Well... I guess I should get cozy since I'm stuck in this jar for a year.

First order of business, a recap of my 2014 (since I neglected to make a jar last year). It was a big year for me and really pushed me to my limits since I was constantly busy and had a lot of big life events. For those who aren't aware: I have lived in Japan for past four years or so and I work as an assistant English teacher (called "ALT"). In 2013 I got engaged to a Japanese man who happened to also be a teacher at my school. We work at different schools now.

January:
I celebrated my New Years with my in-laws so I got to try a Japanese-style New Year for the first time. But the fun was short-lived since I lost my cousin in a car accident when he was driving home from a New Years party. It still shocks me since he was my age and died so suddenly and way too soon. It also hurt not being able to grieve with my family back home.

February:
I turned 25! I can't decide if I'm still classified as a "young adult" or not.

March:
End of the school year here, which meant staff change at my school. I lost a few coworker friends to other schools but made a lot of new ones. I also turned down the opportunity to apply for a supervisor position in my school district. I probably wouldn't have got it anyway, but I'm so glad I didn't! I would have been overwhelmed.

April:
Start of the new school year! The new students are practically angels and everyone is shocked. The second year kids look like wild hooligans by comparison.

May:
Golden Week holidays! My fiancé (now husband) and I took a road trip to Aomori to visit the northern tip of Honshu (the biggest island of Japan). Lots of fun and good food.

June:
No big events really, but this is when I started to hit crunch time. I started packing and cleaning my apartment in preparation for my move, but we didn't have a new place lined up and I didn't know who would move in. (That info was pretty vital since I needed to know if I could leave the furniture we no longer needed.) I had to prepare to switch schools in July, but I wasn't told where I would go until the end of the month. The waiting alone was stressful and I still had plenty of wedding planning to do.

July:
As mentioned above, this month I had to switch schools. On my last day of school we officially announced our engagement to our coworkers and students, which caused a lot of shock and gossip but mostly people wished us the best.
Since my contract was up, I had to move our of my apartment at the same time. So with no place else to go, I moved in with my in-laws. They're wonderful people, but the transition was so sudden I had a rough time adjusting at first. In retrospect, I'm super grateful since I learned a lot from my mother-in-law about cooking and keeping house in Japan.
The best part of the summer was taking a road trip on the back of my now-husband's motorcycle around the northern island of Japan. The weather was hell for the first half, but the second half was amazing. We definitely want to try that again someday.

August:
Classes start back up after the summer holidays at my new school. Wow, for the first time as an ALT I'm busy every day with a very full work schedule. It makes the day go by fast, but I no longer have time to do non-work stuff (including Mene) at work. Probably for the best.

September:
We found an apartment! It's still occupied but we sign up to get it mid October so we can move some stuff in and start living there post wedding. Aside from that, lots of other wedding stuff takes place, including my fitting for my kimono. Exciting!

October:
The wedding is here! My family also came to Japan for the first time to celebrate with us. It was a wonderful ceremony and a fun party afterward. I felt like a pretty princess dolled up in my kimono. We also started to move into our new place, including buying a new fridge and washing machine. The whole month was super busy, but things turned out great.

November:
From the start of the month we officially move in together. That meant that I had to start cooking every night after work. That was another challenge I was kind of dreading, but it actually was alright. Turns out I'm not that bad at it. I have a lot still to learn, but I'm a bit more confident now.

December:
That brings us to the end of the year. We delayed our honeymoon to December so we could also visit my family for Christmas. First stop was Peru! We decided to make our honeymoon a trip to Machu Picchu since our first date was at a museum with an exhibit about the Incas. We had a great time, despite a few hiccups like breaking my camera, and safely arrived back in the US.
We then spent the holidays with my family and continued our trend of eating heaps of delicious food every day. (I'm still full! ) My brother also announced his engagement to his girlfriend, so that's exciting. On the 31st we said goodbye to America and spent the last night of the year sleeping in our own beds.

Phew... What a year! So now I wonder what 2015 will bring.

Comments are welcome! I guess I better post for January 2014 so far:

It's thankfully been a slow start so I can gradually get back into the swing of my daily routine. I was off work for almost a month, which I think I really helped since I was getting burnt out. For the past three days I've basically been paid to catch up on my internet stuff and put together a slide show about my trip to the US and Peru for my first English lessons.

