Good Eleven

Eleven things I'm looking forward to when I get back to the US of A.  In no particular order!

1. A puppy! (and my cats)
2. Furniture that isn't all on the floor (I miss curling up on a sofa while reading a good book)
3. A gym with plenty of equipment that's open for long hours
4. Being able to decorate my own space more permanently since I won't be moving internationally
5. A job where I'm actually given responsibility and growth is possible
6. Being able to bake in an actual oven again
7. Mundane things like paying bills will be easy again
8. Libraries!
9. Friends
10. Family
11. And last but not least.... a working vacuum cleaner!

 

 It's going to be very difficult leaving my island, my home for three years, my job, my friends, and especially the kids.  I choke up when I think about it seriously.  However, I don't want to spend the next 83 days being a sad sack of sad so I thought up this list.  Unfortunately, the vacuum cleaner is so important to me it's a little sad in a different way.

I never knew how long I was going to stay here since you re-contract every year on JET, so I did my best to stay away from bigger purchases.  What's the point of getting a better oven, vacuum cleaner, sofa, etc. if I was just going to be leaving the country?  Why deal with the hassle of trying to get money out of my successor?  It would end up being either a waste of money or a headache in the long run.  This vacuum is a total joke, though.  I am looking forward to being able to actually clean effectively nearly as much as I'm looking forward to getting a better job.  My priorities are odd.

Updated Pineapple Pillow Pictures:

 

To finish, a short video of Shiohama, one of our beaches, on a windy day.  The first half of the video sounds like you're stuck in a wind tunnel, but near the end you can hear the sound of the waves.