I Don't Want To Miss A Thing (But Time's A Wastin')

One week down, 17 to go. No wait, that's not right.
17 weeks already! Only one to go! I can't believe how long it's been. I feel like it was only a week ago that I arrived in Japan, only a week ago that I was at a complete loss as to how to use trains and was so excited and anxious about what to expect from Japan. I thought back to my first day in Nagoya today as I was walking around downtown. I remembered how John, Sean and I were so overwhelmed by the city that we barely ventured two blocks away from the train station, and even that two block radius had us completely blown away. I remembered how we used to have to follow my guide book everywhere or risk getting lost and having to (gasp!) use Japanese to ask for directions. But as I walked through downtown Nagoya with the kind of directional confidence I have when walking around Vancouver, I suddenly felt very sad. Four months is a very awkward length of time to be in one place. You are not quite a tourist anymore and you are just beginning to settle. My time in Japan is almost at an end and it will surely feel like Vancouver has changed. I am anticipating that nowhere will feel like home for quite some time...
That being said, I am making the most of my time here. We had New Year's/goodbye parties with almost all of our friends last week almost always followed by lots and lots of karaoke. Karaoke in Japan is a dream come true. It's all box-karaoke which means you get a private room complete with two microphones, a list of songs the size of a phone book (english songs too!),tambourines and cups. Why cups? Because karaoke is all-you-can-drink. I really wish that there was all-you-can-drink in Canada, but after much discussion on the subject, we agreed it wouldn't work. Bars would go out of business seeing as Canadians would abuse the system far more than the Japanese do. (It's nice to dream of a perfect world though...)
That's all there is to tell, really. My days are now filled with homework (8 page essay on Japanese history...ugh), spending time with friends and my host family, organizing my post-school travels and tying up loose ends.
I feel like these posts have gotten less and less interesting and at first it felt a bit pathetic comparing this post to my first few. But now that I think about it, it just proves that I am no longer a tourist here and that is kind of cool. I can almost see myself belonging here (I can at least. Japanese people still stare at me everywhere, everyday. I guess I still stick out like a sore thumb.). And now that I am beginning to feel attached to Japan, it will be torn away from me and I'll have to go back to the reality of work and school. Oh, what an awful thought...

Oh did I mention that it snowed?! Finally!! It snowed for 2 days, melted and disappeared...and I think that's probably it for the snow this year. Until I get to Sapporo that is...

Stay tuned for the final chapter next week.

Britt


I miss paychecks.