I believe in opportunities presenting themselves and it’s what you choose to do with those opportunities that change the course of your life.  

But if you believe in it, can’t everything be attributed to fate no matter what decisions you make?  

I will be presented with many new opportunities come the new school year and I hope to make the most of it.  Wish me luck.

It’s been a week since I’ve been home and it’s been so much fun.  I guess I’m making up for lost time.  I’ve already hit the driving range twice (and bought a new set of clubs), been to the beach, went for bubble tea several times and finally saw The Dark Knight.  I haven’t taken the time to unpack my suitcases.  I should probably do that soon. 

Now that I’m back, I’ll probably be blogging about the adventures of Pharmacy and random daily happenings. 

There are still 3 weeks of fun to be had before school starts.  I’ll be exhausted come September.  Oh well.

Not much has changed in the last week.  I still have tons of packing and cleaning to do.  I’ve pretty much finalized everything else like sorting out the gas, water and electricity bills, the inspection and handing over the key to my apartment, and my transportation to the airport.  I just have to pretty much finish packing and cleaning by Monday, which is when some people from the school will move their stuff back to the school.  It will be a busy 4-nights. 

I went to Kyoto last weekend and it was crazy hot.  I think it was something like 35 degrees.  As much as I would have enjoyed walking from temple to temple, it was just too hot and there wasn’t enough time, so we had to use the buses and subways.  It was a good trip but seeing like 5 temples/shrines plus the Imperial Palace and Nijo Castle in less than 3 days makes you feel kind of templed out. 

I’m looking forward to seeing Jason Mraz next Tuesday but I lose a day of packing.  I guess I’ll have to power pack the day before. 

I can’t wait to come back to Japan to visit.  But I also can’t wait to be home.  It’s about time someone invented a teleportation device.

And it’s finally sinking in.  In 2 weeks, I’ll be on my way back home for good.  Looking back on all the frustrations throughout the year, I can still say this has been one of the best and most memorable years of my life.  I gave my farewell speech to the school today (in Japanese so that everyone would understand) and I guess that’s when it hit everyone, including myself, that I was leaving.  For the rest of the day, students wanted to talk with me, which was a little difficult with their lack of English and my lack of Japanese.  But I’ve gotten used to the broken and confused conversations and I’ll miss them (both the conversations and the students). 

Tomorrow will be my last karate class here in Japan, which is also sad because training here has been amazing even though it’s only been once a week. 

I’m off to Kyoto for the long weekend, which I feel a little unprepared for but it should be fun.  As long as the transportation and hotel are booked, I think the sightseeing will take care of itself.  Even if it isn’t as efficient as I would like. 

I’m disappointed that I can’t express the bittersweetness that I feel about leaving Japan.  4 months ago I was hating Japan and couldn’t wait to come home.  But since then it’s been amazing.  I guess I’ll have a new adventure to begin once I’m home.

It’s going to be a long and short 3 weeks.  How is that possible you ask?  Let me explain.  I have to be at work from 8:30am to 4:15pm and I have absolutely nothing to do.  They’ve blocked my internet use (which is another story all together) so whenever I want to use the internet, I have to ask my supervisor to log into her account.  So it’s not like I’d be able to surf the net all day like I could before.  The highlight of my day is lunch time, when I go out to eat with a few of the other teachers.  Unfortunately none of them speak much English so I have no idea what they’re saying.  At least the food is always good.  That’s what makes the day really long.  The short part is having to wrap up all the loose ends of moving during my time after work.  For example, today I went to the post office to try to get a money order.  I had to take an hour off work since the bank part of the post office closes at 4pm.  Even so, I wasn’t able to complete my transaction in the 45 minutes, which means I’ll have to take another hour off work tomorrow.  It feels like time is running out.  *sigh and deep breath*

 Last weekend was the JKA All-Japan karate tournament and it was unbelievable.  It’s just so strange seeing how many people come out to participate and, more impressively, come out to watch this thing.  And their standards… wow.  If I could afford it, I’d fly back to Japan to watch next year’s. 

I’m excited about coming back but nervous at the same time.  I feel more open and outgoing than when I left, as well as more healthy and fit.  I’m a little worried that I’ll revert back to my old self once I come back home.  We’ll see… it’ll just take more of an effort I think.