I was coming home from work today and I had a couple of errands to run so I decided to swing into the "city" part of Kambara and stop in a konbini for a quick snack. I walked in, purused the aisles for a bit, then nonchalantly chose an onigiri, paid for it and stepped outside the store. I stood there to eat it like a good Japanese boy before moving on, and that was right where it hit me: I had just chosen and purchased a snack made out of plain rice and dried seaweed. And I was eating it. I was shocked- it was like a spell had been lifted and my vision cleared revealing to me once again the world.

I'm really happy here, and I revel in those moments. I like breaking from the mundane; I like smiling, I like wistling, I like the little diddy that gets played on loop at the grocery store. Maybe that's mundane to a Japanese person, but to me it's dripping with life. When my eyes are open I see the animation in every object around me, the world is dancing, my surroundings are putting on a show. I haven't sung so clearly in a long time. Tonight I took a shower and forgot my towel in my bedroom, so I just shook off like a dog and walked out into my house, laughing.

These past 3 Monday nights I've been playing soccer with my fellow teachers against other teachers from different high schools in the area. Tonight we won 1-0 and I scored the only goal! I had about 4 shots on goal, and this particular one was almost saved by the keeper, but he didn't get there quite in time so the ball just barely crossed the line. The ref didn't catch it at first so I started pointing and yelling, then the wistle blew and I couldn't tell what was going on, then I started jogging back thinking they didn't call it, then the ball came rolling past me on it's way to the center because it had been seen as a goal! I was pretty pumped, but didn't know how to show it or what to say- (is it ok to rub a goal in a sensei's face?) Anyway, my teachers seemed pretty happy, and I got lots of happy comments after the game. I say "happy comments" because they were all trying to translate things into English, and that kind of slows down the celebrating, so one teacher just patted me on the arm, jumped up and down and said "yea!"

It's frustrating to not be able to make all my usual comments and be understood, but as I've been getting more and more comfortable here I've been more and more myself in my mannerisms and even in using English- if no one understands me, oh well, they can listen to the tone of my voice and I'll understand me. Luckily I think I'm sorta funny and clever, so it's entertaining. And my mom thinks I'm pretty neat so if nothing else, that's one person in the world.

Well, I should probably get to wrapping this up- I ate an entire 90g package of Tohato kyarameruko-n (caramel corn) while writting this and I'm afraid I'm about to move on to something else. I have not forgotten the TGD commentaries I promised I'd write, so next post I'll put a lot of time into doing that.

じゃあ、ね。