Long time...
...no see. So. What's happened?
Got the job. I feel no joy. In fact, all I feel is a lingering sense of unease. Like maybe I shouldn't have signed the contract because maybe I'm just not cut out for living in Japan. But I sent the paperwork and now I've just got nerves sitting in my stomach all the time.
Continue to be rather unwell. Had a major allergic reaction to something or other that made my right eye swell up, turn violently red, and gum itself shut. I was convinced it was pink eye, but apparently not according to the doctor. Had two colds and a case of bronchitis. Cough also continues persistently. I honestly don't know if it's allergies or pollution, but it did seem to improve when I got out of the city.
Had a week off and went to my old stomping grounds in Kyoto with a couple of friends. Not sure entirely how I felt about anything there. I missed the Kansai region terribly and it was so unbelievably nice to have conversations with human beings who were not my boss or my students. Coming back was insanely difficult and I did seriously consider just jumping off the Shinkansen in Nagoya.
It doesn't help that the friends I was with were not friends who were with me the first time around, and so I couldn't share my incredible nostalgia pains with them very well. Walking down the river and past the first restaurant I ever ate at in Japan and the place where I took kimono classes and all that. I couldn't bring myself to go to my host family's neighborhood. The sight of Toji from the JR was bad enough.
What was supposed to be a week of relaxing didn't really seem to relax me. I'm in sore need of unbiased advice, but I'm not willing to shell out the hundred+ dollars I'd need to go back to the shrink.
In any case, I'm going to send in my resume to the Japanese consulate in Boston because really it can't hurt anything and more than likely they'll turn me down because I have zero experience in politics.
I did break down and buy SQ Jump solely for the new Kenshin story from Watsuki. I like how his drawing style has changed, but I haven't started the actual story yet.
So. That's where I am.
~Jade
Got the job. I feel no joy. In fact, all I feel is a lingering sense of unease. Like maybe I shouldn't have signed the contract because maybe I'm just not cut out for living in Japan. But I sent the paperwork and now I've just got nerves sitting in my stomach all the time.
Continue to be rather unwell. Had a major allergic reaction to something or other that made my right eye swell up, turn violently red, and gum itself shut. I was convinced it was pink eye, but apparently not according to the doctor. Had two colds and a case of bronchitis. Cough also continues persistently. I honestly don't know if it's allergies or pollution, but it did seem to improve when I got out of the city.
Had a week off and went to my old stomping grounds in Kyoto with a couple of friends. Not sure entirely how I felt about anything there. I missed the Kansai region terribly and it was so unbelievably nice to have conversations with human beings who were not my boss or my students. Coming back was insanely difficult and I did seriously consider just jumping off the Shinkansen in Nagoya.
It doesn't help that the friends I was with were not friends who were with me the first time around, and so I couldn't share my incredible nostalgia pains with them very well. Walking down the river and past the first restaurant I ever ate at in Japan and the place where I took kimono classes and all that. I couldn't bring myself to go to my host family's neighborhood. The sight of Toji from the JR was bad enough.
What was supposed to be a week of relaxing didn't really seem to relax me. I'm in sore need of unbiased advice, but I'm not willing to shell out the hundred+ dollars I'd need to go back to the shrink.
In any case, I'm going to send in my resume to the Japanese consulate in Boston because really it can't hurt anything and more than likely they'll turn me down because I have zero experience in politics.
I did break down and buy SQ Jump solely for the new Kenshin story from Watsuki. I like how his drawing style has changed, but I haven't started the actual story yet.
So. That's where I am.
~Jade