It had also been almost a month since I'd cooked a meal at home (we ate out a lot or were treated by relatives to home-cooked meals) but I didn't have much trouble putting together a nabe hot pot dish which we've been eating three days in a row. It's actually pretty tasty, but that's probably less to do with me and more to do with the pre-made broth I purchased. I think next time I'll try to make it from scratch.

My camera is in the shop so I hope it gets fixed soon and it doesn't cost extra beyond the base repair fee. The only major bummer so far is that my husband lost his wedding ring somewhere the day after New Years (probably outside while we were shopping) and it's yet to resurface. I think we're going to have to consider it lost for good.

Wow! 2014 sounds like it was a pretty great year overall. I'm really sorry about your cousin though That must have been really hard.
I didn't know you lived in Japan! Your wedding sounds super fun, and really beautiful! I'd love to see some pictures!
So, living in Japan for so long, have you gotten used to the culture? Did it take you a while to get settled into things?

Originally Posted by fireprincess

Wow! 2014 sounds like it was a pretty great year overall. I'm really sorry about your cousin though That must have been really hard.
I didn't know you lived in Japan! Your wedding sounds super fun, and really beautiful! I'd love to see some pictures!
So, living in Japan for so long, have you gotten used to the culture? Did it take you a while to get settled into things?

Thanks. I worry more about how my uncle is handling it since I didn't see him when I went back home for Christmas. It was too hard for him to be at the family party.

Yeah, I've lived in Japan for almost five years now. I really like it for the most part. In some ways I took to Japan right away, but other parts of the culture I'm still figuring out. For example, I love Japanese food and haven't had much trouble adapting to a new diet, but I don't think I'll ever really enjoy Japanese TV. Also, I don't think I'll ever become fluent in Japanese in the same way I am with English. I'm conversational, but I will always make mistakes and encounter stuff I don't know. It's not a bad thing, but it can be frustrating sometimes knowing you will forever be different from the rest of the people in your community.

How about you? How was your 2014?

I can only imagine how hard that would be on him. Just as long as he remembers he's not alone, and he has a whole family who loves and supports him. Hopefully he's able to grieve fully and process his emotions

Yeah, their tv shows seem really different to American shows. Do they have a lot of game shows in Japan? For some reason that's all I think about when I hear of their tv programs I can only imagine what they'd think of American TV XD Are you able to get netflix? Maybe you could watch American shows that way?
I can definitely see how that would be frustrating...and even a little bit scary! Does your husband or any of his family speak English? Japanese seems like a really hard language to learn!

My 2014 was pretty great! I went on my first vacation in 13 years (the last one I went on was when I was 7), so that was pretty awesome! My family and I went to Destin, Florida. It was so beautiful and a ton of fun! I also completed a lot of school work, so I'll have my associates degree after this semester is over in May

Thanks. I hope so too.

Honestly, this is what I see on TV most often in Japan: news programs, talk shows featuring idols and "talents" (people famous for being famous), sports, shows about food (cooking, restaurants, farming), shows about traveling, shows about foreign people and their opinions of Japan/their home countries, and game shows. And almost any of those programs will usually bring up how awesome Japan is in some way.

I've heard that I can access American Netflix if I setup a proxy, but mostly we get by renting movies in English with Japanese subtitles. TV programs I can usually watch online if I want to. I used to watch the Daily Show whenever it aired, but for a while I was too busy. I should start watching it again since it helps me stay up to date with American top stories.

Nope, my husband's English is worse than my Japanese so we mostly use Japanese. But he's been trying hard to study more so we'll switch to using simple English sometimes. His parents don't speak English, but his sister, BIL, and their kids know a little English. His aunt is also semi-fluent, so she spoke to my parents at our wedding. My husband laments that he's the worst in his family at English and yet he's the one who married a foreigner. He has plenty of time to get better though.

Oh awesome! Florida sounds really cool. Is there any particular reason your family picked Destin? I really only know about the major tourist spots like Miami and Disney World. And congrats! Doesn't it feel awesome to be close to getting your degree? I was really happy when I got my associates, too. What kinds of things are you studying now?

EDIT: Oh! And I got really good news yesterday. My husband found his wedding ring! We're both so relieved.