Three weeks in....

.... and I feel confident that coming here was an excellent decision!

I won't bore you with the details of settling in (lots of getting shuttled around in a van, shopping, apartment hunting, decorating decisions, exploring, sweating in the heat, meeting people and promptly forgetting their names, using only the Japanese words I'm confident with,  jet lagging, and anything else you can imagine associated with moving).

Now I've moved on to more interesting pursuits - putting together the shelves, organizing my stuff, trying to figure out the various appliances (me + washing machine + translator app  = clean clothes!), deciphering the garbage/recycling calendar and instructions (even in English, I was at first perplexed), learning how to ride my bike without crashing/falling over, and looking for the perfect local restaurant to by 'my place.'

My apartment is wonderful - very spacious and on a corner with lots of natural light (which includes, for better or worse, the 5 am sunrise!). Things are almost put together - just waiting for my couch to be delivered!

(I'm on the top floor on the right). 

(My couch is green, so that should make the room a lot more interesting!)

My neighborhood is excellent - very quiet (sometimes a bit too quiet), but close to both a main train line and the line that goes to school. There are restaurants and shops that I'm still getting to know, but I can also take the train a few stops to more happening areas if I feel the need.

I've done a bit of exploring downtown, yesterday there was a folk-dancing festival that was great entertainment, and a great opportunity to get the camera out:

School starts tomorrow, and I am ready for the return of a routine, and to see those smiling faces!

This was hardly a thorough post, but more will follow soon. There are of course some challenges (which can be amusing if you let them, but I'll get to those later. For now,  I will leave you with a list of things I have been enjoying:

• Iced coffee in cans dispensed from vending machines, on average every 10 meters
• Noodles!
• Parks - my morning commute by bike or foot is 50% through the lovely Nogawa park. 
• My window nook (I’m sitting there now!)
• The other new folks as well as the returning faculty - everyone has been so welcoming!
• Not falling off my bike (yet), and the  freedom a bike gives me to get places.
• Constant discoveries - just turning one block earlier on the walk home brings surprises!
• Not having a car
• Efficiency! Lots of efficiency!
• The garbage collection truck plays a happy song to facilitate a last-minute bag 
• Trees
• Rain

Sayounara for now!

What's in a name?

Midway through my first year in Dubai, I wrote the following post:

"Just as I find myself settling in, things are changing all around me.

It's the time of year when international schools start looking ahead, when teachers decide to move on or move back, when schools make tough decisions about who to let go and who to bring in, when we all start thinking about how long we'll be here...

we live our lives like it's forever - make friends, fall in love, find routines and favorite views, open our heart to people and places; willingly set ourselves up for a fall - because people will leave, move on... and so will I.

Someday, a new adventure. A new city to explore, a new experience to embrace - changes that bring the giddy excitement of the unkown...
...and the ache that comes with leaving.

i already miss two places, two sets of faces, two climates... a dull ache that flares with a simple reminder... how many lives will i miss before i say "enough"?

perhaps that's why we keep moving - because without the next great adventure, we'd be left alone with only our missing.

I could shut myself out, keep my distance, knowing that my existence here is not forever; keep my heart safe from hurt, move on before i feel too much.

but that would negate the whole purpose that I feel right now - to know the joy of new places, the company of friends, and the knowledge of old friends and good memories waiting to be relived, the amazing people I have known and will know - and the peace that comes from being content with where i am right now, and also being content with the unknown that lies in front of me, knowing that it is better to have lived and lost, than never to have lived at all."


Little did I imagine the adventures in store for me in the next four years... two trips to the edge of the earth and back, an unforgettable African adventure, explorations of countries now embroiled in conflict...


if i could go back in time and counsel my earlier self, i would have agreed with her on some level: the act of moving on brings a certain amount of sadness. but i would disagree with her wholeheartedly on the point that i would keep moving to keep from missing what was left behind. 



there was so much to love about my life in dubai, but there were also so many subtle hints that my time had come... and i don't regret leaving, nor do i regret staying that last year. the friendships I made over those five years have not ended, they have just enriched and expanded my world a little farther. and while even at this moment, sitting at my gate in the airport, i have a hard time imagining the new adventure i am about to embark on, i know that  it will indeed be an adventure, and that the unknown is part of what makes it so appealing. 


i set out with the intention to live my life in Tokyo to the fullest, to embrace the wonders and the challenges, live the life like it's forever. 
because right now, it is. 


my blog may not have the perfect name yet, but I know that there will be plenty of wonderful,  fascinating, puzzling, and frightening experiences to share in the coming weeks, months, and years. 


stay tuned :)