Travel Plans and Being Content

Today is Thursday (yay)! It was hot and sunny on the way to work this morning. However, as I look out my office window, all I see is rain drops. And I can hear it pouring from inside. I'm debating my lunch time walk.

Pros: If I don't go for a lunchtime walk, I go officially and completely insane between the end of lunch and the end of the day.

Cons: My shoes aren't exactly water proof...as a matter of fact, they are getting worn and the bottoms act more as a sponge to feed water into my shoes.

So we'll see.

Tomorrow is Friday (double yay)! And I am going on an adventure. I will be visiting Hiroshima & Miyajima...I board my Night Bus at 11:50pm, Friday night. I arrive at Hiroshima Station at 6:25am on Saturday morning. Keith won't arrive until around 8am, so I'll have some time to explore. Or find breakfast. But at 6:30am, I'm not sure what will be open!

We plan to go right to Miyajima and spend Saturday there, then visit Hiroshima on Sunday on the way home. I am also night bussing home...Monday will be a long day at work.

We'll take a ferry from Hiroshima to Miyajima. I'm excited for that - I love bodies of water and I love especially the ocean and I love ferries....so could it be more perfect!? There's lots to do on Miyajima...monkeys, deer, shrines, temples, hikes, rice serving spoons, and... Maple Leafs! (Miyajima is known for maple leafs.)

I'm not sure how I feel about visiting Hiroshima. It's something I want to do before I leave Japan, but I have mixed feelings about how I will react to the stories and monuments and knowledge of the sadness and death that took place right where I will be standing. I tend to have one of two reactions to these sort of things - either I experience it all in a somewhat detached fashion, distancing myself from the reality of it; or I get very quiet and contemplative in a sad sort of way, while I try to process what I am feeling. I think that allowing yourself to feel sad (sad's not the right word, but I don't know what is) is part of appreciating what happened there, so I'm going to try not to shut myself down to deal with it.

The past week has been a little difficult for me, I'm not sure why (hence the lack of blogging - sorry), but I did have an epiphany.

Long-term speaking, this lifestyle doesn't suit me. But that's okay. I don't need to try to love it or thrive in it. I do need to learn to be content with it. So I am trying not to be bothered by my inability to flourish in the quiet and simple life I'm leading, and started trying just to be content with it, and enjoy it for what it is. Which is pretty fricken cool - I mean, I'm living by myself in Japan. That's pretty awesome.

PS - While linking to the word 'epiphany' for anyone who doesn't know what it is, I discovered that it has two meanings.
1)"the sudden realization or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something
"
2)"a Christian holiday on January 6 celebrating the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus"

Betcha didn't know that, now, didja?! (I sure didn't.)