I am back after spending fifteen wonderful days in Japan with Ingrid. Now I am all jetlagged and emotionally hung over and have 1200 photos to process (and more still uploading from my phone) and the house desperately needs a deep clean and I don’t even know how to catch up with all of that. One small step at a time, I guess.

I managed to stay awake until 9 yesterday evening (which is 5 in the morning Japanese time) and mostly sleep until 4:30 this morning – long enough that it counts as morning and not night. Good first step.

Coming home from a long trip to somewhere really different always leaves me in a strange emotional state. It is absolutely nice to be home, sleep in my own bed, eat my own food, cuddle with my cat. But it’s jarring to leave behind the intense, packed days, full of new experiences and people and places and no everyday duties. I feel displaced and empty.

For the blog catch-up, there will be a new category for all the Japan photos and posts. I will be filling it up gradually so you can check back whenever you want, and let you know when I’m all done with it so you can get it all in one go if you prefer.