Tuesday, June 12, 2007
There's of course varying amounts of excitement when one goes to a different country. The weeks before you go, you can't wait to leave, anticipating all the things you will do and the things you will see. The day of the flight you're almost peeing in your pants, your legs are bouncing and you just can't wait to get there. Then you arrived and you're blown away. It may be everything you expected or less than what you expected. For me, it was a strange mix. I was still quite excited to be there.
During the next week I was still in love with everything. Although it was harder to get around than I expected, it was still so exciting to see everything. There was so much to see. Life in Japan was so fast-paced that I often was concentrating so hard on keeping up that I couldn't concentrate on anything else. When my girlfriend, Celeste came to visit, and her presence made me remember that there were a lot of things I was missing about home. There are so many little things, having open space, being able to communicate clearly, certain foods, certain people, that just dont' exist in Japan. Taking her to the airport reminded me that it would be a long time until I got back to those things, and that made me a little homesick.
Japan is great, don't get me wrong, and this experience is invaluable. When I had the cultural training program that was required before I came here, they told us that homesickness might occur, and ways to deal with it. I brushed it off and didn't think it would happen to me, but I think it happens to everyone a little. When you're off in a foreign place there are inevitably some things and conveniences that you will miss.
After a hard night's sleep I felt better in the morning. 2 months isn't that long, and sooner than I think I'm going to be heading back home, and missing Japan.
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