Count Down to JPN

Taken at a resort where the retreat was held
- love this color

I am completely exhausted and stressed out these days. I had a two day office retreat with long (usual) UN type discussions on directions and strategies for next year. The 16 Days Campaign still has not concluded yet. Now all the reporting and planning has to be done in addition to normal programming kind of work. It can be exhilarating, but I badly need a break or at least proper weekend..

17 more days to go till my next holiday. I am going back to Japan for 10 days on the 24th. This time I am bringing along my boyfriend (yes the notorious non-committal boyfriend- small progress made), who has never been to Japan before. It will be hectic and interesting, but I look forward to seeing my family and going to Onsen together. My parents have kindly booked tickets for a Kabuki performance for two of us, which will be so special. I am certainly not so looking forward to the cold weather, though. Need to layer up with uniqulo heat-tec shirts.

This is what my life has become this year. Work work work and go on a short holiday every two months. This morning, I was counting how many times I have traveled this year. Including the up-coming trip to Japan, it is going to be 10 times! This includes four mission travels but doesn't include short holidays in this country when I had guests over. No wonder my less than 2 year old suitcase is so beaten up and I have become a gold card member of certain airline in spite of traveling in the economy class.