One Week...

As our time in Japan speeds toward the end, I find myself thinking about everything I wanted to do while I was here. I begin reminiscing about one afternoon a week or so before getting on the airplane to come here and I was sitting on my bed thinking about all the magical, wonderful things I would get to do, see, hear and taste while I was away in Japan. Many of the excursions I wanted to do and things I wanted to see I had only heard about in movies and magazines. I began compiling a mental list:

Cherry Blossom Festival
Fish Market
Ainu Cultural Museum
Otaru, flower festival and pottery shops
Shinto Temple
Downtown Sapporo
Sapporo Station
The Train
Onsen (preferably with monkeys...lol...)
Outdoor Markets and Shops
Royce Chocolate Factory
Sapporo Chocolate Factory
Beer Museum/ Factory
Traditional Japanese Dance
Kimono Lessons
Cooking Lessons
etc...


Some of the above list was added after arrival...most has been completed and experienced...some has not...Even though I had compiled the majority of this list before departure, due to miscalculations of time and how quickly it would go by, there are things on my list that remain *Un-checked*...As we sat around chit chatting after class in the international room, panic set in for the four of us realizing that our time was now very limited. We had one weekend left here to explore and create memories. I knew that I would not fit everything that I wanted to do into my remaining time and so, my list began to dwindle. As I cut out the `not as importants` and focused on the `oh my word super importants,` I began to question why it really mattered to me what I did while I was here. I think that the true importance is how I felt, what I learned and what I can take home with me via memory...Not the photo`s, souvenir`s or brochures of places I have been.

The value of this trip for me has been insurmountable. I have enjoyed my time of immersion in another culture surrounded by new and exciting things. I have made so many memories that I will cherish forever...but most importantly, I have acquired so much new found knowledge through my short period in Japan...

...hmmm KNOWLEDGE...

I find it interesting that the opportunity to visit Japan was presented to me because I am a student of the faculty of Education at the University of Calgary...the reason I say this is because my time in Japan serves as a metaphor for teaching...Often times I have heard an educator say `Oh I just don`t have enough time to cover everything I wanted to`...well, neither have I...the parallel comes into play in the fact that activities that fill your time are not as necessary as the lessons that surround you and the knowledge that can be acquired from them. The glory is in the trip as a whole and the memories made, not the minor stops along the way...

In saying that, I can honestly say that if I were to leave Japan today my heart would not be broken for the things I did not experience but rather for my separation from the nostalgia I have felt while here...

I will walk away from this trip with warm memories and magical reminiscence...I will forever be
LIVING*LAUGHING*LOVING*NIHON