Trip to H.I.S. Yokohama

Today I was determined to get back to my goals today. I was finishing off my research online and printed out a lot of pages so I went into prepared to ask the right questions and decided to go to the HIS office in Yokohama and ask them what they had and what they recommend. I found out a lot of information and narrowed it down to a campaign special. It was about ?60,000 for 4 days, which is a little steep for such a short trip. But when I got there, they showed me something more interesting. It was something my research failed to reveal. It said that for ONE person to join a tour group they add an additional ?40,000. That meant the trip would have been over $1000 with taxes and everything. That isn’t even including an optional tour that I would have requested to go on… that is a bit much for me and since it’s such a short trip, I decided that I probably won’t go.

My backup plan was to just go there using a very discounted plane and stay at a cheap hotel and just go on my own, but I didn’t want to get a bad impression of Hong Kong and I really haven’t researched enough to go. So I think that I’ll go when I’m more prepared to go. When I have more time and more money, I’ll make a better plan and plan ahead. I think that my procrastination really kicked me in the ass this time, and I think that I’ll have to take this lesson and be prepared for the next time. This is the best time for me to go, but there is something deep inside that tells me to not go this time. I don’t know why, but I feel something inside me telling me not to go. I mean if I don’t go, I don’t know what I would be doing for the rest of the time during my spring break. It is really troubling me, that I have this feeling. The lady at the HIS office was really encouraging and she lived in Hong Kong before and said that she really liked it. I have told people that I would be going, so it is a bit shameful to pull out at the last minute. But I think it is the right thing to do.

I was troubled at this point, so what do people do when they are troubled, yes, they eat!! Haha!! So I went to my favorite place at Queens Square and had a nice, delicious Subway meal. I ordered a bit much, but at least I was able to finish it. I was trying to think and get some ideas about what I am going to do. At this point, I could try a different place and go with a different plan. I went to the book store on the 5th floor of the Landmark Plaza and looked at some of their travel books. They had a nice little book on the Best of Hong Kong, but it was about $20. A little much, but I guess they could get away with that since there was only one copy and I’m living in Japan. There was another book on Europe that looked really good and would sell for $14.95 in the states, since that’s what it was advertised as on the cover, but it is ?3500, which is more than double the price… Damn they get away with robbery there.

At this point, I realized that I need to work out a plan for the rest of my life here in Japan. I only have a few more months and I have many things that I want to do, but haven’t accomplished on my things to do list. So I should take care of that since I don’t plan to return to Japan. I could always go to Hong Kong later, since it will always be there. The other plans that I had for travel are to Hawaii in June, and Amsterdam or most of Europe in summer. So there really isn’t anything else for me. I think that I might go with students to the Hakone residence in summer for school since I will be leaving soon after that. At the end of April and beginning of May, there’s golden week, which is a famous time to travel, but everything is really expensive, so I doubt that I would make a trip then, but if Hong Kong is at a good price then, I’ll probably go then.

So for this spring break, I’ll work on making plans to travel, and what I’m going to do after I leave Japan. There have been many changes in the world around me, so I have to prepare to adjust to that. I need to work on the construction of my new room in San Diego. I need to start to study again, since I could potentially be a student again, so I should start to build my habits on that. I will work to be a better teacher and I need to work on the materials for next school year to make sure that becomes reality. I was thinking about taking a class or joining a circle. So I think that I have many things to keep me busy in the meantime.

I got home around 8:30pm after shopping at the grocery store and walking home. I wanted to see the finale for a drama. I haven’t been following it very closely, but I just wanted to see the ending. It ended a bit weird… I think that seems to be usual for Japanese dramas, they all end weird. I watched another teacher drama after that one too and it also had a weird ending. So I was a little disappointed with those dramas tonight, although the first one at 9pm was better. It probably would have made more sense if I followed it. The last one didn’t make sense at all even with the flashbacks. Then I came here to type this. I think for tomorrow, I will read some of the books that I spent a lot of money to ship here. I have always wanted to take the train from end to end and read during that time. I might try that tomorrow since I have time and that’s probably the only place I could get good reading in.

Song of the moment: Ai – story (I don’t understand most of it though, but I haven’t tried either)