During these past 2 weeks, Bryson and I have had so many amazing experiences:
- We visited Kyoto for the first time and explored the amazing temples, monkey sanctuary, bamboo forests, cherry blossoms, and vintage kimono shops that the west side of the city had to offer.
- I got to ride in a women’s only train car when the rest of the train was ridiculously crowded.
- We accidentally stumbled upon a cosplay convention in a park full of cherry blossom trees which made for beautifully whimsical photo opportunities.
- We celebrated my 24th birthday at a cat cafe.
- We tried Japanese beauty products that were handed to us in the street.
- We started working and finished our training for our new positions as English instructors.
- We saw real geishas for the first time and they smiled at us!!!
- We went climbing at a Japanese bouldering gym.
- We visited the super cool bar below our apartment and met the owner who has the most amazing record collection. (Put it this way, he has the first Radiohead album..)
- and we bought ourselves some rickety old bikes to help make our commutes more convenient.
During these past four weeks, I feel I have transformed into the brave girl that I have wanted to be for a very long time.
This trip has forced me to lean into discomfort in ways I would have never allowed myself to if I had stayed in my home city of Vancouver. I feel my life had become very routine in the sense that I would avoid any and every anxiety causing situation that I could. Instead of facing scary situations head on, I would take the easy and less scary way out.
Here in Japan, I have found myself overwhelmed with gratitude for the anxiety I have had to overcome in such a short amount of time, and that is something I thought I would never say.
I feel as though I have found another side to myself over this past month that I didn’t really know existed. A braver Chloe, a risk taking Chloe, a Chloe who isn’t afraid of the new and unknown. A Chloe who is so much more than she was 30 days ago.
And you know what?
I really like this new me.
I think we work better together.
