The view from the AXT tower an a clear and sunny day. 15 kilometres to the ocean.
It's been quite some time since there's been an entry on this blog about traveling. For good reason, because I haven't been anywhere for the past months. Perhaps it's a lack of energy, perhaps its a shift in interests, but I haven't even been out of Atsugi for the last two months. There are so many reasons for that, heat being the main reason, but also from lack of interest. I've been around most places here already in the past, with some really good friends, and this year's bunch of people is also great, but the theme of this year does seem to be 'drinking in Atsugi'. Which, unfortunately, was not very compatible with me. Well, there's that, and I've also suddenly been interested in a lot of in-room activities. I've picked up my old anime habit, I've still got a bunch of movies that I want to see, and recently I'm finally starting to pick up motivation for a programming project in my free time. Oh, and there's AudioSurf also, which kept me awake until three every night last week..
It's interesting to see that many people automatically assume that I am an anti-social person. Well, I am, right now. But a couple of months from now I'll have grown tired of it and I'll be hiking some mountain again with new friends, or cycling at some strange place in the middle of nowhere. These things come and go, and I'm usually quite extreme in what I like or dislike. Right now I'm really not seeing the point of traveling. It also has to do with friends. I don't particularly like to travel by myself. It's boring. When I'm by myself I'd rather spend some time online or by reading a book. When you're friends it's fun to travel, because it gives you a chance to experience something together. That's also the reason I started liking photography. It wasn't because of art, it was because I wanted to capture those moments I loved. Obviously my obsession went too far (as usual) and the camera's got bigger and bigger... And now (not to sound melancholic or anything) the camera's as big as it's ever been, but all the places have been visited and all the friends have gone home! When you finally start to get the hang of it, it's too late. Isn't it like that with everything?
I'll be going back to Holland tomorrow. I have no particular feeling about this. It's just a one-week holiday. I'm not going there for a particular reason, except that I have holidays left that I have to use before November. Since traveling by myself is not something I like, I'll go back home. That's it. It's peculiar though, for the past months I've thought that I had no particularly good or bad opinion about Japan, but the closer my departure date comes, the more I don't want to leave it. I'm starting to think I'll miss it. I'll miss climbing mountains, or going to Tokyo and buying whatever I want, or cycling the vicinity of Atsugi and actually finding interesting places. Even though I haven't done any of those things for a long time.
So I'm kind of stuck in the middle, maybe. I want to go but I want to stay. Lately I've been reconsidering my options, as you can see somewhere on this blog. I wonder if people misunderstood it (my sister) or took it too seriously (my sister). I have no absolute plan in my head to do anything right now, nor am I suddenly extremely motivated towards a particular course of action. In fact, it's quite the opposite. I am so incredibly UNmotivated by everything right now that in fact anything is possible. But I don't care. Talk about turning a weakness into a strength... o_0
I'm still comfortable in Japan and I wouldn't mind staying here longer. If I could. Here's a hint for anyone thinking to come to Japan to work: you NEED the JLPT level 2 to be taken seriously. Otherwise you'll either have to get very lucky or else you'll be stuck as an English teacher or a fisherman. And even if you get lucky, there's no telling when/if you'll get fired or your company might go bankrupt some day, and without JLPT level 2 it'll be difficult to find another job. I think it's the absolute minimum requirement for a permanent stay in Japan. I'll definitely think about studying a bit more seriously from now on.
But first: Holland!
Boereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeuh!