I realize it has been awhile since I updated this blog. Things got a little crazy toward the end of the voyage and I got very wrapped up in that (Speech Contests, Peace Week, Graduation Ceremony and my parents coming on the ship for a week). Getting off the boat was really hard. There were so many changes I had to adapt to on land (not being surrounded by people all the time, eating meals alone, not having roommates, the ground not moving, not being insanely busy as I was until recently unemployed, and so many more I can't even beging to describe describe). I didn't expect it to be as difficult as it was. But I think I am starting to re-adjust to life off the boat (the number of dreams about the peaceboat are slowly decreasing). There are a lot of things from the trip that I am still digesting. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever understand everything that I experienced. A lot of it was so rushed that although I can remember it, there is a dreamlike quality about it. Did I really see the Pyramids of Egypt, the Parthenon, Sagrada Familia and the Eiffel Tower in a week and a half? Wow. Even having done it I can't believe I did it.

Helping me recover is my new job. Ironically I got back and found a job as an ALT teaching English at elementary schools in Fukui. A huge step up from my previous position and I job that I didn't get the first time I applied for it 3 years ago. I moved into a big beautiful new apartment and am starting to get settled back into Fukui. Suprising how quickly I fit back into life in Fukui, my weekends are already booked up for awhile.

I shall write more when I gather my thoughts together more. I wish that I could summarize better what the peaceboat was like, what I learned, what I saw, who I met... but I can't. Sometimes that is the hardest thing about coming back-- having all these amazing experiences I want to share with the world and lacking the words to be able to do so. So I will never be able to share what I want with you, but I shall attempt to share more than I have in the last few months.