Oomiwa Jinja Shrine in Nara, Japan

大神神社、奈良

Next year is going to introduce some big changes to my life, and I’m really looking forward to it.  Sometimes life has hard lessons, and just sometimes it seems that fate plays you the most wonderful cards.  One of the things that I’m looking forward to most is a rather significant trip to a beautiful shrine in Nara:

http://www.japan-hopper.com/2008/08/15_182101.php
http://www.kotodamaya.com/oomiwa-jinja/

I started learning Japanese more seriously from sometime around late 2009, and joined a certain website called Lang-8.com in mid December that year.  I lapse at times, but writing journals on it is a fantastic way to learn and engage with other language learners on a variety of topics.

It can be really hard work, and something that takes dedication, but just occasionally it opens up the most amazing opportunities.  Make the most of life, push the limits, stay optimistic, and you never know what may happen.