Normalcy

As Singapore celebrated Hari Raya Puasa over a long weekend, Japan celebrated Respect for the Aged Day, National Holiday, and Autumnal Equinox Day over an extended shuumatsu (weekend). The Spouse and Wife took off with 2 other comrades from Kobe and Mie during what they termed the Silver Week and tried in vain to fully capture everything in Shikoku. It was a good long break of much driving, much walking, and much, ado about nothing. Resuming to normalcy last week was easy. 2 work days left, and today is a replacement holiday in lieu of Sports Day on Saturday.

As we played host to the 2 friends here last week, I was a little surprised at how much I have come to know my surroundings and this wide span of countryside to rattle off little interesting details to them. What struck me even more was that we'd been here for less than 2 months.

In these 2 long months, we've actually amassed quite a great deal of knowledge. Including not underestimating Daiso for the range of products they can carry at 100yen per piece, knowing when and where to get half-priced sashimi, and even sussing out the incredible maze of tiny strips of roads leading to somewhere somehow in this countryside. (Disclaimer: This skill is proprietory of the Spouse. The Wife can never get out of the maze.)

As we start to settle down and life commences its routine, can the initial euphoria of being in my dreamland sustain me, and for how long? Am I immersing in the environment or the lifestyle? If I carry this lifestyle back home, can it similarly sustain me both mentally and financially? Can I live amongst my people and not care about being compared to anyone or anything else?

The Sister said, we enjoy what we do now because we know it's temporal. When we get back to 'life' with the expectation of having our family and life plans unfold, we will have to resume 'normalcy'. The Spouse said, we will just enjoy the time we have here. Until such time we are sick of it, we'll just go home.

Surely both are right. Are the noises in the bigger environment simply too loud to ignore? Or am I just too weak to battle them. Being a gaijin in a foreign land, there is no comparison. No talks about how big your house is, how much investment to make, how the economy is running. We are almost cut off from the rest of the world and living in one ourselves. Talk about being in your own world. Hehe.

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12:2)