Nagai

I have been away from Nagai for over a year, but somehow it feels as if I never left. As I got off the plane and into the Narita airport, it started feeling very comfortable and like home. However, I was frustrated that I could no longer go through the Japanese Passport line (when you have a VISA with a re-entry permit you can do all Passport things as if you are a Japanese Passport holder) and had to stand in the foreigner passport line for a little while. But it was when I got to Tokyo Train Station and stopped by my favorite Bakery navigating though the Tokyo Station like a pro that I realized how at home I really felt. When I got on the Shinkansen train I let out a sigh of relief and looked out the window at the rice patties, tiny cars and Japanese style houses until I fell into a deep sleep. I woke up just before Yonezawa (lucky because had I woken up 20 minutes later I would have missed my stop) and was greeted with a big hug from Chikako! Oh how I miss my friends from Nagai! As soon as we hugged I realized how much love I had left behind and how it still felt like home here after a year of being away. It was like coming home .
Like always we stopped by the combini and then off to Lesley School Chat Room, where the same students sat there. (Norihiko, how I make him so uncomfortable still! LOL) Yoshi gave me a big hug and looked better than ever. Tomohide walked in surprised to see me (he never knows what’s going on at Lesley). Takako was driving by and saw me in the window so stopped and came inside to chat for a while… it felt like a year ago and like I had never left. The same group of us debating all things in life from Gaijin to Nihonjin to Politics to who has gotten married since I left. Nagai even looks the same (with the exception that World Liquor has closed down and become a tire shop). It felt as if time had been frozen and not changed at all (even my classroom and Lesley School looked the same way as when I left it), it was a comforting and also a nervous feeling. Comforting to have things be exactly felt as if time had been frozen and not changed at all (even my classroom and Lesley School looked the same way as when I left it), it was a comforting and also a nervous feeling. Comforting to have things be exactly the same, but nervous because I have grown in a year, but it looks as if they are still the exact same.
I am staying at JoeyD’s (if only I could figure out how to connect to the internet…), and somehow I thought I knew the exact apartment that he is in, but last night proved that I was 100% wrong! I thought it was 406, and pulled the door, but it was locked. Then I thought, well maybe its 404, but I kept thinking 204, but knew it was on the 4th floor. I went up to 404 and pulled on the door, but it was also locked. So then, Yoshi saw some boys coming out of one of the apartment buildings and asked them if they knew where JoeyD lived. It was a group of three boys and immediately I wanted to run and hide. For one of the boys was one of the only Nagai boys that I had ever taken home drunkenly one night… he immediately noticed me and blushed and walked away…it was awkward, however, the one guy did know it was 402 that JoeyD lived in. YAY! Found it! And it was open of course (JoeyD never locks his door). Then Alex walked up and said “Are you JoeyD’s friend (ahh how the times have changed, it used to be that JoeyD was Monica’s friend, but now I am JoeyD’s friend)” and we briefly met and then it was off to bed I went. Oh how I don’t miss Futons nor Japanese Toilets…lol…first day down… 10 more of Vacation left!