Spirited Haway: 明けましておめでとうございます

So I haven't posted in forever.

Merry Christmas! メリークリスマス

Happy New Year!　明けましておめでとうございます

And all that malarkey...

For my 冬休み(fuyu yasumi - winter break) I headed back to England. I'd been in Tokyo a long 4 months; a fun and exciting 4 months full of discovery, happy times and also sad times. My journey was a brutal 23 hours but I knew it would be worth it. Unfortunatley, I had a headache for the majority of those 23 hours as I had decided to boycott caffeine in an attempt to sleep on the plane. However it was a failed attempt and 19 hours later I found myself sitting in Starbucks at Schiphol airport sipping on a very christmasy grande praline mocha scowling at an American who tutted "she's writing Christmas cards" while I wrote out birthday cards for friends. How dare he make me out to be scatterbrained and unthoughtful...postage from Japan is expensive!! I was pretty cranky lol.

As I waited at the gate to board my final flight I found it hard to control my excitement. Listening to the familiar voices of the geordies around me I thought about how Chris would be leaving soon to pick me up from the airport. I even started to wonder if I knew anyone on the plane, as if it would be likely lol. I don't think I had been this excited since I was a child. It was so nice to see Chris at the airport, something I had been waiting for for what seemed like a loooonnng 4 months. But the moment became perfect when out of nowhere I was ambushed by my amazing friend Jenny. They had schemed together to surprise me and it was amazing to see her after so long.

My 10 days at home were hectic but I wouldn't have had it any other way. I had a lovely family Christmas, a snowy romantic getaway in York as part of my Christmas present from Chris, and I managed to have quite the crazy drunk New Years Eve. For me the highlight was seeing the ones I love and being able to hug them and laugh with them, while technology has progressed enough to the point where we can bridge the gap with Skype, there is something quite unnatural about it which leaves much to be desired. The greatest gift I received this Christmas was to be with friends, family and loved ones.

Here are a few photos from my time at home. I'll make a post soon with some New Years resolutions (one of which is to post here more), and what I've been up to since I got back to Japan.