生命はすばらしい

Well, not much happening craft-wise. Still have my yarn up for sale, and I'm encouraging all of you to buy it up! Becaaaause....I'm going to Japan for a year! Yep, I found out last Thursday. So my Etsy shop will be closed during that time, but right up until July 28th when I leave for Kentucky for a few days and then to Japan on the 1st, it'll be for sale! Once again, mention this blog and I'll give ya a discount. :)

But anyway, yes. Going to Japan, and teaching ESL while I'm there. I will be bringing my knitting supplies with me, but for that time I'll mostly be posting pictures and talking about my adventures there on this blog. I'm very excited about it. I'll be working with MIL, a great school located in Chiba, Japan. Oh, and what's even better is that when I get there, I have training for 4-5 days, and then I'm off for a paid vacation for a week! (The school is closed during that time). So, I bought a couple of guidebooks to figure out what to do in that week. I'm thinking of going to Kyoto to see some temples, maybe Osaka as well. I need to plan it carefully because the bullet trains are muy expensive. I'll be spending most of my days off in Tokyo (only 45 minutes and about 700 [or $7] yen away), and various areas of Chiba, including the beach! I'd love to see these places while I'm there:

-Nagoya
-Hiroshima
-Hokkaido
-Osaka/Kyoto/Nara
-Okinawa
-Mt. Fuji (although I'm NOT climbing that damn thing)
-Sapporo
-and of course Tokyo over and over again

So much to see! I cannot believe I get to live in Asia for a year and I'm only 25. I feel so blessed that I have the opportunity to do this. It will be so hard to be away from my family, friends, Blake, and the kitties! Luckily, they have cat houses in Japan where you pay a bit, go in, and pet all the various kitties running around. My little sister went to one in Tokyo, and you bet your ass I'll be taking a few trips there when I get homesick for my Moshi:


All this Japan stuff is pretty much the center of my life right now. I'm saving money, buying guidebooks to peruse, and making sure I'm prepared for this trip. Also, I'm making sure I get as many loose ends tied up at work as possible. My coworkers are so fucking cool about this whole Japan thing. One of my bosses actually told me he was proud of me, and completely supported me going to Japan, as I should do this kind of stuff when I'm young.

There are other people (people that mean a lot to me, which makes it extra hurtful) in my life that are, shall we say, not supportive. However, I'm hoping they get over it. Blake is being awesome. He's excited for the opportunity to become independent for a year, as am I. We both need to make a lot of changes, and I think we're mature enough to handle the distance for a year.

Where would you go if you went to Japan?