jen's noodling in nihon

my friend jen zappola is blogging about our japan trip again this year. she sums up her return:

It’s odd to feel at home on the other side of the earth. I’m back in Japan for my second tour with Disney on Classic and the Tokyo Philharmonic (how lucky am I?). All seven American singers arrived last Friday. And as I wheeled my massive luggage cart through the bright Narita Airport I had a very clear memory of a thought I’d had when I was departing Nartia last December – What if I never come back to this wonderful country?

I remember being surprised by that thought. I was ready to go home! I’d been in a foreign country for three months. A country where not only can I not speak the language, I can’t even sound out their alphabet. Three months of white rice. Of Japanese television (you think our commercials are annoying). Of buying my groceries at the convenient store. Three months without hummus! I was tired. I missed America. I missed my family.

And yet. Arriving at Narita last December, pack(ed) and ready to fly home, I didn’t want to leave. Because I couldn’t stand the thought of never coming back.

The people. This culture. The joy and the love that I feel from and toward them. It all came rushing back. And I realized I had missed Japan.

So now I’m back in Tokyo ready to start the 2010 tour. Ready to eat white rice. And attempt more Japanese. And bow. And excited to be comfortable with Japan. So much so now that it feels like there is a little place right here where–believe it or not!–I feel like I fit right it.

more from dear jen here.