Firsts

I have had a theme stuck in my head for the last few days. It's now been more than 18 months since I left for Korea, and I have been thinking about all the things I have experienced, most for the first time, since I left Canada in 2007. Some of them are awesome, and some of them decidedly less so. I have compiled a list of the ones that have popped into my head. Regardless of their awesomeness factor, I am grateful for all of them, good and bad, as they have all taught me something, about the world, about other people, and about myself.

In no particular order:

1. Gotten a passport
2. Received my first working visa
3. Taken my first trans-pacific flight
4. Moved to Korea
5. Crossed 13 hours worth of time zones
6. Completely changed my internal clock
7. Gone through teacher training boot camp
8. Gone through ESL boot camp for over a year!
9. Experienced a norae baeng.
10. Discovered how delicious 4 a.m. kimbap can be
11. Learned how to order food and say a few other useful phrases in Korean
12. Ridden a bullet train
13. Made new friends from Canada, America, Korea, Japan, Bulgaria, Belarus, Australia, New Zealand, England, and Scotland
14. Taken Tae Kwon Do lessons
15. Sprained my ankle taking Tae Kwon Do lessons
16. Traveled to Jeju, twice
17. Visited a sexual theme park
18. Climbed the highest mountain in Korea (on said busted ankle)
19. Gone parasailing
20. Visited Japan and decided I would like to try living here
21. Visited the 2nd largest aquarium in the world
22. Seen manatees
23. Gotten lost
24. Eaten “live” octopus, and silk worm pupae
25. Learned to hula hoop
26. Learned to read hangul, hiragana and katakana
27. Learned to be by myself, a LOT
28. Fallen in love
29. Fallen out of love
30. Fallen out of the sky (well, jumped off a mountain really)
31. Had my heart broken
32. Fixed it up again to discover it came back stronger than before
33. Gone paragliding
34. Hit a fence
35. Dislocated my foot
36. Ridden in an ambulance
37. Had surgery in a foreign hospital
38. Gotten a cast
39. Learned to use crutches
40. Realized what it’s really like to miss your family and friends, and how good it is to see them again
41. Been to Iceland (for a few hours, anyways)
42. Gone to a “café” in Amsterdam
43. Stood under the Eiffel Tower
44. Taken a boat ride on the Seine
45. Gone to the Louvre (sadly, closed that day)
46. Taken a train through the Chunnel
47. Discovered that soju is a toxic substance that will melt off taste buds and give you the worst hangover imaginable
48. Found out how much it sucks to not have health insurance, if only for a couple of weeks
49. Moved to Japan
50. Moved away from the person I love
51. Seen just about every old and/or reconstructed structure in Kyoto
52. Seen cherry blossom trees for the first time
53. Partied all night in Tokyo
54. Watched the sun rise over Ginza
55. Seen a Maiko (Geisha in training)
56. Studied Japanese
57. Been to a sumo tournament
58. Worn a kimono
59. “Slept” on a bus
60. Experienced an (several) earthquake(s)

Here's hoping the next 18 months give me lots more learning experiences to be grateful for (though more awesomeness, and less not-so-awesome would definitely be the preferable option) ;)

Happy New Year!

Well, here we are! It's hard to believe that it's 2009 already. Remember Y2K? That was almost 10 YEARS AGO! It's amazing to me that we will be beginning another decade next year.

I just got back from Kyoto yesterday. It was an amazing trip, but I must say I am happy to be back in my home sweet home. Justine and I logged a lot of miles on our shoes this past week. We figured it must have been about 10K of walking every day that we were there. I am pretty much templed out at this point, as I have seen more temples in the past week than I can count. All the pictures are there for viewing on Facebook. I was very happy to have been able to also get in a day trip to Nara, and of course Osaka, monsieur's old stomping grounds. It was unfortunate that we were unable to visit the infamous reggae bar though, due to it being closed. That was the one thing on my list that I didn't get to cross off this time, however I am assured that a visit is in the cards for us in the future, after T gets here this spring. (Only 3 more months to go, yay!)

I did manage to get in an onsen visit this trip too, which was surprising. They don't normally allow us tattooed folks in. It was a little bit embarrassing though. The place we wanted to go to was closed for the holidays and we ended up having to go to a small neighborhood place. Unfortunately we didn't realise that you are expected to bring all your own gear, towels, soap and the like...we were informed of this by a sweet old lady on the way in who graciously gave us some towels. Luckily we remembered to bring shampoo which also served as body wash so that we would be clean enough to go in. As foreigners in this country, we realise that people are expecting us to do things wrong, however Justine and I both agree that we really like being able to do things right, thereby allowing us to be smug in our superior knowledge of Japanese culture. We HATE when we do it wrong! How embarrassing!

Humiliation aside, it was a fantastic trip. We managed to stalk some geisha. Literally. We actually stalked this girl we spotted on our first night in Gion, hurried past her and then "realised we were going the wrong way", then turned around so we could get a good look. Justine is an excellent partner in crime, very sneaky! We also scoped out an Irish pub where they did a lovely Christmas dinner, complete with turkey, all the fixings, wine, and flaming rum pudding for desert. It took us an hour to find the place, as Justine and I both have horrible sense of direction, but it was well worth it. I was happy that I got to walk some of it off before the meal, in fact. It was a feast!

For New Year's eve, we went to a nearby shrine and waited for the countdown. It was a bit anticlimactic this year, no hoopla, no big celebration. This is the first time in recent memory I wasn't nursing a hangover all day New Year's Day, which was a blessing in itself. We headed home after that and shared some sparkling wine and went to bed early, and got up for a temple visit the next day. Pretty much just as the Japanese folks do.

So, as we have now entered the New Year, it is the time of year for reflection, resolutions, time to think of the things we wish we'd done better, or the successes we've had over the last year that we would like to continue to see more of in the coming year. This is also the first year that "quit smoking" was not on my resolution list, as I have recently kicked the habit, I just have to make sure not to have any "slip ups" from now on. So I have decided my goals for the year as are follows:

1) Have more fun and see more things than last year
2) Deal better with everyday annoyances (i.e. not lose my cool)
3) Practice French more and study hard to learn Japanese
4) Run 10K on March 29th
5) Lose that last very annoying 20 pounds by doing what I know has worked in the past (i.e. stop being lazy about it and just DO IT!)
6) Waste less (money, time, stuff in general)
7) Send more letters, postcards, keep in touch more with the people I love
8) Be more grateful for my fabulous life, and stop wishing for what other people have...just be happy with me, and my life. This includes being nicer to myself, and not comparing myself to others.

That's quite a list but I think it's doable. Some of these are things I'm already doing, and just need to step up my game a bit. Others I really need to make a conscious effort to do.

I hope you all have a safe and happy new year, and that you are able to keep your own resolutions. Lots of love.

~J

P.S Here are a few pics of our lovely vaca...sorry, no pics from the onsen ;)



On the bus on the way to Kyoto, so excited!



Day 1, tired but happy.




Trying out a kimono



In front of the Osaka skyline, Umeda Sky Tower