Sometimes it’s AWESOME! Sometimes it’s NOT!

September 13, 20

So, I’ve become really settled into a routine already, even though stuff like my school schedule is still pretty up in the air and chaos is everywhere, so I feel like I don’t have anything interesting to write.

I am, this week, probably spending a lot more time on the computer than I should be, but in my defense, it’s usually after everyone has gone to bed and I’m twiddling my thumbs – usually by 8:30 or 9:00.  And with the exception of yesterday, when I took a couple of hours to have an IM conversation with my husband (which, I’m sorry, seems pretty important!) and missed snack time, none of it has interfered with spending time with the family.

At this point I’m kind of looking for stress relief.  I’m feeling very on-again-off-again about whether or not I’m happy to be here.  When I’m busy and have things to do and am being social, I feel awesome and this is lots of fun.  But when I find myself with empty time on my hands – homework is done, I’ve studied as much as I can handle that day, and the family is out or in bed – I’m absolutely miserable and I want to hop the next flight home.  Weekends are really bad.  I really don’t want to be a burden and insist on going and doing something interesting and tourist-y every weekend, but it is a LOT of unscheduled free time.  So, I’m investigating ways to pass the time.

I ran (desperately walked quickly!) to the store the other day and got really basic art supplies – colored pencil sticks and plain white printer paper.  Doodling usually makes me feel a little better, so I sprawled out on the floor and had a go.  Nothing really came out well, so…

Next weekend I may make a point to make the commute to campus and investigate the Taiku Center (it’s like a gym…  I guess…).  The commute alone would take up 3 or 4 hours of my day if you count both ways, and I’d be doing something that was good for me!  It would also remove that awkward lunchtime, where I know that Yuko is not really responsible for feeding me, but she does anyway when I’m home.  The only problem is that I’m finding absolutely any activity where your body is remotely exposed is unavailable to me because tattoos are EXTREMELY FROWNED UPON.  So, no public pools or beaches, etc.  I wonder, though, if the college pool would be okay since they have a LOT of foreign students every single year, and I imagine I’m not the only one they’ve ever had with some ink.

The registration system at the school seems to be fairly inefficient.  They place absolutely no limits on class size when you are actually registering, so in a number of cases I find out that the class is over-registered and we’re either drawing out of a hat for our spot, or a specific number of volunteers have to drop or switch.  So, I’ve been in school for about a week at this point, and I still don’t know what my schedule is!

I probably shouldn’t spend too much time complaining and dwelling on my problems.  There’s not much to do about it besides adjust and move on.  There are lots of frustrating moments, but lots of hilarious, fun, and rewarding moments.  For example, today I was going over, outloud, different things like “sneeze,” “cough,” and “yawn,” and got quizzed if I knew “runny nose” and “bloody nose.”  Then, Yuko asked me what me-ani is, and it turns out it’s “sleep” as in “You have sleep in your eye.”  She found it very interesting that it’s the same as the verb, and we both learned something new.  (I also offered “eye boogers” as a casual equivalent, and she laughed pretty hard at that.)

I am spending more time speaking English than I had intended because classes have not started for the Japanese students yet, and I’m not going to refuse new friends.  But, spoke Japanese with some students from Shanghai on the way to the subway station and on the train for a little bit, and it was a lot of fun because we were all making fun of ourselves and each other for our mistakes.  (Sometimes two or three of us were trying to correctly conjugate a verb out loud at the same time – trying to help each other but probably sounding really hilarious to everyone else at the station.)

Trying really hard to focus on the positives.  I’m doing my best to enjoy what I’m doing here, but I like hearing from the people back home because it keeps my negative feelings at bay – that I’m totally disconnected and missing out on life in Lafayette.  It also reminds me how much love and support I have, and how many people want to see me succeed.  Thanks guys!

Also, since it turned out I didn’t really have housing over winter break, at least with this host family (I could stay in the dorms, but being alone at a closed college for Christmas and New Years didn’t sound too fantastic), I will be headed home for the holidays, which now I am really looking forward to.  It makes me feel better and I’m more excited about every day that I have here when I feel like I’m looking at a slightly more manageable stretch of time, instead of all the way straight through to May.

Well, it has officially hit that hour where I will be goofing around listening to my headphones and playing games until it is actually an appropriate hour for a college student to go to sleep.  Later!