…from 2015. I’ve been meaning to start a writing/travel/et cetera blog for some time now, but always found an excuse/new podcast/ netflix episode to distract me from that promise.
Oh well, better late than never. Taking on a new project is best done at the start of a new chapter, and this moment is the definition of a new chapter.

Right now, I am drinking green tea and watching the sun set from my hotel room in Tokyo. This will be home for the next week while I finish Assistant Language Teaching training. 

The decision to move to Japan didn’t happen all at once. Like a lot of major choices, this one happened in stages; first I was Just checking the website and Just sending for more information and Just going to a small informational gathering and Just going to a group interview and Just applying for a visa. Small commitments got bigger and bigger over time until at some point, I realized I had made up my mind to go, but I couldn’t look back and pinpoint precisely when it happened.  Soon after I had a housing placement, a board of education assignment, a visa with Hiragana, an arrival date. All of these were changed at multiple points, of course, but together, even when one was still in the air, the others served as a place holder to show that Things Were Happening, there was A Plan Moving Forward.

Which brings to mind: No matter how stressful this process was- moving out of my home of two years, saying good bye to friends and family and loved ones over and over, leaving a job I really liked- I dont think I ever second guessed this decision, once I made it. I can’t pinpoint the moment ‘maybe’ turned to ‘yes’. Maybe it’s just the jetlag and the travel endorphins talking right now, but but at some point, this became the next chapter I wanted.