Japan Tour 2008 - Shine!

It's been a month since I last wrote.

I had a great time in Japan, but didn't get much of a chance to spend much time in front of the computer and after a rather nasty incident at work because of something I stupidly posted about how I was feeling about the situation at work at the end of last term, I haven't actually felt much like writing and have been debating whether or not to stop blogging.

Caught up with lots of friends in Japan and the break was just what I needed after the stress of the first half of this year. I just wish I could have stayed for a little longer. 2 weeks wasn't quite long enough, but what to do?

Japan hasn't changed that much - still can't quite believe that it's been 17 years since I first went to Japan as a student. Going back to Japan is like going home, even though I haven't lived there for over 10 years now. Knowing the language definitely makes it a lot easier.

Philip is going to be very disappointed, but while was in Japan I made the decision to eat fish for the 2 weeks I was there. Being a vegetarian is very difficult in Japan unless you're preparing your own meals - particularly as most Japanese have no real concept of vegetarianism. In some ways I feel like the trip ended up becoming 'Ian's Fish Tour of Japan'! Maybe that should be the title of this post?

Since getting back to Kandy last Thursday I've been pretty flat out. As I wanted to have as long a break as possible I'd arranged to arrive back the day before I started work, which is never really a great idea. I'd also promised to help Maggie move the last of her stuff up to Kandy, so the day I arrived ended up being quite a long day.

On Sunday after class I drove back down to Colombo as Kiya was arriving on Monday morning and I didn't really feel like driving down to the airport and back in one day. I stayed with Ruth again - she was pretty tired though when she got back from work as she'd had to cover someone's class in the morning as well as teach her own class in the afternoon.

So basically I have a full house at the moment - quite strange after basically being alone in the house since Dhanushka left. Maggie and I are debating sharing the place I'm moving into next month. We're a little worried that working and living together might be a bit much, but we'll see. I quite enjoy living alone, but at the same time it can get quite lonely.