Culture Shock and Mexican Food

          I’m back in the land of the rising sun.  While it was awesome to be home, it was nevertheless kind of strange, which really surprised me.  I have only been in Japan for less than six months now, and I was surprised by how wired my brain had become for “Japan.”

          I found myself wanting to say “sumimasen” instead of “excuse me” while trying to pass someone at Costco (seriously, that place is a nightmare.  Especially around the holidays.) and “konichawa” instead of “hi” at Souplantation (seriously, that place is delicious.  Especially with good company).  Driving in the car was terrifying because everyone was driving on the wrong side of the road and I’d forgotten how craptastic customer service can really be.  There were no bentos back in America, but there was a smorgasbord of food.  And lots of it.  I definitely indulged myself in the food I’ve gone without for the last few months; I think the thing I missed most was the variety.  And actually seasoning food.  Oh Mexican cuisine how I had missed thee.  And my mom’s cooking.  Her meatloaf is bomb.  :)   I missed the beach (and its accompanying balmy breezy weather) and was beyond disappointed to find that when I returned to Japan, even in my apartment with the heat on, I could still see my breath.  At this point I’ll take a Santa Ana over the freezing gales we’ve been having the past few days since I’ve been back.  It was weird to turn on the T.V. and not only hear English coming back at me, but to see actors who actually looked like me.  It was nice to walk around and not have people openly gawking at you because of how you look (Americans at least have the common courtesy to do it behind your back while you walk away) and I enjoyed the ability to freely communicate.  I didn’t inspire looks of horror or fear from the elderly and young children (again, at least to my knowledge).

I literally got off the plane, hugged my family, got my bag, and ate at Old Town Mexican Café.  I nearly cried it was so good.

So much food.

          And of course it was wonderful to see my family and friends.  While being outside with strangers was just daunting and weird, I fell into a natural routine at home – it was as if I never left.  So comfortable, in fact, I honestly didn’t want to leave.  Packing to leave was harder than leaving in July when I first moved to Japan, and in some ways I wish my visit hadn’t been so long because it’s making my decision to re-contract for another year exceptionally difficult.  I have a pro/con list for staying or leaving, and I can’t yet decide which one outweighs the other.

          I still have a couple of weeks left before I have to submit my decision to re-contract or not, but for now I’m trying to get over my JET lag (lol for awful puns) and get back into the swing of things at work.  This past week I was at my two smallest schools (Schools T and KU), and it was nice to see the kids as it had been the beginning of November since I had last seen them.  We did Christmas and New Year’s lessons (a little late for Christmas but still interesting to them nonetheless (“No Christmas cake?  Ehhhh!?)) and Jeopardy was again a massive success.  Even my third graders who are clearly “too cool for school” were yelling out answers and trying to get it first so they could get the most points; at school KU, it was honestly the most animated and lively I’ve seen these kids since I started teaching in late August.  And they all wanted to know where I went and what I did over break while in America.  They loved the pictures of Christmas and especially liked my trip to the San Diego Zoo (the pandas were their favorite).

Panda San!  ;)

This photo was dubbed "Unagi Santa San" by my students.

          Despite how lively classes were this week, jet lag has been kicking my butt.  I’ve either been going to sleep at 6:00 PM and then waking up at 4:00 AM – completely bypassing dinner – or falling asleep at 1:00 AM and waking up roundabouts 3:00 AM.  Weird.  I remember getting jet lagged back in August when I first came to Japan, but I kind of chalked it up to the fact that I didn’t sleep a wink on the flight to Tokyo.  This time around, I slept a good portion of the flight from San Francisco to Osaka and even fell asleep on the train ride back to Shingu.  Hopefully by next week I’ll be back to a steady routine.




P.S. I saw my first monkey!  Two monkeys ran across the road as a JTE and I were driving in the mountains.  My first thought was: "Dang, where'd those dogs come from?"