Weather Report: Sunny

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Which is why it's raining now.

I've come to the conclusion that no matter how much I clean my apartment or how much I think about cleaning it, it will never ever be the way that I want it nor will it stay that way. As in, no matter how it is, it won't remain that way for long.

I keep rearranging things but mostly...my clothes seem to be constantly fluctuating in size.

First, when I came here, as I'm sure you all have read, I went shopping for a completely new wardrobe. On that front, I've worn about half of what I bought. Some things I never even took the tags off of. It's one thing to need and buy the clothes for work, it's another to actually want to wear them.

I had to find places for all of those clothes once I got here and despite having a large apartment, this is still Japan and I had a hard time figuring out how to store everything. I somehow managed.

However, over time my mother has sent me my remaining clothes and the weather has been changing significantly so I have made many a trip to a variety of clothing stores and now I have more clothes than I think I have ever had in my entire life. And I must say, I really look good too ;)

For the most part.

I enjoy sales and I especially love the way that Japanese clothes fit me. That is one thing that I am going to miss dearly when I leave! Nothing fits me in America!! And, having a salary really helps when it comes to actually having the ability to go shopping.

So it brings me to the wonderful problem of figuring out how to store all of these clothes! (I don't even want to think about shipping them back to America...that's at least 2 years away) I am still at a loss but my apartment looks like Uni Qlo exploded in it. There are shirts and pants everywhere.

On a different note, I went shopping with Thia yesterday and both she and I realized that it had been a while since we had spoken to a native speaker in a while. It doesn't matter the English ability of the person you're speaking to, English isn't their first language and so you have to be more careful of what you say. Make sure there isn't a lot of slang or words they won't understand. You have to make sure that you are speaking at a good slow pace and constantly monitor the reaction of the person you're speaking to, to make sure that they are still following the conversation and not just nodding in unknown agreement.

To tell you the truth, yesterday I didn't speak a 1/4 of what I used to when I was in America and...my throat was a little sore by the end of the night. It was nice to just speak my mind without thinking about any of the things mentioned above but....I guess I've gotten used to being silent a lot.

I also realized that I've become quite comfortable living alone. I don't expect to do everything with someone anymore. I don't have a need to be with people anymore. Sure, I'd rather be in a group any day but...it's just not required anymore.

Who is this person that I'm becoming? I reread some of my blog entries from August and I've really changed. I'm not the same at all!

Eh, I think it's an improvement :)

Current Thanksgiving total: 13 1/2