Spring...

Wow... so that was some haitus... now that I've decided to blog again, I'm wondering, should I fill in what happened between July and Now? I'm tempted, I must admit. Since then, lots of stuff has happened. New JET year, trip to Australia with my friend Tim's weddin', trip to Totori with Maya, trip to Kyoto with Maya, most harrowing hike of my life with Luke, Ashley and Will up Daisen the back/dangerous way, a trip home at Christmas, and three months of winter. Frankly, there's a lot. I wish I'd blogged it, but then, I wish I'd done a lot of things differently. That's just me. Livin' in the past. As Garth, the guru from Wayne's World once said... "Live in the now, man!". Well, that's what I'm doing.

Since I decided not to recontract, this is my last year on the JET programme. I will leave Matsue Kita High School at the beginning of summer vacation in August and go do something else. The current plan is a bit of hiking in the Japanese Alps followed by the beginnings of a round the world trip. I'm hoping it will be able to stretch for a full 4-5 months (maybe more, but that's another story), but we'll have to see how it goes in terms of cash. Maya will quit her stressful job on Friday and take up a no stress job, making a lot less money than now... something she has mixed feelings about. I have to be honest, I also have mixed feelings about it as although it was incredibly stressful for her and consequently for me, she did enjoy it. Well, she enjoyed making a lot of money doing a job. She's not so keen on doing a job for not a lot of money. However, having 4 months of being not so busy will give her time to spend with friends and family before we bust out of here. Important, for sure.

Our trip is looking like we will spend the fall in Europe. We're a little worried about the tourist season being 'over', but I have a feeling, we'll catch the shoulder of it... maybe everything won't be open, but surely to God people visit Europe in seasons outside the summer. Anyway, Europe for the fall, cheap as we may and then we'll work our way down through the Balkans into Turkey, Jordan and Egypt... then go through the middle east probably by plane... depending on how dangerous people are making things out to be at the time. We'll head down into Pakistan and India, see some stuff, get sick and enjoy the diversity, maybe see Bhutan and Nepal, then move into South East Asia with Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, maybe southern China, followed by Malasia and Indonesia. Then, depending on our money situation, we may pop over to the Philipines, Australia and New Zealand. We've friends in both New Zealand and Aus, so it'll be good to see them again.

Anyway, we're pretty pumped about the trip. really looking forward to it. I'm a little worried about food in Europe as it's the land of bread and pasta and neither of those works well for me... I think India and Asia will have me eating better than Europe will... stupid gluten...

Well, for now, that's where things are. I will try to get on here more often to blog and keep everyone posted on what's going on. For now, matta bai bai.