Uh... there was a time warp. I swear.

 

        

        Well as is typical I gotta begin with “sorry it's been so long”. A few months ago I realized no one would be able to visit me here. I'd been planning out excellent restaurants and beautiful places and interesting things to do with visitors. Seeing the shark museum in my city and several other things I had been postponing until I had someone to join me. Maybe even finding a nice back country road and letting a friend try driving on the other side of the road. However, none of that will likely occur due to covid. Perhaps we can do some of them on a future visit, but at present there's no need to consider such eventualities. As such, one can imagine I wasn't exceptionally thrilled for a time. Additionally, I am not entirely adept at sociability. I can be quite amicable, but sociability is not as alluring to me as it seems to most others. Combining this with the first few months in Japan everyone was told to stay home and only go out for groceries. I fell into a pattern of it and then didn't seem to locate anyone among co-workers who seemed interested in socializing. Maybe that's in my head and not reflective of how things actually are? As it stands I have not done anything outside of going to work that was socializing. Every day for the last 7 months I've done everything by myself. Thankfully I chat with U.S. friends practically daily in the evenings via the computer. Well the emotional impact was mostly several months ago, I've gotten accustomed to the idea and reality of it. So now we're plugging away, fairly content with the food outings and hiking and jazz.

        Africa frequently pops into my head while here. Just today I tried to say “nyande wo”(pulaar word for 'everyday') while talking to a shopkeeper, instead of the Japanese毎日mai-nichi. Some of the overarching parallels are obvious. Different country and language and so forth. There was also a rainy season over here very similar to Senegal's rainy season. Difficult to do laundry and put it outside since it was so humid. Finding random things all covered in mold including; tops of cabinet doors, window ledges, slippers, a belt, a computer chair, my suit jacket, the shower every 8 days. Having seen a very humid season before helped me with it though. It's rough when I want to think of a pulaar word and can only come up with the Japanese equivalent now. I don't regret my time in Africa, I found it very formative and educational, and at the end I felt at home there. One of the worst things however, is a combination of not getting my bag back after returning home, which had my language materials and notes in it, because I can't 'brush up' on pulaar, AND not having had the money to be able to call frequently. I miss people from my village, like Mama Salliu Balde, my work partner. In all likelyhood the kindest most understanding man I'll ever meet. But I can't explain why I couldn't call or visit or anything now because I no longer have the language skills. I just feel guilty about how the years after Senegal turned out. We're in Japan now though.
        Not for much longer. I'm shifting into planning out what I'll do upon returning to the U.S. in the spring. Live up home near Presque Isle for the spring and summer maybe. Then back to Bangor or Portland ME and see about a Masters degree in Botany or something similar. I'm also hoping to finally put energy into dating. It's always been like “I'm about to do X so if I start something now it'll be like a side project”, and I've never wanted that to be how my relationship was. Additionally things I wierdly miss about the U.S. are; Steel toe boots. I could get them here as well but I don't really need them first, and second with the frequency of removing shoes it would be quite annoying to wear ones with complicated lacing. Steel toe boots though, feel so secure and ready to just do stuff ya know? American food? Not particularly. I've had a single hamburger and a single pizza over here. They were decent but it's incomparable to good ramen or sushi or rice bowl places. One of the biggest is always being able to problem solve in a second language. It's nice to be home and not have to worry about being understood for any given situation. I do also miss hanging out with other people a titch.
        Alrighty so this one isn't terribly long but I'm going to start a really long picture one to put up shortly after with just a ton of pictures and things I've been doing.
        Also in the works we have some upcoming posts about (Food, food, more food, and then some snacks which are also food), and (Diferences in the school environment). Please feel free to request topics you would like to know about as well. Peace ya'll.