Maybe...

It's been 2 weeks since the triathlon, a couple days since my parents left, and 2 days of work after a week off. I don't know but I'm thinking maybe I'm ready to leave Okinawa. Don't get me wrong, the last few weeks have been Awesome but maybe that's the problem. I'm at a low point after all the highs of the past weeks. I'm hoping that this sinking feeling about being here will dissipate over the next few days but I tell ya, Sunday was rough. My parents left Saturday and there were also other factors that just made me think maybe it's time for a change of scenery. I'm 27 years old, been in Okinawa 5 years and I think I've done all that I want to in Okinawa for now. But I'm getting restless and I don't see any answers for the future. No good jobs here, the dating scene has proven fruitless, and also I just wanna see what else is out there. I have some great pics that will follow up this less than exciting entry and will be loading them up in the next couple days. And no matter how uncertain I sound, I live with no regrets but I better get a move on before I start regretting being here. Who knows, in the end I might be decide to move back to Okinawa but for that to happen I've got to go. The next question is where.?!

Miyako Strongman Triathlon
On April 23rd I took part in a Strongman triathlon. It consists of a 3 km swim, a 155 km bike, and a 42... km run. When I awoke the morning of, it was lightning and thunder. Not a great way to start a day. With about 20 minutes till the start the thunderstorm dissipated or blew away. The swim didn't seem too tough but over 120 people didn't make it past the swim portion due to either slow times or exhaustion. I finished the 3 km swim in 1 hour and 2 minutes. The bike was next and after 5 hours 16 minutes, I had completed the 155 km ride. It started off nicely with relatively little wind but after the 100 km mark the wind slowed me down considerably and also my legs started to tire. The run was a total drain. When I started it I just wanted to run the whole thing but ended up walking about 5 km of it doing a run/ walk deal after the half way point. My dad came up beside me at about the 25 km mark and with his support I was able to jog most of the way back to the finish line completing the run in 5 hours and 29 minutes. My total time was 11 hours 48 minutes and 39 seconds. It was a wonderful experience and I look forward to doing more in the future and bettering my times.

Wow, it's been a while since I posted anything. My life has been pretty busy. The new school year has just started and I'm settling back into my daily routine. Time to recap... Well, the end of March had me going to about 5 parties in 6 days. Lots of good byes. Plus I've still been training hard and i ran a couple of races. One 20 km race called a trim marathon b/c you don't know your time or distance at any point during the run. When you apply you put down the time you think you'll run the race in. I put down 1:30 and ended up running it in 1:25 so no prize as I was 5 minutes off. The other race I did was my favorite and also my fastest run last year, the ayahashi half marathon. It's a race that goes on a bridge for about 5 km to another island and then on the way back you run over another bridge to another island. The view is spectacular and since it's a big circle you get to see the other runners (friends) a couple times. This year the weather wasn't that great, rainy and windy, so I didn't have the run I was hoping for but overall I ended the running season off on a good note. All my 20 km and half marathon runs were between 1:25 and 1:32. My one 10 km run, I ran in 39:56. My goal was 40 minutes so I was happy. Now all I'm looking forward to the triathlon next week. My knees have been bothering me on the bike lately so I've been going to a sports therapist a couple times a week and I'm feeling better and more confident about the race. My parents come in tomorrow so I'm excited about having them here for 3 weeks. My dad will be going with me to Miyako Island for the race. It'll be nice to have a family member there when (fingers crossed) I cross the finish line. April has been a month of meeting new teachers, having welcome parties, training, and starting classes (which have been awesome thus far). Well, that's about it. Here are some pics of me at welcome parties, training, random. Take care and Happy Spring.

Got an email with a picture this past week. My sister thinks I look like Ed Grimley.
You be the judge.

Time to write about nothing which will tell you everything about me. Or at least what I let on, I guess. Take from it what you will, I'm tired. That's pretty much why I'm just writing gibberish. If you feel so inclined, stop reading now before you get sucked in. The days are long, my head spins with new words learned in Japanese while English words, simple ones, take their leave. Teaching children words like happy, sad, hungry, monday, pig, arm, me too... oh the list goes on and now that is how my mind operates: with no real reason or rhyme. Exercise has taken the rest of my being so that I'm now a zombie, operating in a kind of automatic mode.

Next thought, I hope to always smile. Why you ask? Well, have you seen those old people with the perma frown? I don't want to become like them. I especially feel sorry for those kids who all ready have a perma frown, they never seem to smile. Even in my English class, it's hard to get some kids to crack a smile and my class is freaking fun, gosh darn it! What will happen to those kids when they get old? Will their lips fall off from all those years of hanging? Oh, so many questions, not enough answers.
Well, enough of this, I've got to get back to practicing for the Village reading thingie tonight. I will be reading a German book called Freunde by Helme Heine which I only have the Japanese version which I translated into English. So there I'll be reading first in English and then in Japanese. It's a good book about a rat, a rooster, and a pig. If it was an adult novel, it'd probably be about the mafia. You know, Johnny the Rat, Franz Cock, and Fat Waldemar. I tell you what, those 3 were inseparable. But I digress...
Back to me ending this blog. What's amazing is I've told some Japanese people about this blog and boy are they in for a ride. I'm a native English speaker and I'm clueless about what's just been written. No need for a dictionary my Japanese friends, you can't look up this kind of randomness, try looking up gibberish. Actually I did it for you, it means
Unintelligible or nonsensical talk or writing.
Highly technical or esoteric language.
Unnecessarily pretentious or vague language.