It Begins.

Tokyo, ya'll.

Tomato flavored chocolate at the local combini (convenient store)

More to come. promise.

Overwhelmed

So, its my last week in the States and I am feeling overwhelmed for the following four reasons.

1. I am so beyond excited for what lies ahead of me. Everyone that I have met so far has been unbelievably kind and helpful. I am stoked about the next year of my life.
2. I am blown away by the kindness of my friends and family. There has been so many letters, phone calls, lunches, conversations, and hugs. You all have been so good to me the past few weeks and I am grateful to know you. Which brings me to number three..
3. I am sad to leave you all behind and say farewell for at least a year.
4. ANXIOUS! I have so much to do before I leave! I do not have time to be writing this post, but I am doing it anyway (sorry daddy).

A question I get a lot is, "Erin, are you getting frightened or afraid of your move to Japan?" The answer to that question is no because I am so busy being overwhelmed by the feelings listed above. I won't have the opportunity to be frightened or to think of anything scary until I board the plane on Saturday. This is probably for the best.

Thank you to so many people for your kindness and generosity.

Countdown: 4 days left.

Bucket List

In the last few weeks, I have started accumulating a list of things to accomplish while in Japan.

Note: This list is subject to additions and revisions upon further educating myself on life in Japan.

JAPAN BUCKET LIST

• 1. Climb to the summit of Mount Fuji and watch the sunrise from the top.

• 2. Understand 50% of the Japanese spoken around me by the end of my year long contract. (this is ambitious... but I will do my best!)

• 3. Go to an Onsen (Hot Spring Bath)

• 4. Learn to make sushi

• 5. Learn Calligraphy

• 6. Show artwork in a gallery in Japan.

• 7. Try Kyudo (Japanese archery)

• 8. Travel to Japan's 4 major islands.

• 9. Know all 800 student's names in my high school.

• 10. Join an after school club activity.

• 11. Learn to be a boss on a snowboard and/or ski's

• 12. Visit the snow monkeys!

• 13. Start a new organization or club of some kind in my community

• 14. Wear a kimono with cowboy boots. (International exchange! Oh, that isn't what you had in mind?)

• 15. Learn to sing karaoke in Japanese.

• 16. Go to a Japanese musician's concert.

That's all I got so far. If you have any suggestions let me know.

Snow monkeys. Because I know you were wondering what the heck they were.

Hello World!

Hello World!

Firstly, I would like to introduce myself as well as state the intentions for this blog.

My name is Erin.

I am 23 years old and a recent graduate of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth with a degree in Art Education. In 20 days (NUTS!) I will be moving to Fukui, Japan to be an Assistant Language Teacher with the JET program. I’m a dreamer in every sense of the word. All of my favorite movies are children’s movies, all of my favorite TV shows are made for 12 year olds, and I love getting lost in young adult fantasy adventure novels. As an artist I enjoy figure drawing, printmaking, watercolor, photography, and drawing. Figure drawing is a particularly exciting thing to me because I love the way my study of drawing informs my study of anatomy and the way studying anatomy informs my drawing. It is where science and art meet in my brain and I think that is fascinating.

About My BIG Move:

In 20 days I will be setting off on probably the biggest adventure of my life (so far). Fukui is one of the 47 prefectures in Japan, which are kind of like States. Its one of the most rural prefectures in Japan and is located on the west coast towards the middle of the country. I will be living in Awara City and teaching English at an academic Senior High School. I will be in Awara for at least a year with an option to re-contract up to 5 years.  Awara City is in the northermost  section of Fukui minutes from the beach and a short drive from some awesome mountains and ski-resorts. It’s famous for being Fukui’s hot spring vacation haven. It is also only 20 minute by train from the biggest city in the prefecture (Fukui City). I’m pretty stoked about my placement in Japan. Here are some shots of Awara;

Purpose of This Blog:

I’m creating this blog as a way for me to keep in contact with friends back home while away and to create a place for me to keep a digital scrapbook of my life abroad. I went through MANY different titles for this blog, trying to think of something that could sum up what I wanted to say about this new chapter of my life. I didn’t come up with anything I liked until I was listening to my IPod while reading. A song called “Outlines” by the band Sleeping at Last started playing, and in the song there is a lyric that says, “When I breathe, from now on, I'll mean it more than ever I did before.” The lyrics really caused me to stop and think about how critical time has become to me in the last few weeks. I understand that every day that I have left in Texas is numbered. My time and moments with the people I love have become very precious to me. I feel like for the last 2 months I have been living like every breath meant more than it did before. Earlier this year I had a false sense of security and a feeling of monotony. I didn’t understand that there was nothing monotonous about my life at all. Routines change and seasons in life are short. Going forward, I want this awareness of time to continue and not only manifest at the end of life's seasons. I will write about my experiences and take time to reflect on my life, in order to make sure I am valuing the time I have and each season of my life.

I hope you will enjoy reading this blog. I will do my best to live a courageous life worth writing and reading about. 

Can't wait until I learn to do this (Filmed on a mountain in Fukui):

Cheers.