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