Home, Soon.

I’m in my fifth week in Tokyo, my final week. This week will be fun.

Fun thing #1: I get to see some old friends from Germany. Tuesday is dinner with Tuuli and Henri, friends from Regensburg, who moved to Japan a while before I left Germany. Wednesday is probably dinner with Charlotte and some of her friends.  Charlotte lived in Frankfurt, moved back to the UK a while back, but she’s traveling through Japan for two weeks on vacation with a friend.

Fun thing #2: My supervisor from Mr. Company is replacing me here, and she arrives on Wednesday night. We overlap for two days, which means I get to show her around. I like playing tour guide, and I forgot how much fun that can be.

Fun thing #3:  In five days, I’ll be back in the air, headed home.  I’ve missed home so much.  I’ve missed my girlfriend Amelie a ton, and I’m looking forward to having proper snuggles.  The most human contact I’ve had since my arrival in Japan has been the occasional handshake.

I fly out of Narita on Saturday, and I’ll land in Detroit an hour before I left.  International flight time travel for the win!   Here are some of the things I’m looking forward to:

• I mentioned Amelie up there-  I’m super stoked that I get to go see movies with her again- movies and dinner are one of our favorite dates.  I missed out on Pitch Perfect 2 and Tomorrowland.  Ant Man is coming up though, and that’s excellent.
• I’m looking forward to catching up with my family in real time.  I missed a lot of things while I was here-  my oldest niece had a birthday dinner at Melting Pot with almost all of my family, and I hate that I missed it.  My youngest niece had a recital, and I hate that I missed that too.
• I get to go back to Tijuana Flats!  After five weeks, I’ve got Taco Lust like you would not believe.
• I miss driving my car.  I kinda forgot what it feels like.  Last week, I remembered very suddenly that I have satellite radio in  my car.  I’d forgotten.

In a week or two, I’ll start to post more about my time in Japan.  I saw a great deal here, and I have a lot to share.  Until then, I’ll leave you with this picture of me at the Daibutsu (Great Buddha) in Kamakura, just outside of Yokohama: