Today heralds the first day of my spring vacation.  I get three whole days (whoopee!).  Unfortunately, those three days are not consecutive, so I can’t go anywhere interesting this year.  That doesn’t matter, because I’ve decided that I’m going to stay right here in the concrete jungle and spend it meeting with interesting people.  And right now, there is no shortage of them in my life.

This morning I went to meet with “Chika,” a newish friend.  We first got to know each other last year at one of my lectures, and our friendship was just starting to blossom when she suddenly ran off to Sri Lanka to spend six months meditating in an ashram (I hope I didn’t drive her to it!).  I really did like her, and missed her when she was gone.

Now Chika’s back, and eager to get reconnected.  So today I shlepped all the way to her apartment in a certain part of Osaka – dowdy and unfashionable, but famed for its aquarium – to have lunch and talk about her experiences in Sri Lanka.  To my surprise and concern, she seemed really confused and unfocused, and talked almost constantly about how she couldn’t stand the people or culture of Japan, and wanted to leave permanently as soon as possible.  But I quickly recognised that she was suffering from the kind of brain fog that hits us when we return to a once-familiar environment after being out of it for so long.  I guess you might call it reverse culture shock.  It can strike at any time.  (For example, I’m firmly convinced that I’ve become so acclimatised to the disgusting environment and air pollution of Japan that if you took me out of it and returned me to NZ, I would go into systemic shock and die within minutes.  Really.) 

Anyway … after five hours of heart-to-heart chat about various things, she finally confessed that she had an ulterior motive for asking me out for lunch.  Yes, you guessed it: she wants to take English lessons with me, and she wants to invite all her friends along as well.  At first I tried to refuse, but then I thought, “Miko, when you’re on a roll …. roll with it!“  At this rate, I won’t be having a summer break, either.  But who needs breaks when you are really doing what you love?  Ask Petra.