Realizing that rather regularly and without notability, 6months have passed since I arrived in Japan. And with the realization that already half has gone by, in the same way, a whole half is yet to come.

I've spent more time away from my friends and family than with them in this past year, and it's one of those times where I'm wondering why I put myself through it.

But in this same push and pull, I've spent more time exploring, wandering, being lost, and absorbing everything than I ever would have imagined. Last weekend was one of those times where everything felt like a beautiful adventure. Then back at school on Monday I felt like a reject once again. I never thought that it would be as a teacher that I disliked school the most--but office politics and feeling downright useless is what school brings to me nowadays...

So no, I did not see myself here, in a certain sense. I just wanted to explore and feel like I'm taking in as much as I can. I had no idea in what capacity or how that would come to be. But there are so many feelings that I didn't know came with my wanderings...and maybe it is just growing up, I've been drumming that into my brain at many a moment. And maybe I need to focus more generally and adjust the perspectives on myself and my experiences in the context of making me a better person. I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say here...

So again I am ranting, so I'll just add in some awesome travel pictures :)

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