Two months left

Today is June 1st, and officially I have approximately 2 months left in Okinawa on the JET Program.  I am at a strange place in my life where I am looking towards the future with hopeful uncertainty, yet longing to hold onto the beautiful moments of my life here in Naha.  Yesterday, I went to 具志川城 ruins which lies at the Southern tip of Okinawa near Cape Kyan.  This area is so calming and while visiting it yesterday, I lamented not having spent enough time outside of the city, away from my computer, away from the areas where I often spend my time.  I don't own a car, so getting out of the city isn't easy unfortunately.  Okinawa is built around car culture, just like my home town in Florida.  Without a car, or a motorbike, you have to rely on other transportation methods (friends' cars, inconvenient and expensive bus routes, a monorail that doesn't go very far, etc).  Parking is atrocious in the area of the city where I live, so having a car here just wasn't a good option for me.  Still, I cherish the times I have been able to just get away from Naha and see parts of this island that remind me of how gorgeous it is and how lucky I am to have had the chance to live here.









 I haven't been blogging nearly enough about my life here as I have been caught up in a number of other off-line projects (TASK 沖縄 dance film trilogy and rehearsals, laying the groundwork for a Tohoku-Okinawa Film Festival at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, initiating a job-hunting project for JETwit, submitting my resumes for jobs, etc), so I am going to try to post small updates of my favorite areas of Okinawa and of Naha on a daily basis.  I may not write too much with the posts, especially if I do not have enough time, but I do want to have something documenting my remaining time here. 

I'm uncertain where I am heading to next.  I still haven't felt anything pulling me in a particular direction, so pretty soon the one thing that will pull me back to my hometown will be my lack of employment and an expired visa.  I love Japan so much and I know I will miss it once I'm no longer here.  For the next two months, I will do my best to bring you all the places that I have fallen for here in beautiful Okinawa.

With love,

アキ