I am back in Japan now, back at school in the world of 分からない classroom English. I'm very happy to be with Yoko and the baby, but unfortunately, I still have to go to work. I got in at 5 this morning and got into bed at 6. When the alarm went off at 8:45, Yoko said, 'You're in Japan.' The baby seems to have grown up a little while I was gone. She can play by herself now. I missed our little apartment and our bed. I missed having someone in bed with me.
When I was standing in line at immigration, some Japanese guy, noticing that I was standing in the Japanese passport line, said, 'Are you Japanese?' which made me much angrier than it should have as I am tired of people pointing out that I am not, in fact, a Japanese citizen. 'I have a re-entry permit,' I explained, but he didn't know enough English to understand this and said, 'This line is for Japanese.' I just stopped talking to him. I hate when a Japanese person who knows less about Japan than me tries to help me with something they don't know anything about. Then when I got on the bus, the man next to me asked in English, 'Where are you living in?' and I just about lost it. I went from 'We're sending a car for the honourable delegate from Japan' to conversation study buddy in just about 16 hours.
I should use this frustration to fuel my dissertation, journal resubmission, PhD research proposal and personal statement writing. The dissertation is due in 25 days, but the PhD deadlines are all still at least five months away. Maybe I can relax a little bit until then.