Just over two months and I'm leaving Japan. Hard to imagine I've been gone for almost two years. I'm writing in my journal again, so that years from now I might remember the day-to-day. Like mom said, I probably don't realize how different this is from Canada. Certainly, I never had to pull a set of six year old fingers from out my bunghole before. Probably wouldn't have even imagined it.

Been spending a lot of time thinking about accomplishment and change and what I want to be when I grow up. About how I came here not knowing much of anything and now… well, I still don't know much of anything. About what I'm going to do when I leave this place and what it might be like when I finally land on Canadian soil.

The plan is looking more and more like an extended vacation. My employer has agreed to give me some cash instead of a return flight home. I'll have to use that money for a flight at some point, but first is the ferry to Shanghai. Then a really long train ride. Or something like that. Not much of a plan, really. I can hardly wait.

For now, though, there's English that needs teaching – apples and soccer, as I like to think of it. There's goodbye parties that need attending and boxes that need packing, sushi that needs eating and friends that need visiting. It isn't goodbye yet. There's still two more months.