first day of classes - done. the japanese language course seems pretty intense, but fun. i have to practice about 15 of the 40 some hiragana for tomorrow morning. japanese art history was kind of a slog, the teacher talked to his belly the whole time. i might drop it, which stinks because i really want the content of the course, but it's hard to deal with when it's delivered that way. my tohoku culture class was cancelled, and japanese society is tomorrow, so i don't know what they're like yet. hoooooooooooooooo...
yesterday, didn't doo much. it rained for half the day. i walked for a few miles along a frontage road next to the freeway and found a park with a big fountain and a tower on top of a sculpted hill. from the tower i could see the airport, the sports complex, the school the surrounding mountain ranges, and rice paddies for miles. i walked back, had some dinner, sat in the dorm for a while, and came out to find another party in the lobby. bunch of people drinking tea around a table, some watching some american movie dubbed in japanese, and the french kids, with a chinese girl that seems to follow them everywhere, were playing some card game called "pariah", which i joined in on.
i've been going through weird crappy emotional extremes, and i hit about every limit yesterday at some point or other. i feel like i've made some good connections, but i also feel like i've been written off by other people i thought i had established something decent with. i get the impression sometimes, not just here, but at home too, that everyone around me understands something essential about the mechanics of social interaction that i somehow missed. i know i should give it more time and keep trying, but it feels like it's harder for me than it looks for everyone else. i'm going to relax for a while, then go study and see what happens tomorrow, this week, this month.
5 comments:
It's hard when you're away, because you have to lay the foundations of yourself for other people all the friggin time. But, it gets easier. And, don't forget, they're trying to find their place too, so don't get discouraged if they seem to be distant. They've got to do the same thing as you. And everyone can't be fast friends immediately... Your best friends probably weren't your best friends the second time you saw them!
You are very cool and I like your beard.
Hearts
PS. What's with those crazy cartoon-eyed pine trees? Creepy.
Oh, I just caught up on all the blogs. Got it, city mascot.
It's still weird.
Hey Peter. I've been catching up on your blog here and I thought I could maybe pipe in. What carly said is definetely true. Also, think of how limited your choices are for friends. Right now it's mostly the people who speak english, right? my guess is that that's not too many people. It took being around a lot of people before you found people like Dan and Sarah and Ashley. I would encourage you to continue writing great descriptive journal entries about your daily experiences and learning/speaking Japanese -big time.
Remember there are also a lot of people who care about you in other places in the world and nothing will change that.
i have problems too
hey peter, I totally know that feeling! I've always felt I was missing something key to social interaction. Must be in the genes...like at school when the teacher'd say it's time to hand in your papers and everyone promptly got them out of their folders and handed them up each row of seats to the person in the front and i'd be like what paper, what? When was this? shit. racing-mind syndrome wins again. I musta been on the astroplane that day.
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