While at home in Montreal, the new word is polar vortex, here in Tokyo it is another sunny day. Paul warms up for a run and the day begins. We both prepare mentally for the approaching physical divide. He returns home on Thursday. It has been a really good idea for us to come here together, to discover together, what will be my world for the next 5 months.

“I’m happy to be pushing your boat off on this trip” he told me yesterday, “….just hope you have oars!” Yes, a strange mix of sadness and excitement for me right now – a huge lump of being alone and far from Paul rolls around inside me mixing with a lighter whiff of discovery, of possibilities. And oars? yes I have good oars with me and they seem to have been rowing steadily for me without my hand.

“Uma” she said dropping the tiny white horse charm into my hand. A group of Japanese women sitting back-to-our-back in a Japanese-style restaurant had engaged us, asking where we were from. We had just come from the shrine, Senso-ji in Asakusa with friends, Michael and Yuko and were all enjoying a little too much beer and saki. “Keep it” she said.

The moment I began applying to this residency, things have fallen into place. The Chinese New Year of the Horse begins Friday. I was born in the year of the wooden horse. Auspicious is the word used most often for this….a path opens and people have welcomed us every step of the way.