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.

After a whirlwind 48 hours after coming back to Canada, my week really slowed to a crawl.

While my first day back in Canada was certainly lovely, the second was easily the most dramatic. Unfortunately, this was not the fun kind of drama, and it was more than a little scary. 

Returning home is weird. The everyday life that I had wanted to leave behind, with some distance, now feels like a magical thing.

As things shook out, after returning from Okinawa, I would only be home less than two weeks before I would be setting out on another trip. This time, rather than somewhere new, I would be heading somewhere intimately familiar, I would be heading home. 

All good things have to come to an end, and after 6 incredible days, it was time to leave paradise. It’s sad anytime a trip comes to an end, but something about leaving Okinawa hit me differently.

It was my final day in Okinawa, and I wanted to send off this amazing vacation with a bang. Today, I would go scuba diving for the first time in the beautiful waters around Okinawa. 

It was time for my most ambitious day yet. I would venture pretty far from Naha and explore the north side of Okinawa.

Today, I wanted to start traveling a little further, now that I at least sort of knew my way around. Okinawa World, a kind of cultural theme park known for its caves, seemed like the perfect place.

So, I realized I may have unintentionally fibbed at the end of my last article. While my night out wasn’t terrible, it had left me feeling a little low.