holy hole in the doughnut batman!

 (im really all over the place today...just a warning.)

i just had something occur to me that i hadnt given much thought to until right now; my older sister is really going to be old this year.  sorry ab, but thirty all of a sudden just feels really old and really close.  thirty is like a landmark and i am not that much behind her, which is why it is always hard for me to watch her have a big birthday; because i know that my day to be there is not that far behind.

so thinking about this and knowing how fast life moves i once again began reflecting on some things about being here and about life in general.  its more and more important all the time to enjoy what is in front of you each day and to take it for what it is.  i have been reading some of the meditations of the dalai lama at work and am really beginning to be able to take myself out of places of pain, hurt or fear and replace them with light, love and hope.  the mind is an amazing thing if we care to take the time to harness the power that it possesses.  i like the challenge of being able to do this on a pretty regular basis as it is easy to get freaked out here about everything that is going on, but it is also becoming relatively easy to control that anxiety and to turn it into wonder and education.  the tests i get put through daily here are unlike any i have ever thought were possible in life and i can feel my mind and spirit benefiting from every day that i spend growing and learning.  im doing my best to soak it up and suck it up.  but sucking it up is no longer necessary when i remember to enjoy even the things that seems painful, as they will prove to be great lessons one day soon.  every day is different and still the same thing applies; its all about attitude.

yesterday i enjoyed a beautiful day (even though it was a bit chilly and overcast.  hey im from portland and nebraska.  its going to have to get ALOT colder here for me to start complaining.)  in fukue (sorry fukue friends, it was a covert misson and i didnt tell any of you i was coming) riding a rented bike (well its really not renting it when the guy gives it to you for free, is it?  score one for kindness.) all over the BIG island and having myself a great time looking at the beauty around me and the admiring all of the strangeness that each shop i stopped in held for me.  among the treasures i found yesterday were a five dollar sweater that FITS!, avacados (its been months since i have seen them!) and a nice bottle of spanish wine that was not too expensive at all.  a hell of a day if you ask me.

today is much sunnier and my mood is high for the beginning of the week.  im wearing my new sweater (its orange and is really going over well today i must say, and the fact that i got it so cheap is REALLY impressing all of my coworkers, male and female alike!), having avacados for lunch and have learned some more of my student's names this morning already.  it really feels like i am getting life figured out when i can look at one of them and see the letters or even the katakana of their names in my mind and say it out loud.  each new name i learn is a word that i have never heard of before.  i rambled off a dozen or so names to mom when i skyped with her and dad the other morning/night and she thought i was making them up.  i assure you mom, these names are no joke and once you get the hang of them you forget all about the joe's and mary's back home and replace them with ryuske's and kurumi's and ayaka's.  aren't those some wonderful names? 

on a very strange side note (sorry to overuse strange here, but it is just always applicable lately and so i am really using it for all it is worth); the main street of naru is TOTALLY decked out for christmas.  i mean it puts many of the neighborhoods that i have lived in back in america to shame!  i will get out and take some pictures, but i am telling you, these people had to of spent a whole day or afternoon or weekend (where was i?) putting up lights and moving signs and nani, nani, nani.  its amazing and i am vowing to take a bike ride through it every night from now until christmas (when i get off work on christmas i will take one final ride through im sure too!).  just so odd considering i have heard so little about them celebrating it in the ways that i am used to.  take for instance the fact that i am working on both christmas and christmas eve.  i dont really think that anyone here has ever even heard of christmas eve, and working on the holiday seems to be par for the course.  just another day, no big deal.  i think they only know that it is a big deal because of the western versions they see of the holiday on tv and movies and now they are doing their best to imitate it.  let me tell you, so far so good.  i'll let you know how the rest of the christmas season pans out though...

be well tomodachis!