That's A Wrap

You can probably tell that I've long since given up on updating this blog. No particular reason really. Maybe just me being lazy, or possibly thinking that the only people that really cared about the contents of this blog were those who I spoke to on a regular basis anyway. I'm still in Japan by the way, but only for another month or so. I've booked my return flight back to Los Angeles for September 6th. Everything in this past month has been quite hectic in the sense that I've had to do a lot of prep for my return to the States in a short amount of time. The company I'll be working for in LA needs me to start on a specific date next month, which meant that I had to give my current company here in Japan short notice with my notice of resignation. I felt guilty about that, mostly because I always do my best to be a valuable asset to any company that I work for, and also because my coworkers and students were stunned with the lack of notice. Thankfully, I'm still able to give my students and coworkers a proper "sayonara" and my company, although wishing I'd stay, seem to be very understanding of my situation and appreciated me being so upfront with all the details. Let this be a lesson people, honesty is always the best policy, even if the news you're delivering isn't always what the receiver wants to hear, they'll end up appreciating your candor and will respect you for it.

After three years, I realized that a majority of the pictures I took during my time in Japan were food and snack pics. I guess I'm always fascinated at the differences in snack culture, especially in far-Eastern countries. While my time here in lovely, sleepy Oita is coming to an end, I'm grateful to all of the people that I've met. I feel as if I've made connections with people that will last a lifetime and being an English teacher in a non-English speaking country has helped me develop and see a side of myself that I may have never known existed had I not come to Japan in 2011. I do want to go on record by saying that I still love Japan and I dream of coming back some day, although in a more urban, lively environment. I'm definitely not a country boy. At the risk of sounding incredibly cliche, thank you Japan for changing my life. 今までありがとうございました。