A day full of new impressions - experience everyday life in Japan with alert eyes

What a day once again.

It's amazing how much has happened in the last few days. It's just not big things, but mainly everyday situations that happen every day. But because of the sheer volume, I'm actually on the move all day. It's been quite a busy week so far, but more on that at the weekend.

Today was a great day

The day started as usual at 7.30am with slowly waking up, a few push-ups and a quick shower in the almost square bathtub, in which I have to kneel in a funny way to be able to wash my hair. I skipped breakfast today and instead ate two small rice dishes at the Kombini during the break between lessons, which I could take with me. The lessons were tough, but I had the feeling today that I had already learnt a lot in the four days. Especially speaking in Japanese is getting better and even though I'm still missing hundreds of words, it's getting better.

Every day after class, I'm given some extra homework, which of course makes my classmates smile, but I'm also smiling. My gaze is still completely focused on the future, but at the same time my perception is getting fuller and fuller.

The day in a foreign country is full of mindfulness, it's really incredibly exciting how differently you perceive the day because everything is actually new to you. How do I pay at the checkout? I have no idea. How do I cross the road? With full attention. Everything I do during the day has my full attention. And that's exhausting, but it's also relaxing at the same time. My thoughts are where they should be and I realise that my worries and other thoughts from my past only catch up with me in bed at night. Admittedly, I then also dream very intensely about all these things, but it is simply pleasant to live like this at the moment.

It also gives me a kind of peace to know that I am in a foreign country, away from all my worries and problems at home. I am here, nobody else is here. Nothing haunts me, except thoughts that I allow.

This afternoon I went for a walk with a teacher and a small group in Fukuoka. She showed us all kinds of shops, restaurants and shrines along a short route. Afterwards we went to a very, very, very, VERY tasty soba noodle restaurant and ate there in a private room, in socks of course. It was incredibly cosy and the food was truly heavenly. I had my first beer in Japan and just enjoyed the conversations in English and Japanese. Afterwards we walked back to school and now it's already after 9pm.

I've learnt a lot about Japanese culture today, but I don't have the energy to tell you about it. One more thing though: I asked my teacher what the quickest way to learn Japanese is. She told me clearly that having a Japanese girlfriend would catapult my Japanese progress forward. So maybe I should think about whether it would be tactically smart to date a Japanese girl... haha!

Anyways, I'm looking forward to tomorrow, I have a lot of lessons again, but then it's the weekend. And this weekend I'm planning a little trip, maybe even with my camera, so that I can finally get some good pictures on here.

I'm looking forward to the next few days and will of course report back. But now it's time to catch up on sleep and recharge my batteries! Until then.

If you want to read a bit more, you might want to take a look at yesterday's article: My first restaurant experiences in Japan!