frustration, frustration

I’m writing this in a fit of frustration and sadness at feeling disconnected from the people I love because of no internet. Is this a qualified or justified feeling? No. You’re studying abroad, homestaying, you should be caught up in the moment, not belly-aching about being away from home. But there is this boy, you see. He has my heart, and it’s hard to be away from you heart for so long. Especially when you can’t contact them for more than 24 hours for the first time ever. And I know that he’ll have woken up by now, and be waiting for me to get online so that he can cheer me up and make the distance and time apart feel so strongly like a dagger in my heart. And he’ll keep waiting, because I’m here, unable to connect to him. On top of that, my dad is home alone for an extended amount of time, and Father's Day of all things is tomorrow. I don't know what I'll do if I can't talk to him on Father's Day. I don't want anyone else to be lonely and hurting.

But despite the pain I’m feeling right now, I opened this word document to write a blog post about how ‘happy’ I am to be homestaying, and that’s what I’ll do.

From our homestay in the beautiful city of Nagahama, we have to bike 10 minutes or so to the train station, hop on a train to Hikone, bike another 20 minutes or so to the JCMU and call it good any week day rain or shine. I really do love this city. Compared to Hikone, it has shrines and temples everywhere you look, lots of stray cats and it’s still not far from the lake. I’m going to want to spend a weekend just photographing the local area as it’s so full of beauty. There’s even this giant statue of a Buddhist god when you enter into the city. I couldn’t formulate a sentence on the spot very well to ask what it was, but I will manage that before the end of my stay.

As far as what life has been like so far, Mabuchi-san (our Oka-san here) is quite the driver. For those of you who have seen Ponyo, just think of little Sosuke’s mother, whipping around those mountain roads, and you have a pretty accurate depiction of Japanese people’s driving. 

Rollercoasters, boats, busses, rickety trains…none of those ever make me nauseous. Mabuchi-san’s driving? Car sick within 3 minutes and considering what kind of first impression my host parents would have of me if I ralphed in their vehicle. Tomorrow we’re headed to a city that is 80 minutes away from Nagahama. In a car. Her car. With her behind the wheel. Wish me luck.

The biggest moment so far being in a homestay has been dinner. Because Ashley is a vegetarian, there was no meat served, but Mabuchi-san made due with potatoes (!!!), mac n cheese, ozushi (what we made with our housewife helper at the JCMU), spinach, miso soup, tea (that I could actually stomach alright), and tofu steak. I ate so much because it was the first meal that Ashley and I could eat our fill of actual healthy food at. Ashley ate more than I did!

I am realizing as time moves on though how dehydrated I’m getting. Water is not very common as a drink here, it’s mostly tea, and tea makes me want to spit not swallow, so I’ve just been drinking the minimal amount to be polite and then wishing for orange juice or the sweet cold water of my home in Michigan. I need to find a way around that, and soon.

After we finished dinner and helped a little with the dishes (which means Ashley jumped right in, and I stood there in the way because I there wasn’t enough room to help/it was going to be awkward anywhere I was) Mabuchi-san led us by bike to the station we’ll be going to every morning to get to school.

The house they live in here is about three times the normal size of a Japanese person’s house. Ashley’s and my room is bigger than our entire apartment was. However, I am already missing the comfort of my old room’s pillow, comforter and mattress. Here I have a thin mat on a cot, with a towel covered hard pillow and a towel adorned thin comforter. The day I am home again under a downy blanket with a cat in my lap and my boy beside me will be the happiest of days. But again, this is what we signed up for, so we (or rather I, since I'm the complainer here) need to make the best of it. 

49 more days.