so it's been a really frustrating last couple of days. everything is making me think of home and the people i left behind. i'd kill for a massive portland hug right now. don't get me wrong, i'm still enjoying japan. i think i have a huge advantage over some of the other gaijin because i really love japanese food (和食--washoku). going out with other JETs, i have not eaten this much italian food in my life, and i have no, absolutely no cravings for food form home. i even discovered that chai exists here, if rather inconveniently located. but those simple thigns from home--mcmineman's ruby, biking over the hawthorn, having crappy food and cheap drinks at jax, laying under the trees in my 'front yard' on campus, going to magic gardens on a weeknight, visiting great harvest after work--that are making me reach out over the pacific and cling to my portland. today every moment stretched out till i didn't think i could stand it any longer. i finally got a package from home (i assume) but they didn't put it in my box because the postman thought i wasn't actually living here. tomorrow it should magically appear in my box, but it was just one more disappointment. the school day was incredibly painful as i had to act all genki (happy/hyper) for my self-intro lessons, and all i want to do is sob on katie and elena's shoulders. to make matters just a little worse, it decided to rain just as it was time for me to bike home. of course, normally i would just ride home in the rain, enjoy the cool wet air, but my hill...it's a little much for my breaks when the pavement is dry. going down in the rain would just be asking for death. THis is where my day, my week, began to turn. yamagouchi-sensei asked takeuchi-sensei (one of the part time female teachers) if she would give me a ride home. i felt like a fool worrying about the rain, but it turned out really good. dogishi-sensei, the other part-time female teacher who's next to my desk, also was catching a ride, so the three of us had some away from schoo. they suggested we go to molly malones (the irish-gaijin haven-pub) sometime. so awesome. i had them drop me off at my grocery store. now i was planning to try to get all my things bought that i needed to at fuji grand and the hyaku-en shop in the other part of town, but now i couldn't. this meant i actually took the time to explore my supermarket. around each corner i kept finding something new, and perfect, that i didn't know how much i really wanted. there was honey--mmm, honey...--, darlingly tea, extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, garlic, eggplant, onion--ooh, onion--and mushrooms. i just felt soo much better. i went home, put my new finds away, and headed to juntendo (my 'do it your self' store that is really incredibly close to my apartment). there, again not in a rush to go someplace else, i had the time to actually look around. i found a japanese-size laundry basket, hangers, a good fry pan (for 980yen), a teapot!, a knife and cutting board, and a full length mirror. i went home, reorganized, put things away, and took out my mirror. you know i haven't really seen myself since i've been in japan? definitely since i've been in hiroshima. it's so weird how seeing yourself in the mirror is comforting. 'hey, look, i still exist!'. so basically life seems a little brighter, even if it's for simple reasons, like cooking my own dinner. a year doesn't seem impossible for the moment, whether it will be two years is still a mystery, but at least the rest of the week looks a little more feasible.
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