Looking forward to leaving tomorrow, I wonder what to expect in Japan. Having lived in Tokyo, I suppose this post seems like cheating. However, even though I will be in the same country, this time is a whole different situation. A new city. A new island. A new husband. A new type of school. Whether or not I expect things to be the same as they were in Tokyo, I know life will be different.

I hope for a one-bedroom apartment with a decent kitchen. I expect a studio with one burner in the corner.

I hope for a perfect job. I expect to be daily challenged and sometimes have bad days.

I hope the grocery store is near the apartment. I expect to trudge there on my bike and ride back with a backpack full of cans and jars.

I hope to travel all over the country, seeing Kobe, Hiroshima, Himeji, Fukuoka. I expect I will be too busy with work, too tired to travel, and too broke to afford many trips.

I used to hope we would live close enough to work that I would be able to walk. Then I spoke with my boss and learned a bike comes with the job. For good reason. Now I just hope the roads between the two places are flat!

I expect to be overwhelmed by the Japanese and the unfamiliarity of the television once again. I expect to stumble over my words, desperately trying to remember the language I have forgotten. I expect to find stress living somewhere slightly familiar to me, but not to David. I expect to be thrown off balance by the differences between Tokyo (pop. 8 million) and Tokushima (pop. 200,000).

What to expect? Usually, I try not to expect anything, so as not to be disappointed. Realistically, of course, I always expect to be happy and for everything to go my way. Or unrealistically. Either way, life goes on, and I enjoy the adventure.

I will not be in expectation much longer.

The adventure begins.