Holiday Hustle and Travel Bustle

AMAZING.

Why is it that when you look back at your life, everything seems to fly by, but in certain moments, say a long day at work or a presentation you are in the middle of giving, time seems to inch by ever so slowly? The saying “time flies when you’re having fun” is so true. The fact that Arthur and I have been in Okinawa for more than a year now, and we only have around 10 months left is c.r.a.z.y.  The thing is, time isn’t going to stop moving, and the moments that creep by will seem like a snap-of-the-fingers in a month’s time. The best thing to do right now is just enjoy life. Don’t wait to do that thing you’ve been dying to do and don’t be scared to learn something new. While buying fancy cars and extravagant toys for yourself may seem fulfilling now, a study shows that one of the main things that bring happiness is the community you surround yourself with and the relationships in which you create and maintain.

I think one of the best things about living in Okinawa has been the community and friends we have made while we have been here. I think without that “family”, life here would be completely different. Yes, it may still be fun but it wouldn’t be as fulfilling as the relationships we’ve cultivated here.

Shark friendzzzz 

We have been pretty busy throughout these holiday months, between traveling, attending events, hanging out with friends, and some work visitors for Arthur.

Our first adventure of the holiday season landed us in Taipei, Taiwan for a long weekend trip. Taiwan is a beautiful place with a strong Chinese influence. It is also much, much colder than we ever expected. One of my favorite parts about Taiwan is the extremely easy-to-navigate metro system. After getting lost in Tokyo one time too many, having a simple yet effective metro system was perfect. Also, it costs way less than the Tokyo metro- take notes TOKYO. 

We discovered a free walking tour online so we decided to give it a shot the day we arrived. Besides the cold weather, it was really fun! It was a small group of people from all over, (Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, and Arthur and myself) and it was not only cool to learn about Taiwan but to learn about different cultures from all over the world.

One of the friends we made on the tour!

Taipei has beautiful architecture, some old and some new. One of the most fascinating buildings in Taiwan is the Taipei 101, the 2nd tallest building in the world. We had the choice to go up to the top and get a wonderful view of Taiwan but between the price and the extremely long line to go up, we decided to choose option 2: a gondola ride up in the trees. We had a wonderful view of not only the city but Taipei 101 as well. We chose to wait and get a gondola with a glass bottom, which obviously we had quite fun. :) 

A couple takeaways from Taiwan: they have cafés on just about every corner, most things are much cheaper than Japan, the people aren’t as friendly as Okinawa (but seriously, who can’t beat Oki..), the night markets are the best and the stinky tofu is the worst, and they have more electronic stores/districts than I have ever seen before. Man was Arthur happy.  Oh, and there were SO many mopeds... our type of place! 

We spent time searching for a hot springs that we could spend a little time at but the only ones we found were completely packed, and full of half naked rather large men and women. We decided to veto the hot springs and search instead for some shops and things were people had more clothing on. Overall, we really enjoyed Taiwan.

Christmas was next, and somehow it was here before we knew it. I think the warm weather makes it feel like it’s not actually Christmas time so when the day actually arrives, it’s a little shocking. It was our second and last Christmas in Japan and it was wonderful. Arthur and I slept in, opened each other’s gifts and the gifts my family sent (thanks guys J), and then relaxed again. We went out to dinner for Christmas to our favorite restaurant down the street (Japanese stores and schools don’t close on Christmas because it’s not a national holiday. They do celebrate it with KFC fried chicken and Christmas cakes, but nothing shuts down).

Christmas at the Reutov's :)

Just casually fixing cars in suits...

We’ve been trying to get outside and explore as much as we can with our 10 months left but it’s been kind of rainy lately… are we back in Eugene?! Arthur bought a motorcycle, which is so much fun because now we both can ride around and talk to each other and park anywhere and beat all the traffic. It’s been so much fun.

XOXO

Our next vacation took us back to Tokyo (I love it there) where we went to the Tokyo Auto Salon. I bought Arthur tickets for his birthday so that was our main reason for going but I’m always up to hop on over to Tokyo. When I bought him tickets to the Auto show, I didn’t realize it was basically tickets to a porn show too… There were these “car girls” who stand in front of or near the cars showing them off. However, I honestly couldn’t tell if people were there for the cars or the women. Each woman had close to 15 men around them, taking pictures and videos of them—NOT EVEN THE CARS. Very interesting. Some had dresses on that covered mostly everything while others had nothing but small spandex and a bra. 

See what I mean?!

My favorite car at the car show!

So after spending more than 5 hours at the car show (actually looking at cars**), we explored Tokyo, got lost on the Metro, ate delicious food, and walked A LOT. It’s so much fun to travel together and I may be biased but I think he’s the best travel companion. Our flight left around 8AM which meant we needed to leave our hotel room around 4AM (metro+airport time) and as we left our hotel we walked outside into SNOW! It was awesome! Although we both had suitcases with us and were a wee bit chilly, it was so much fun! We didn’t have long in the snow but the time we had was amazing! You could say I have missed it a little bit ;).

SNOW!

My cute husband :)

I love the holiday season in Japan.

One of the reasons I love Tokyo is all the delicious food... like the pizza below. MMMM

Since being back from Tokyo, we've spent time riding mopeds every chance we get (basically, whenever the sun comes out), and it's cherry blossom season here in Okinawa, which means beautiful trees! We continue to adventure as we can and I still love Okinawa. I think I always will.

The view from the top of the hill we climbed to see the Cherry Blossoms.

Cherry blossoms in Nago.

Sunrise on the way to work one morning... Beautiful!

When looking back on all of these trips and memories, and all the ones I have had in general—I have found that the small arguments and troubling times aren’t the memories I remember. I remember the amazing times we have had or the cool sights we have seen. I remember who I was with and the cute little cafés we went in. I don’t remember the arguments about where to eat or how late we will be for something. Life is too short to be spent arguing and upset and it’s too short to waste time in anger. The people around you may not act how you want and they may treat you poorly, but I believe that you can remain joyful through those times. It’s not how people treat you but it’s how you react to those situations. I heard this quote on a TedTalks I was listening to and I thought it was great:

“There isn't time -- so brief is life -- for bickerings, apologies, heartburnings, callings to account. there is only time for loving -- & but an instant, so to speak, for that.” –Mark Twain

(Link to the Tedtalk here)

Don’t let your joy be circumstantial. The joy that comes from the Lord is deep within our souls, that we have the opportunity to choose joy every single time, and in every single moment. That doesn’t mean that we can’t have sorrow or be upset ever, but the more we look to the Lord for our joy, the more joyful our lives will be. The more we practice being joyful in ALL circumstances, the more we will learn to choose joy, every time.

We are coming back to visit Eugene in August for my brother’s wedding, which his fiancé just asked me to be in it and I can’t wait! We have other plans of a Thailand trip, Seoul trip, and possibly more, we will just see where the Lord leads our steps.

Although our lives are full of adventure and travel, some of my favorite moments are laying on the couch eating dinner and watching television with my love and friends surrounding. Life’s what you make it, choose JOY always.