Bored, Frustrated, and Isolated – August 14, 2007

The last couple of days have been really taxing on me. I STILL have no fucking means of communicating with anyone, ie: no phone, no cell phone, no internet, NOTHING, and it’s really starting to get aggravating. I literally wake up, make some food, do nothing, make some food, do nothing for a bit longer, make dinner, watch a movie and go to bed. I have contact with Arthur and his family, but that’s about it. Now don’t get me wrong, Arthur is a great guy, but it would be nice to be able to communicate with SOMEONE other than them. It’s really been a tough time so far and I cant even begin to count the number of times I’ve thought to myself, I’ve had enough of this, it’s time to go back to Canada. Obviously I’m going to tough this out and ride the wave, but being alone is really killing me inside. I’ve never been an introvert and this experience has taught me how much of an extrovert I am. I have no way of making friends here because A) No one in my town speaks English (which I’ll talk about in a bit), and B) Anyone I DO meet, I have no way of keeping in contact with them or suggesting to hang out since I have no fucking way of talking to them! ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHH I think I’ve pushed the refresh button on my “Wireless Network Connection” about 10,000 times hoping that SOMETHING would come through to allow me to connect, but nothing ever does… I’m supposed to get internet on the 16^th, which is in 2 days, but now apparently it may take longer. I DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY EXPECT FROM ME! Am I supposed to be content sitting around all day doing nothing? Beats the fuck out of me! I’m getting emails from Amy and stuff saying they’re having so much fun and there is so much to do… I wish I could say the same. My mountain village has nice vistas, and is close to a big city, but there is not a fucking thing to do… oh well. I suppose this is the whole “every situation is different.” I cant help but think about Suzanne, who is up in Hokkaido in a remote village, and how she is doing.

The frustration part of the title comes from what I have been calling The Process. EVERYTHING in this country has a process. Apply here, pay here, wait a month, ect ect ect. Yesterday I tried to get a cell phone with my passport, my visa, and my application form for my gaijin card (foreigner card). They wouldn’t let me apply because I didn’t have the fucking card itself even though I had proof that I had applied for the card and been approved. In Japan the process is STRONG, and if there is ever anything outside the box, they cannot comprehend what to do, or it takes double the amount of time it normally would. What baffles me, however, is that some of the other new JETs have been able to get cell phones. Its really pissing me off how things aren’t uniformed even though Japan seems to pride itself, and run itself around uniformity. SO what this basically means is that I wont be able to get a cell until mid September for some WEIRD reason. Who the fuck knows. Today has not been a good day…