After-effects
Jan. 23rd, 2006 08:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azuriteToday I found out that I'm working all week, Monday through Thursday, 4:00-8:40pm. I'll be getting good hours though, so even though I found out last-minute, it'll be good pay. Friday (Baba's birthday) I'm working 12-5pm, and I'm luckily off on Saturday, when we're having a big party for Baba and everyone's coming.
Anyway, not all that long ago at work, I had this epiphany. It relates to that trip I took to Japan last spring. See, it took me four or so days while I was in Japan before it HIT me, "Oh, I'm in JAPAN!!" Not just out of San Francisco or Los Angeles/Northridge, or even out of California. I could have been anywhere, but I was in the place I'd been DREAMING of for years. And it didn't occur to me, because it felt NORMAL. Crowds, trains, rude people, weird food-- somehow, it all seemed normal.
But even the things that weren't normal (fishcakes, sitting on my knees, assigned seats on the shinkansen) started to grow on me. One of those things was one of those "silly Japanese inventions" that Westerners always wonder about. You know, you hear about those sound boxes in Japanese toilets, the ones that make the sound of running water or waterfalls when you're on the toilet, and after you flush?
I miss those.
It's so damn awkward to be in bathrooms for me nowadays and hear people peeing or whatever. I don't want to hear it. Hell, I don't want to smell it, so thank god for the global love of air fresheners... at least in major countries and cities. But people even TALK while you're on the can. One of my bosses, in fact, and I felt SO AWKWARD. I kept wishing, "Why can't I be in Japan? Their toilets make sense!"
Even though the whole idea of a bidet still weirds me out, it's cool.
But acceptance of a toilet isn't acceptance of a society. If I do end up getting accepted into a Study Abroad Japan program, there's a whole other kettle of fish to consider. I don't know if I'm ready for it. How long can you wish and hope for something, hear about it, and then one day, go there... and still want more... enough to stay for a year, to essentially sever all connections back home? I mean, of course I would still email people (hopefully I could bring or have a computer; without one I think I would go ballistic) and call, but... 3000+ miles away from home for a year (save the few breaks)? I wonder if I could do it.
Even though there is much toilet love...
Anyway, not all that long ago at work, I had this epiphany. It relates to that trip I took to Japan last spring. See, it took me four or so days while I was in Japan before it HIT me, "Oh, I'm in JAPAN!!" Not just out of San Francisco or Los Angeles/Northridge, or even out of California. I could have been anywhere, but I was in the place I'd been DREAMING of for years. And it didn't occur to me, because it felt NORMAL. Crowds, trains, rude people, weird food-- somehow, it all seemed normal.
But even the things that weren't normal (fishcakes, sitting on my knees, assigned seats on the shinkansen) started to grow on me. One of those things was one of those "silly Japanese inventions" that Westerners always wonder about. You know, you hear about those sound boxes in Japanese toilets, the ones that make the sound of running water or waterfalls when you're on the toilet, and after you flush?
I miss those.
It's so damn awkward to be in bathrooms for me nowadays and hear people peeing or whatever. I don't want to hear it. Hell, I don't want to smell it, so thank god for the global love of air fresheners... at least in major countries and cities. But people even TALK while you're on the can. One of my bosses, in fact, and I felt SO AWKWARD. I kept wishing, "Why can't I be in Japan? Their toilets make sense!"
Even though the whole idea of a bidet still weirds me out, it's cool.
But acceptance of a toilet isn't acceptance of a society. If I do end up getting accepted into a Study Abroad Japan program, there's a whole other kettle of fish to consider. I don't know if I'm ready for it. How long can you wish and hope for something, hear about it, and then one day, go there... and still want more... enough to stay for a year, to essentially sever all connections back home? I mean, of course I would still email people (hopefully I could bring or have a computer; without one I think I would go ballistic) and call, but... 3000+ miles away from home for a year (save the few breaks)? I wonder if I could do it.
Even though there is much toilet love...
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Date: 2006-01-24 04:53 am (UTC)P.S. Being a plumber's daughter, I agree with your opinion about toilets.