A Day Early

My posting schedule doesn't have me writing until tomorrow. But tomorrow is a busy day and the start of my 10-day travel with getting up early, catching the bus to the airport, and flying to Nagoya. I doubt I'd find the time to write much in the morning; I also can't imagine wanting to sit down and type anything after arriving and getting straight on with whatever sort of activities are going to happen.

I'll give you a rundown of the itinerary though:

Depart: Okinawa, Arrive: Nagoya
2 days: Ise-cho, Mie-ken
2 days: Nagoya-shi
Depart: Nagoya, Arrive: Tokyo, Meet Brent at the airport
3 days: Tokyo
Depart: Tokyo, Arrive: Kyoto
3 days: Kyoto
Depart: Kyoto, Arrive: Okinawa
8 days: relaxing, hanging out, exploring

It should be an awesome trip, especially as it's my brother's first trip out of the States. I'm hoping to introduce him to some great culture, food, and friends. One of the things he excited for is the Orion Beer Festival - a weekend long "thank you" party from Orion Brewery to thank all the people who drink their beer. It involves two days of excellent eisa performances and highly discounted draft beer. I went last year and had a blast - this year should be as good if not better.

Brent departs on the 31st and then I start the second semester of school the next day, the first day of school work of my second year on JET.

Despite having had many experiences where I find myself thinking that time is just moving too quickly, I still haven't gotten used to it. Perhaps that's because the feeling is always relative. I know I've mentioned this before, but I think it also has to do with each new day being a smaller amount of time of our total lives than the previous day was.

Any way you count it, it's year 2 of JET for me. There are a number of things I'm really hoping go well this year, none of which are the kinds of things that will just fall into my lap (does anything really do that?). They'll all take a good bit of work and effort to accomplish. As always, there's the drive for fluency in Japanese. But there's a few more, the kinds of things that I can't quantify - like fluency. But I know that if I just go for them and do my best, stay relaxed, and keep smiling, they'll be some of the most rewarding parts and memories of my time here in Okinawa.

Because ultimately, "it's not where, but who you're with, that really matters."

PS - I will do my best with the now-regular Friday and Tuesday posts during Brent's stay in Japan. Worst case, I'll write some short things and post them all when I get back. Later!