This end of August marks the time for our originally planned departure for Japan. While many choose to do the pilgrimage in spring, enjoying Japan’s spectacular cherry blossoms, we planned instead for a (supposedly) less crowded fall foliage experience. A late-August/early-September departure would have meant starting just as the hurricane season came to an end. Similarly, we hoped that the humidity, which is famously inhumane during the summer months in Japan, would have subsided slightly.
However, as we all know, life had other plans. Instead of an August spent finishing up packing lists and double checking equipment, we have recently bought a small city garden where we spend most of our afternoons and evenings surrounded by the greenery we (and especially I) have craved so desperately during this last year’s social and physical confinement.
Regrettably, but perhaps naturally, our walking practice has suffered since we found out we wouldn’t be able to do the pilgrimage this year. In fact, it has been practically non-existent since returning from Tromsø in December. With a goal moved so far out into the future we can no longer clearly see it, the steam seems to have gone out of the engine.
However, one thing that has remained consistent is my language practice. So consistant has it been, in fact, that today I was formally welcomed into the Duolingo Streak Society, which marks a whole year of practicing every day (thank God for streak freezes amirite).
I will say though, that sorry as I am not to be leaving for Japan in a few days, my communication skills are likely to benefit from the postponement of the trip. After a year, I am starting to get a basic understanding of the sentence structure and can recognise some words when I hear them spoken out loud, but overall my comprehension of the sounds is still extremely bad and my vocabulary very limited.
In conclusion, things are good and we are enjoying the August weather and slow pace of life, albeit be it in a different way than we had initially imagined. We might have missed this departure but another will come. And when it does, we’ll be ready.