Hello! And welcome back to the blog! Today I will fill you all in on my January blues. Yes, That’s right, January was a difficult transition for me after the Christmas holidays. After all the fun and busyness of hanging with my family and friends from home, I came back to Iki, tired, glad to be alone for a while, while I healed from my cold which never really went away, but… sadly to an empty house. I was back to the time difference so when I wanted to talk, everyone was asleep. I was happy to give out my Canadian Omiyage and everyone quite enjoyed it, but I was always going home alone. I went from a full house to just me. It also got really cold this January and I experienced frozen pipes for the first time. Very inconvenient when you need a shower before work…
Well, I tried for a while to cope by watching more TV. I started watching the Vikings show, which is awesome. I started watching Stranger Things. also awesome. I began writing a blog story with a friend from back home, as you may have noticed my blog cluttered with new posts not related to Japan. But I still had a hard time being alone at home. I joined a group of people from Canada in an online D&D group which meets roughly every other week to play, and it’s a lot of fun. But now, I’ve discovered… I have no energy to leave the house.
Last year I explored Iki a lot, went for walks and played Pokemon Go when my battery didn’t die in 30 minutes and hung out with the other ALT’s. This year, people seem busier than me and when I don’t have things planned, I’m finding myself not leaving the house. I lodge myself under the kotatsu and bring all the drinks and food to me so I don’t have to move. It’s so unhealthy! But I don’t feel like going somewhere on my own.
On another note, I started planning my engagement trip with Mike to Kyoto this coming March! I’ve been booking places to eat and stay and hang out! It’s going to be great and we’re really excited! I only wish he could stay for longer!!
January wasn’t really as empty as I make it out to seem. Many clubs and events happened and I missed a few because I simply forgot or I had written it on the wrong day in my agenda. This made me very disappointed with myself. I played flute spontaneously at a cafe event at Machida sans Cafe de Luddy, I performed bamboo flute with my friend Etsuko san in the children’s cultural club showcase event at Bunka hall! I also took two childrens ikabana classes where I saw my neighbor and her kids! These were also displayed at the event. I helped my English club students start the graduation cards for their peers by printing photo’s of the graduating members and I taught a few classes before exam season started.
The cold was pretty bad, considering the houses here are old and not insulated like they are in Canada. Many people asked me, ‘You must be used to this, being from Canada. Is this cold for you?’ I said no each time. I think people don’t realize that when your house is properly insulated and you have double paned windows, the cold doesn’t seep into your house like it does here. I found myself running the heater on 30 degrees at night, and the room only got as hot as 13 degrees. One of our ferry’s has broken down and it still in for repairs. I haven’t been off Iki since I got back from Canada. Managed to save lots of mulla though! Lol. Hoping to use this on my engagement trip with Mike.
We’ve had quite a bit of snow, though it doesn’t stay on the ground. It’s been quite pretty. My schools also had start of the year Enkais which were pretty fun to go to. We ate awesome food and I understood a bit more of what poeple were saying. Many people asked me about my trip to Canada and it was really fun to share my engagement story with everyone! Be sure to check out the pictures! And I’ll be uploading videos to Youtube… sometimes in the future, lol. Well, that’s all for January! I’m still not over my homesickness, but if you have any suggestions to motivate me out of the house and whatnot, feel free to comment or message me!
Stay tuned!
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