I've been taking 4 hours of French lessons a week, which means that Tuesdays and Wednesdays are for working, studying, parler-ing francais, and sleeping. I also just ran 10K for the Tokyo FIT for Charity Run, so until then I was training on my free nights. Not to mention I have sadly become another spineless victim of the tv series Prison Break, which means the very few nights I spend at home relaxing, I have my eyes glued on Michael Scofield. Those activities, work, and the remaining dinners and nights out with friends literally make up my life. On the surface.
In my brain it's a different and much more complex story, as the pieces of life have been shaken up again, and they are starting to fall in different places... sometimes in French or Japanese, but mostly in English.
Last Friday the official announcement of my resignation circulated around the office. The world of recruiting will soon be a bittersweet, but mostly sweet, memory. And so will Tokyo, I'm afraid. I've accepted a brutal fate of three years of law school back in the US, starting in August. So once again, JoLo in Tokyo will have to change identities. Leaving Tokyo is a sad prospect as well, but I don't really see my long-term career in service industry marketing, so I suspect that it is not a bad idea to get some certified skills. All signs are pointing to University of Michigan at the moment, but there is still an off chance that I could be in New York. I'm not sure what I am hoping for myself. I've never wanted to live in Michigan in my life, but the academic programs there fit my interests really well, so it might do me some good to surround myself with some peace and academia for a little while, as in the Cambridge days I didn't take advantage of it as much as I would have liked. What can I say, though, in the other ear New York is calling me -- loudly, and with a bad accent of course.
In either case, I suppose things will work out alright for me. I just have to keep in mind that Japan will always be here (barring any horrible natural catastrophies), and I've already come here 4 times - what would stop me from coming back again if I want to?
To make myself feel better, I will be adding to the map below by taking a trip the end of this month to Vietnam and Cambodia. 8% of the countries in the world is really not a whole lot to have conquered, I realize. A bit of vacation time to bid adieu to Asia, and then I will leave Japan the beginning of August.
Until then, I will be having fun and doing all the things I like to do before I start law school and will never get to do them anymore :-)
