Day 58. NO PICS YET.

Today was a quiet day at Nagomi, so we did some big shopping and again prepared some food and froze it for later. This time it was meat, so i couldn’t help much, but i did all i could.

Since we had lots of time for shopping, i grabbed my list as well and bought stuff i want to bring back to Europe. And that reminds me again and again, that i’m leaving so soon which makes me sad, because i would love to stay here as long as possible! This time i spent more quality time i suppose, so i attached to this country even more than the first time. Also, i could and did communicate in japanese, which gave me more freedom than last year and again, that made me connect to people and country, and culture more. Since i spent quite a lot time with japanese people in their own surroundings, i got to be part of their lives, part of true japan (as much as it can be diverse depending on every family), so it’s gonna be hard for me to go back to european style of living. Especially food... I’m already going berserk in asian shops, but now i’m gonna know exactly what i want and most likely i’m not gonna find me which is gonna lead me to a big disappointment.

Leaving bad things aside, i was happy to prepare potato pancakes - typical lithuanian dish, and so spread the lithuanian culture (which i’m unfortunately not a big fan of) in Japan. I have to admit, that food is quite ok in Lithuania, so there’s nothing to be embarrassed. I was lucky to be able to get Hokkaidou sour cream and Hokkaidou potatoes, because they are most similar to lithuanian ones and i have to admit - Hokkaidou sour cream is REALLY good. I was soo happy after tasting it, because in Germany, even though it’s closer to Lithuania, you cannot find proper sour cream - it’s all watery and doesn’t taste as good. Well, my hosts liked those pancakes and i did too. On sunday i’m gonna prepare sweet dinner - german milk rice and lithuanian sweet fruits soup - the idea of it was a big surprise to my host parents, so i’m really excited about that one. I hope they’re gonna like it...

Day 18.

It is nice to have smth in common with a person from sucha different culture, don't you think? Today i met the guy from yesterday. We played guitars, chatted, went to eat - i was really enjoying the evening. Something impossible happened as well - i went to karaoke for the first time in my life. It's totally his fault! But i have to admit, that it was kinda fun... So, i am so sorry, that i always said 'no' and spoiled fun, from now on i will also go to karaoke with my friends.

Anyway, we were heading to the station already, when it hit me, that we have quite a few things in common and that again made me feel, that every each of us is just part of this world, we are all human beings, we are coming from the same roots. But because of education, friends, society system we greatly differ. That doesn't mean though, that we wouldn't be able to find a soul-mate or a dear friend in a totally foreign culture. I wouldn't call japanese culture totally foreign for me, because i'm interested in it and have been into it for a while now, but still, if we looked to the beginning of my life - i grew up differently than japanese kids, i had different education, different family, i lost the need to fit in, which is still really significant in Japan, and yet, i'm sitting in front of Hachioji's station and playing guitar, singing with a person, who could become a good friend of mine! And we talk, and i wanna talk more and more and more... This makes me wanna travel all around the world more and more every day! Find the clashing points in cultures and find the similarities, learn from different people, gain experience - become a rich personality...

Rain was pouring on my way back home, but i still had my smile on. I was a little bit upset down in my heart, because i knew i'm leaving really soon and i won't be able to meet the guy for long long time (maybe even couple of years!), and who knows if we would still have the wanting to meet after those years, but i still feel that he left a trace in my life. One doesn't have to be genius to impress people or leave a trace, even a small one, in their memories. One just has to have something real and genuine inside and open up at the right moment about the right things. He told me about a girl, who left a big impression on him, and the fact that he is able to value it means a lot for me. Because nowadays, emotions are left behind most of the time...

When we were playing, i was just enjoying the music and then i saw a group of foreigners taking pictures of each other, looking around and then another impossible thing happened - i saw on their T-shirts "Lietuva", which means Lithuania in lithuanian language. I was sooo wicked! I went to them and we just chatted about small things. They came here to the festival and the reason to go to Japan was a karate championship (by the way, japanese won... as always...), it was really nice to meet someone from my own country in Japan! Of course, when i'm in lithuanian gatherings or visiting the embassy, i meet lithuanians, but to meet someone (and they were maybe 6-7 people at once!!!) just by accident is nearly impossible. But things do happen, right..?

This evening is for the last one here in Hino, i got an unbelievable present from our hosts' son - a rilakkuma and a bag with it!!! That's also soo amazing, since i'm just crazy about rilakkuma. I wanted to do many things, but i didn't have any time for them, since i was pretty busy here and those 10 days passed by so fast. I promised my host-momma, that i'm gonna give pictures from Clare (the place where i work) to her, but i even had to break this promise, because i just didn't have enough time to retouch any of the pics. But this is not that big problem, since we all have internet nowadays.

Today i have lots to tell in fact, but because of the whole leaving mood and because of still too vivid experiences, it's difficult for me to put everything in a neat order. I'm not sure when i'll be able to write the next post, because i don't have any idea, if they will have internet in Sasayama, but i sure hope they will!