I’ve decided that the most difficult time for me to be living in Japan is when I return from any sort of trip, even if it’s just a short weekend trip. I just returned from my two week vacation in Vietnam and Hong Kong. I had a fantastic time, but I was looking forward to being back. Back to a country where I didn’t have to worry about my belongings being stolen, back to a place where I could safely drink the water, back to a place where I could do laundry and where I had a varied wardrobe, back to the familiar. Although Kanazawa has all that, I’ve found that it’s not quite enough yet.
Most of the time I love it here, but the past few days have been a bit rough. It may be the slight cold I got from Japan as a welcome back gift. It may have something to do with the weather – it’s about 20 degrees F colder here than it was in Hong Kong, over 40 degrees colder than Vietnam. Now, I know it’s nothing compared to the cold the Midwest is experiencing right now (it’s still above freezing here), but everything’s relative, and my apartment is colder than your houses.
It may also have something to do with being a bit lonely. When traveling, I’m constantly surrounded by people. Although some alone time is welcome after 2 full weeks of that, I can only take about a day, day and a half before I get a bit desperate for company. I suppose that’s not a great thing to admit, but I can’t help it, I’m a people person! I’ve had four days between the time I got back and when school started and I’ve only been able to meet up with friends one afternoon/evening. A lot of people were still out of town or busy or too tired to leave their apartments the rest of the time. I was also expecting to have the chance to call family and friends in the states to catch up on their holiday activities that I missed. Since I didn’t have to go in to work, I thought I’d actually be able to catch them at a decent time. Alas, my internet stopped working, so my skyping activities were brutally cut short…
The biggest reason I find coming back so difficult though, even (or especially) from trips within Japan, is that I have the expectation that I’m coming home. Then I get here and it dawns on me that I’m still in a foreign country. When I’m traveling I expect to be surrounded by languages I don’t understand, people that are new and different, different ways of doing things. It’s exciting, I learn a lot, and it’s why I love to travel so much. My difficulty comes when I get “home” and I’m still surrounded by a language I don’t understand (except a few phrases, of course), people that are different than the ones I’m used to, different ways of doing things. When I get back from traveling, I really don’t want that extra layer of stress that living in another country causes. It’s then when the differences between Japan and the Midwest really stand out and I tend to focus on the negatives. Those are the times that I get homesick the most and wonder what in the world I’m doing here.
But, enough with the pity party! I’ll shake it off in a day or two. I know that it takes time for a place to feel like home – I just have to be patient.
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3 comments:
Well, I hope you know that we are all thinking about you at home. Love you.
Ditto what Jenny said.
Arnoldo and I are always thinking of you! We are very excited for you and envious of all of your adventures.
It makes me very happy to read your posts and to have a sense of what is going on in your day-to-day world. Here, all is virtually the same.
And, yes, it is very, very cold - but you are correct, it is all relative.
Besos,
Willa
Hi, Jackie;
Thank you for the greeting card. I am definitely jealous for what you are experiencing... We just got back from Taiwan. I should contact you... are you planning to stay in Japan for another year?
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