lauren in japan

It's an odd thing, this living abroad.

I have these bouts of homesickness where I'll just stare at the yearlong calendar at work and mentally black out all the time I've been here and look at the white space left and it's too much. I think about all the workdays I have left before then -- all the classes I have to teach, all the days of wearing suits that are still, still there -- and it exhausts me. I'll long for people that know me - really know me - and imagine coming back from a day's work to roommates or family or someone to have a full conversation with. I'll miss everything - going to the post office, the bank, a restaurant - being easy.

But then things always turn around. I'll have good classes and meaningful days of work, weekend plans lined up to look forward to, the meeting and connecting with great people -- people I would never have met if I hadn't come here. And simple things, like my run tonight-- listening to good new music on a four-miler in perfect, perfect fall weather among the uniformed high school students on bicycles weaving through the buildings and businesses -- let me know I'm not done with it. I'll miss the freedom and the adventure, my japartment and my students.

But -- far or soon -- not quite yet.