A new platform

Howdy!

Well I've decided to take the chronicles of my travels out of my little black journals and share them with the good folks of the digital world. In this blog I'll be retelling tales from my times in Korea and also about the things I do and see now while I'm in Japan. So here goes!

I've officially been living in Okinawa Japan for 4 months and I have to say it has been a much easier adjustment than my first extended time abroad. I studied Japanese a bit before coming here (though nothing extensive), learning even the most basic of phrases makes life SO much easier; I had someone here already, though it hasn't been the sweet joyride of ecstasy and romance I had hoped for its working out pretty well. My job is much better, the people are kind, the kids are fun and the teaching style is more conducive to my personality. Not to mention that fact that Okinawa is one of the most beautiful places I've ever laid eyes on...

Those are the positives, but like any coin there's always two sides: I'm still having a hard time making friends who are around the same age as myself... partly due to my working hours and schedule, partly due to my own lack of "putting myself out there." I've had to overcome a major emotional shock. It was tough but day-by-day it gets easier. The humidity is overpowering at times, the mosquito's are as tenacious as the Devil's closest minions, and everything is a little more expensive than back home.

Overall it has already been an experience worth having. The good things allow me to appreciate the life I have been fortunate enough to live. The bad, except those fucking mosquito's, have only helped me to grow into a stronger and more emotionally independent person. If you have the willpower and the means to do it (travel/work/study/live abroad) you need to take it. In the worst case scenario you can always go back home to the life you've always lived.

If you're considering traveling, living or teaching abroad don't think too hard just do it. It will be tough sometimes. It will blow your mind in positive and negative ways. Your conceptions about what is "normal" will be thrown out the window, you will come face to face with yourself and dig deeper into other cultures as well as your own. It might be painful sometimes but in the end you'll grow. And if we as humans cease to grow, there's only one way to go... and it's not up!