Less Than Half a Year

It's official as of almost 2 weeks ago: I'll be home in August.

When I think about it, that's already less than half a year away, huh?  Which means Jasmin and I have been living in Japan for over a year and a half.  The older you get the more time does seem to fly by, but the fact that I've already forgotten entirely about certain events at the beginning of our stay is, for me, a good sign. lol  It means that enough time has passed that I'm no longer able to remember it all in a short and sweet romanticized image, like I did with Nagoya.  In order words, even though it sometimes feels like we got here last week, we've done so much that I know we've actually been here for a good minute.

Our original plan when we arrived was 2 years, and it looks like we're sticking to that plan. Actually, the only thing that would have really influenced that decision would have been if we were just having way too much fun here, or if the American economy was way too grim to want to come back to.  While to some extent both of these are true, the feeling I have of wanting a change every so often remains stronger.  Don't get me wrong - I LOVE Japan, the friends I made here, and learning Japanese.  I still feel as if "Culture Shock" has yet to come, that I could keep living here and I'd be happy.  And I'll absolutely be planning future trips to Japan, be keeping in touch with friends, and be speaking and reading tons of Japanese when I got back; America won't stop me from doing that.

But being away from America for a while has implanted certain seeds of thought.  Like, "man it'd be nice to see everyone again."  Or, "you know, I really prefer how this is done in America.  Am I being held back?"  Or, "where's all the Mexican food, yo?"  My job itself, even though it's usually fun to teach elementary and junior high school students, doesn't offer me a lot of clear professional growth.  I think the culture and language barriers have been getting to Jasmin, too.  I really can't blame her; in fact I admire her strength until now for someone who isn't working a full time job, waiting at home during the day and taking care of a lot of home-related chores (apart from when she goes to Guam lol).  THANKS HONEY!!

My ultimate goal here in Japan has been to learn Japanese.  Duh. :p  The part of my job that I LOVE is picking up new words and phrases from the kids and teachers, and coming up with the best ways to learn languages in general.  I've learned a ton in both of those areas, and that makes me really happy.  But as always, as far as I've come, it still seems like there's so much more to learn.  Maybe I'll have more breakthroughs in the next few months.  To be honest, I don't plan on pursuing a linguistic-related career using Japanese (I learn it for fun as a hobby!), but I like to think of it as a solid backup.

We've also learned a heck of a lot about living on our own.  When we got here we had to rent an apartment, set up utilities, buy a car, set up cell phones and the internet, not to mention all of the extra registration that comes along with being in a foreign country.  Oh yeah, and we did it all in Japanese.  After starting it up maintaining is the easy part, but I also taught myself how to keep track of our commitments and manage my time (the reason why I've been able to get myself on a schedule writing these blogs lately), which are definitely things that will come in handy when we get home to the states.

On the radar for the coming year:

• Traveling.  We plan on going to Hokkaido and Tokyo in March with Jasmin's family, and anywhere else we can while we're still here, funds permitting.
• Wedding.  Jasmin and I are getting married on Guam in July!!  So we're already busy planning that.
• Going home.  Gotta do final packing after the wedding and say goodbye.  It will be emotional.
• Eric's wedding.  My brother is getting married literally a couple days after I get home.  We are each other's best man, so that should be interesting. lol
• Starting job / apply to grad school.  Haven't made up my mind completely on what I'm doing when I get back, but it has something to do with psychology (currently counseling or organizational).  What I decide on will have a major factor in where we end up living, but for now it's looking like a year in Maryland to get us back on our feet.

First thing I want to do when I get home?  Buy an Android phone.  I've been itching for one since before I left, and now it just has to be done.

That's where we're at now.  In the future I'd like to write more specific blogs on actual events, like I did for Nagoya except not be anal about covering them all. haha  Peace.