Man, That Is A Big Suitcase

When I came to Japan, I brought with me two suitcases. One suitcase is on the small side and I have loved it because it has accompanied me on every trip I have taken in Japan that required a hotel or staying at someone's house. The other suitcase is bigger, MUCH bigger. I forgot how big the bugger was until I pulled it out of the closet a few minutes ago to start the preliminary "how much crap can a cram in this" phase of the packing.

As it turns out, I can cram a lot. For example, if I were to want to kidnap a small child and bring them back to the US with me, they could easily fit and then use the box for my computer tower to sit on and still have a little room left for snacks and the obligatory Nintendo DS they would bring along. Or I could just put my desktop in there and a bunch of other random stuff and use the smaller suitcase for random stuff and then put it into the bigger one as well. I will then use my big red duffel(hehe duffel) to put all of my clothes into and some other random stuff.

It is looking like I will be making a trip to the post office again for several reasons. I have yet to come up with a way to take my LCD monitor back with me via the plane. It is too big to be a carry on and I have more valuable things that need to be in my checked baggage. Of all of my stuff, it and my one framed picture are too big to fit into the big suitcase. Actually, the framed picture fits, I just worry for its safety amongst the other things and being thrown around by baggage handlers. Both of these will need to be sent. The other thing I am having issues with are the cases of DVDs I have accumulated since I have been here. I am bringing them with me for sure but I don't think I can fit them all in my two big bags. That and I am not sure how customs would react to seeing a guy with hundreds of burnt DVDs on his person. I have burnt a lot of DVDs since I have been here. A lot.

Having taken out the big suitcase from its space in my closet, I have been struck by a wave of finality. My wonderful experience in Japan is really ending very soon. I can't say I am not bothered by this but at the same time, I know it is my time to leave. I have done pretty much everything a guy can do in this country. I never got to see a sumo match in person but other than that, the checklist is pretty complete. I have seen a baseball game, climbing Mt. Fuji, seen all of the major cities, and learned the language pretty well. I have a ways to go with the language yet but I will keep practicing; I like Japanese.

On that note, I bought an electronic Japanese dictionary the other day. I figured if I was going to continue studying, I should have something that can answer my questions when I don't have a Japanese person to ask. It is a pretty spiffy little gadget and has improved the speed of my manga reading greatly. It has a mode in which I can actually write in the kanji and it will try to identify it for me. It can also speak to me so I can hear pronunciation of words I am not familiar with. It is essentially an expensive Speak N Spell on steroids.

Anywho, I have three days left of teaching and it can't go fast enough. While I will miss a lot of these kids, I am really anxious to be done with Peppy Kids Club. My boss is getting flakier by the day or I am becoming less tolerant of him, probably both. I just know it will be nice to find a new job and I will hopefully feel like I make more of a difference in peoples' lives at it than I do here. It will be good to get home.

My body is starting to feel that way too. I think my back somehow has a sixth sense that is telling it that it will soon be laying on a very soft mattress on a pretty large bed and every morning for the past week or so, I have woken up feeling like I need a massage. Funky dreams don't help that one bit either and I have been having my fair share of those lately. When I came to Japan, I was excited because I didn't know exactly what I was getting in to. Now that I am coming back, I know exactly what I am in for and it is stressful. That is not to say that life back home wasn't nice, it is just that living is Japan is very simple and cut and dry. It is more peaceful here.

Anywho, I need to get back to my packing strategery and start thinking about bed. I am determined to be in bed before 4am today. I can do it!