Today is the 11th of February 2023 and I know that I pressed the reboot button of my life, taking from the deck the Wheel of Fortune card that brought me either to another side of Eindhoven or another side of the world to Japan. It is an escape from my own mind to the heart, an opportunity for reconnection and dedication I keep on following my art and architecture path. I heard an eloquent phrase today: “learning the art of detachment while staying heart-centered” that accurately resembles the distance I get from my life, the coldness of the mind to connect the dots and see the 2022 in a frame of a bigger picture.
By the end of the month, I write:
I didn’t quite imagine going to Japan: If someone told me last year in November that in February I would be at the bottom right corner of the world from my current map location, I’d most likely look with my eyes on stalks and say ‘you gotta be kidding me, what would I even do there now?’
Oh, many things. First of all, get surprised every time when using Google maps and seeing this point far outside Europe; work on a project, lose and find my wallet, lose (and not find) the JR pass halfway to Tokyo, watch the Pacific ocean from an observation deck, laugh and like (a lot), spend (a bit too much) money on shopping and travel back with three suitcases instead of two. Eat – lots of rice, of course, but probably overdose on matcha in Kyoto as well that back in Eindhoven I cannot look at it anymore; spend time in onsen – the Japanese Hot Springs – or sing my heart out in karaoke in the last night of Saga. I probably wouldn’t have much time to travel around and would think to myself that I certainly have to go back – probably for longer. I would see that even when I try to control the flow of life, life itself just knows slightly better than I do; and even if I do decide to learn a bit of the language before planning my next trip there – sometimes it is just nice to get a bit Lost in Translation, without even knowing.
