Habitual study and 2nd thoughts

Tuesday 9:05 a.m. Preface

Writing my reflections paper has proved to be difficult for several reasons.
While I continue to get the reminding nudge from our very own J. Beatty, I am having trouble sitting down to write. I have tried on numerous occasions, only to shut the computer off and putter around the room without a thought in my head.
here's the problem:

I see this document as closure, and with closure that pulls me further from the participants, the experience we shared, and the leadership team that organized the whole affair for us. And as Grace so eloquently put it, making the whole things seem more dreamlike an otherworldly than actuality.

I am partial to beginnings myself, so as I mentioned in my first attempt at submission (bento box blog) I will make this a working document. That way it fulfils iie's requirements of writing this paper but it gives me a chance to continue the story, with no denouement and something that I will add to as it comes to me.

So, in this working document, I hope to focus on a few things.
1) expectations and perceptions prior to the trip.
2) terms and myths that capture the Japanese spirit.
3) the well-oiled machine that is the Japanese People.
4) comparing the East and the West.
5) how all parts of the theme are intertwined, interconnected and necessary:
"the whole equals the sum of its parts."