sunny days

I often forget that because Japan is further south than Britain (more like on a level with Greece), you need to wear sun cream a lot more here. Well, correction, fair haired/ skinned people do anyway! I've forgotten to do this recently, and now have bright pink cheeks to show for it. When I was home for Christmas, I'd forgotten just how short the daylight hours are back home & how cloudy it is most of the time. I.e. not sunny from 7am-4.30pm as it is here.

I've just finished reading Mum's copy of Under the Tuscan Sun (which is apparently also a film now too). Despite the restoration work my parents haven't had to have done to their place in France (if that makes any sense), I can imagine they relate well to the story of the holiday house abroad. But I could relate to the author on slightly more obscure topics.

• Going home, for example - so much choice in the shops. Being back is familiar but unfamiliar at the same time. "I'm temporarily overwhelmed by the checkout rows, the aisles and aisles of bright produce and the tempting cakes..."
• Christmas Eve- certain times you seem to hit rock bottom, but it's interspersed with highs too. Feeling like you'd much rather be somewhere else, "I want to put my head down on the white cloth and weep."
• Adventures in leaving the place you're based... be it into "Wildest Tuscany" or down south in Japan. - I have a trip planned for a couple of weeks. May well take my Lonely planet to school tomorrow and read up on it(!).
• Making lists and goals- oh my goodness. We have JET meetings just about goal setting. The number of to do lists/ goals I've written down is uncountable! "I find folded pieces of notepaper and crumpled envelopes... things to accomplish, lists of lists."
• Very generally, it is fun to be abroad. I feel that I may be losing the joy that is the author's constantly though!
• Being labelled as a foreigner/ in Japanese literally 'outside person', in Italian, stranieri sounds more like 'stranger' - and being one! "How Italian will we ever be? Not very". Not that I'd ever even get that close to becoming Japanese- nor would I want to(!). But all the descriptions of interacting with natives, trying to commicate cross-culturally, realising things work according to different rules are all too familiar...
• And just as a side note, pertaining to France more than Japan. The author- Frances Mayes recorded that when her daughter first came to visit her in Italy she said, "How strange- this [place] will become a part of all our memories." When Mum & Dad bought their place, I remember going and thinking- almost nothing else is certain in my life, apart from that I'll be coming here again and again. [I know that nothing's ever certain, but there you have it.]

Wow, I was only going to write 3 points there, but things seem to have spiralled...

I think most towns, including Rifu (obviously) have nothing on Cortona in Tuscany. [Reading it though reminded me of a Coopers School trip to "Florence!" when I was in Year 9- going there in February is so much better than in the summer, when "wads of tourists clog the city as if it's a Renaissance theme park." (As opposed to other times, when the city can just give "itself over by returning to itself".)] The other week I received some olive oil as omiyage (souvenir) from a teacher from school who went to Italy over the holidays. The oil's infused with chilli and other things. Maybe it had been sitting in the souvenir shop for quite a while because just a little bit of oil is really spicy hot. Still now I can make my bog-standard pasta and veg and it has a genuine taste of Italy to it, well kind of!

I'm just finishing off writing an article in Japanese for a student newspaper or something at school. I'll finish it off tomorrow when I have no lessons (same as on Thurs). Actually, to kill time, I might as well type it up in Japanese and post it on here just for fun-! Anyway, I wrote a bit about my life in Japan/ being near sun, sea & mountains here. Couldn't really think of what to write. Was thinking along the lines of reverse culture shock, or what I find strange/ culture shock esque in Japan. And I realised you can just go on and on and on (as I tend to do things on this blog) about differences. E.g. I was explaining to my JTE how England is just not sunny in the winter as it is over here, and that it stuns me. However, I've just seen one of my friend's photos from a recent trip to Cambodia & Thailand. They made me realise/ remember how similar Japan is to England. What a huge difference it must be to live over there. So although I shall probably still utter culture shock encounters from time to time, I'll try to not dwell on them too much. Otherwise i could just go on for ever. (E.g. I even found out today that in Japan, every day of the week has a specific name- or something, and today is unlucky. well then...)