It was my birthday this week (I'm not telling you my age of course, except for this hint: it's a very geeky age), so I'll take this as an opportunity to reflect a little on the past year. At the end of the post, I also have some details on how I spent my birthday in Japan.
The past year was incredibly eventful for me, and since not all of them were good events there were hard times, too. There was my breakup and the subsequent move to a new apartment; a great and long holiday in New Zealand (with a couple of additional days in Sydney due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland); the completion of my PhD; my first triathlon and the couple of months training for it; my grandpa's death (now all my grandparents are gone); my move to Japan; and, of course, everything I experienced here in Japan - read the rest of my blog for details :-)
What I haven't really covered in the blog is that I've met many unbelievably kind and decent people in Japan and had great conversations with some of them. Some of them really changed my way of thinking, some inspired me to read books I would never have thought of reading, some gave me new perspectives to think about. So far, it has really been an eye-opening experience - which I hope will continue! - and I'm really thankful to everybody I've had the chance to talk with.
I also began to doubt if what I'm doing now is really what I want to be doing in my life. The process is not nearly finished, but it looks like change is in the air. I thought a lot about what I value in my life and I realized that I need to start living according to that. I think I have a lot more to discover, so all I know right now is that I want to do something more meaningful, and actually help to make this world a better place.
Ok, so enough with the reflections for now, on to the lighter topic of how I spent my birthday :-)
On the evening of the day itself I was invited for dinner at a friend's house. It wasn't really a birthday dinner for me, but a farewell dinner for another friend, so I was quite surprised - and delighted - when it turned out they had gotten me a birthday cake with candles and everything. Have a look:
I even received some presents, among them an incredibly cute squirrel (neither live nor stuffed, but I won't go into details - just that: squirrels are my favorite animals).
Two days later, we had a big party which was primarily a farewell party again (for the same person as above), so we decided to kill two birds with one stone (is talking about killing birds too martial to describe a party??) Anyway, the party was at a very nice sushi restaurant, there was excellent food, plenty of fun, and good conversations.
Being a farewell party, however, the sad part was of course saying farewell at the end of the evening. The weather seemed inclined to underline the sadness of the occasion, and it was raining heavily when we left the restaurant. On my way home, I got completely soaked from head to toe. The rain went straight through my jacket (which I had always thought of as more or less waterproof... have to correct that assumption), and my shoes took two full days to dry. Ah well... at least I didn't get sick! :-)
The past year was incredibly eventful for me, and since not all of them were good events there were hard times, too. There was my breakup and the subsequent move to a new apartment; a great and long holiday in New Zealand (with a couple of additional days in Sydney due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland); the completion of my PhD; my first triathlon and the couple of months training for it; my grandpa's death (now all my grandparents are gone); my move to Japan; and, of course, everything I experienced here in Japan - read the rest of my blog for details :-)
What I haven't really covered in the blog is that I've met many unbelievably kind and decent people in Japan and had great conversations with some of them. Some of them really changed my way of thinking, some inspired me to read books I would never have thought of reading, some gave me new perspectives to think about. So far, it has really been an eye-opening experience - which I hope will continue! - and I'm really thankful to everybody I've had the chance to talk with.
I also began to doubt if what I'm doing now is really what I want to be doing in my life. The process is not nearly finished, but it looks like change is in the air. I thought a lot about what I value in my life and I realized that I need to start living according to that. I think I have a lot more to discover, so all I know right now is that I want to do something more meaningful, and actually help to make this world a better place.
Ok, so enough with the reflections for now, on to the lighter topic of how I spent my birthday :-)
On the evening of the day itself I was invited for dinner at a friend's house. It wasn't really a birthday dinner for me, but a farewell dinner for another friend, so I was quite surprised - and delighted - when it turned out they had gotten me a birthday cake with candles and everything. Have a look:
I even received some presents, among them an incredibly cute squirrel (neither live nor stuffed, but I won't go into details - just that: squirrels are my favorite animals).
Two days later, we had a big party which was primarily a farewell party again (for the same person as above), so we decided to kill two birds with one stone (is talking about killing birds too martial to describe a party??) Anyway, the party was at a very nice sushi restaurant, there was excellent food, plenty of fun, and good conversations.
Being a farewell party, however, the sad part was of course saying farewell at the end of the evening. The weather seemed inclined to underline the sadness of the occasion, and it was raining heavily when we left the restaurant. On my way home, I got completely soaked from head to toe. The rain went straight through my jacket (which I had always thought of as more or less waterproof... have to correct that assumption), and my shoes took two full days to dry. Ah well... at least I didn't get sick! :-)
