2 years in Japan

February 1st marked the second year anniversary of my arrival here in Japan. Or the second year since I left home, if you prefer. It is crazy how time flies and it is hard to realize just how many experiences I've been through during that span. From the hard times the first two months to the adaptation period finaly completed, to the rough end of trip in Thailand where I got sick and lost my precious footage to the meeting of Dana and the end of the first school year.
Many many great moments spent with the buddies in Yamanashi, all the discoveries about daily life and some nice trips (Nagoya, Kyoto, Tokyo, Hiroshima), and some not so great aspects this year making it a bit sour overall. The work load is too much and not really what we expected, but I don't regret anything since our minds were clearly set before this adventure started.
I must've changed a bit since I first arrived here, hopefully for the best even though I don't really know what the future holds for me. Will it be in Canada or the States, will I go back to school or try to find a steady job, go live somewhere in between or on another continent again??
Looks like there is a new white page in front of me where I can choose the next story to be written...
For now, all I know is Dana and I will finish working here March 26th and should leave the island on April 10th, heading to Auckland, NEW ZEALAND. We've obtained our working holiday visa to work during 3-4 months, and should find a non-stressful job picking up fruits, working on a farm or in a hotel/bar, who knows. Maybe a little bit of everything since there is plenty of possibilities to move from one region to another. So that's what is in front of us until Summer, when we will come back home at the beginning of August for Dana's sister's wedding.
We are excited about the opportunity in New Zealand and hope to make a nice cut between the stressful year and the return home.
To celebrate the two years here, we went last week-end to a beer brewery, in the town next to ours. The Asahi brewery is only 5 years old, so they still offer a free tour on the week-end where you can see how they make the beer and distribute it after it is done. Very interesting, the visit ended with a 20 minute all you can drink of freshly brewed Asahi Super-Dry. Therefore the picture of the happy camper, relaxing in the neighborhood for once. Free activities are pretty damn hard to find so this one was particularly nice.
The next day, we went to a plum festival in another nearby town, Shimosoga, and took some nice pictures of blossoming plum trees, on a nice sunny day. The trees have little white or pink flowers. It is very early this year, because of the really warm winter so far. The temperatures have not dropped under zero and we still hit the 10 oc and over mark almost everyday. The view from the mountain was once again gorgeous, and we were able to see the coastline of our region, Odawara.

Enjoy and take care everybody

Michel


Photo section:

beautiful flower just blossomed
the pink version
bright blue sky in the background
Local farmer working on her field