My Turf

I am super, super, duper, duper tired.

No, I am beyond tired. I am unbelievably exhausted. 

I genuinely enjoy doing interviews and meeting new people and having my eyes opened to different acts of kindness I didn’t really think I’d find here (I have so, so many big and small stories on kindness that I will tell you about when I already have the energy for it). But now, almost two weeks of walking alone, going up and down subway stations, changing trains, with my uber-heavy equipment is already taking its toll. I just want to flop on my bed and sleep for a week! 

Lugging my hebigat equipment, I travel by myself to faraway Mimomi–a town outside Tokyo. My interviewee’s home is over an hour away by train from Ginza! After three train changes, I was able to successfully find it without getting lost. Ha!

Oh, and I don’t even feel like going to Disneyland anymore. When I first got here, my only goal was to visit Tokyo Disneyland. And Disney Sea. But it’s too expensive (gagastos ka ng mahigit sa isang lapad!). Many people here also tell me that with this weather, it’s just not worth it.

It keeps raining, too. And I don’ like it when it rains. It does things to my mood.

How sad it can get to be in a beautiful country but have no one to explore it with. I wouldn’t have minded going around alone if I didn’t have to work. But when I get out of the office at past 8 PM after an entire day of shooting (I feel like my arms and shoulders are about to give!), most shops and sites I can visit are already closed. Either that or I am already ultra-tired. Then there’s nothing to look forward to but buying food at the convenience store, going home to my warm apartment (that translates to me walking again for another 20-30 minutes), watching TV shows I cannot at all understand, and finally sleeping.

And calling home is too expensive–a 15 minute call card costs me 700 yen. And I cannot chat via YM. And coffee here costs 600 yen (you can get a cup for 50 from the vendo machine, but you can finish that in one gulp). Well, there’s no one to hang out with at night, anyway. 

And there’s no one to take my pictures. And it rains and rains.   

Oh, please don’t get me wrong. I am not at all complaining. (Hahaha! Biglang bawi!) Seriously, what I wrote above are mere statements of fact. Besides, here I learned so much life lessons I wouldn’t have learned elsewhere. But I really now need to go back home. 

Nami-miss ko na ang tigka-kwarenta pesos na kape (o 6 pesos pag 3-in-1), ang 60 pesos na lunch, ang mp3s ko, singing in the office (pinagsabihan ako dito the other day kasi bawal daw kumanta! Totoo!), my cellphone, texting, maingay na kwentuhan, ang pamilya ko, ang mga kabarkada ko, ang mga aso ko, ang manipis kong kutson, ang maalikabok kong kwarto, mga Tagalog na palabas sa TV, ang magsalita ng Tagalog, ang Jollibee…

Just four days to go, honey. Four days to go…