Sakura, or cherry blossoms were in full bloom recently, and since this might be my last chance to see them here in Japan, I decided this year I was absolutely going to do hanami, or cherry blossom viewing. 

As I teased in my last article, my unexpected invitation ended up being twofold! The second part was taking part in a cosplay meetup. I might have worn a cosplay costume for Halloween, but this was the big leagues. 

I was having a pretty slow day at work when another teacher struck up a conversation. Before I knew it, they had invited me out to karaoke on Friday night.

When I woke up on Tuesday, my body felt heavy, and I just wanted to roll over and go back to sleep. Despite what I expected, today would be my last day at one of my schools. 

Unlike the other places two weekends ago, Asakusa ended up being a great place I’m glad I explored. It reminds me of what I like about Japan and was just what I needed after a series of misses. 

I’ve been feeling like I’ve been in a bit of a rut lately, so after a pretty good week, I wanted to explore a little this past weekend.

What should have been a routine 7-11 run became quite the kerfuffle. I gathered my items, headed to the counter, and as I went to pay, I realized I forgot my wallet.

Last week, I had a two hour long zoom meeting talking about all the different things to consider for those leaving the JET programme.

I’ve been thinking a lot about comfort lately. Or more specifically, what we think of as our comfort zone. Lately, I worry my comfort zone seems to be shrinking. 

Any kind of journey has joyous highs, but also inevitable lows. This past weekend might have been the low point of my time here in Japan, but I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing. 

For the first time in a long time, I woke up in the middle of the night, and for a few sleepy seconds, I had absolutely no idea where I was.

As the Christmas season draws close, in some small way I start to get excited for the holidays. In a much larger way, I start to dread having to buy presents for the people in my life.

Ideally you’ve noticed, or perhaps you haven’t, but I haven’t really been keeping up with the proposed schedule I set for this blog.

I’ve always enjoyed singing, at least for as long as I can remember. But, a rather unexpected side effect of moving to Japan is that I feel like I sing less often.

Podcasts have been part of my daily life for almost 6 years now. I started listening to them as a way to help time go by at work, and now I usually listen at least an hour or two every single day. 

In just over a month, I’ll be back home for Christmas! After thinking it over, I decided I didn’t want to miss another Christmas with my family and friends. 

One aspect of social media that I’ve never really been able to wrap my head, around is posting. Arguably, the reason social media exists, is just not something that seems to come naturally to me. 

As of posting this, I will have been in Japan for exactly one year! This journey has been full of great experiences, and a few bad ones. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. 

Well, for the first time ever, I was celebrating Halloween outside Canada!

It was finally time for the main event, the wedding. From my perspective, I think it was a fantastic day.