@Anti-Matter looks delicious! I made home made sushi bites tonight. Sliced cucumber as the base. I topped it with seaweed, cream cheese, rice, smoked salmon, siracha mayo, and sesame seeds. Low carb, and refreshing!
Had a cookout up at my grandma's place for her bday, which is today. 79 years young, and still as awesome as ever! I didn't overindulge TOO much and made sure to work some of it off this afternoon lol. Still can't beat some good burgers and hotdogs every now and then!
Haven't been on the site much for a few days. Did I miss anything interesting? What have you guys been up to?
I've been busy disassembling my apartment to move. My contract working in Japan is over. I detest having to move back to the US, especially now with the US more messed up than at any other point in my lifetime - but all of my family lives there and almost all my friends.
I always new my contract had a time limit of 5 years. But in the back of my head I had the foolish hope that maybe they'd bend the rules for me... The reason for having a foreigner teach English instead of just a Japanese teacher who is fluent in it, isn't just for that native speaker aspect but for the cultural aspect too. And someone way up the food chain decided that after 5 years you really start to lose that... and honestly I think they are right. Even just talking to my friends and family from the US I realized a lot of things...
I don't think of America as "home" and feel very little affinity for it.
Even in only 5 years, English has changed. At least the slang has considerably changed and I find myself asking "what the hell does that mean?" almost every conversation now.
My eating habits have changed both in what I eat and how I eat it. I'm more comfortable using chopsticks for a lot of my meals now, than I am with a fork and knife. The proportion of bread to rice that I eat which was like 95-5 before is now like 60-40.
And those are just a few examples. I swear I'll be in the US at some point in a store and bow and say thank you in Japanese and everyone is going to label me a freak or a "stupid weeaboo" (God I despise that word!)
And my career choices have been ruined for other reasons. Back about 8 years ago when I settled on studying Japanese during university, the amount of media coming from Japan to the US was on a serious rise. Anime was more mainstream and more and more games were getting localized. I saw learning Japanese as a useful skill to get into the industry and ignored emerging AI and computer-based translation technology as still being decades off practicality. My plan was study in university, then immersion while living in Japan then enter my planned career choice. But I couldn't have been more wrong about AI and computer based translation. More and more localization is done first by machine, then edited by native speakers of the target language. Being bilingual isn't the marketable skill I thought it would be...
Furthermore, I considered continuing teaching English in Japan, it was an option. But my family made it clear that that would basically be severing ties... And I just can't do that. I have no siblings, and I wasn't there properly for my mother when my father passed away... I need to be there for my mom. I need to get back to the US now so I can get myself established well enough so I can spare money to my mother to help her retire more easily. I both need and want to be able to do that.
But I just can't bring myself to like what I need and want to do. I look at America right now, pandemic, political chaos, massive unemployment are all massive obstacles. And fact is, I'm expecting massive and painful levels of reverse culture shock.
I'm not even going back to my home state, Michigan, which I would at least be somewhat familiar with. Because while I was in Japan, after my father and grandfather passed away, my mother and grandmother moved to Arizona to be closer to my uncles and their wives. I know nothing about Arizona. I was there once, when I was like 13, to see the Grand Canyon.
tl;dr
My life is a mess, I'm stressed out like I haven't been in years, and it's bouncing me between anger, depression, anxiety and frustration. Thankfully my lifelong anti-drug of games and anime is keeping me from drinking myself into black out at night - which is what I think I would be doing otherwise...
And I feel like I can't talk to anyone back home about how I feel without making them feel guilty or them telling me things like "maybe you should stay after all" - because that ship has sailed, it would be too hard to change the decision now and all the platitudes make me even sicker and more depressed feeling.
@NintendoByNature
Well...
I used shredded carrot, short bean sprouts, frozen green pea and corn, some sliced of spring onion and scrambled egg for the ingredients.
For the spices, i used oyster sauce and a few drops of sesame seed salad dressing.
First step, make scrambled egg. Put on the bowl once it looks well done.
Second, stir fry the vegetables, add with sugar to caramelize and some light soy sauce. Stir well.
Third, add with oyster sauce and stir well before add with cooked rice, spring onions and scrambled agg.
Fourth, cook the rice with medium heat and add sesame seed salad dressing for finishing touch.
Serve while it hot.
@ThanosReXXX Who, me? I'm back to the normal work grind, nothing too new otherwise....
@Heavyarms55 Dang...I recall you mentioning elsewhere that your work contract was up this year, but for some reason I thought you had a couple of months yet. Definitely a crazy situation. While I can't relate to it per se (other than the fact that moving is definitely stressful, though I stayed in the same country), I can relate on the anxiety and depression level. Take care of/make some time for yourself, do the things you enjoy, get away from the interwebs on occasion (Because, trust me, the news ticker gets pretty depressing these days), and (And I KNOW firsthand that this is hard) try not to worry about what will happen and what you can't change. Focus on what you can do in the present moment, one step at a time. Remember that you are you, and nobody can change that but yourself.
I'm sure there's still some need for your Japanese fluency in the business world. Maybe not quite as much as there used to be, but the need is still there IMO. I have a lot of respect for those fluent in more than one language as I know that learning a new one (when not brought up with it) takes time and dedication.
Props on mastering chopsticks, by the way. I've tried using the real deal but usually have to get by with practice/helper sets or just end up defaulting to silverware when eating out. I know it's mostly up to not needing to use them, as well as, ultimately, my own laziness. It takes me forever to eat most foods with them.
@Tyranexx There is some need for the language still in business yes. But I had a childish dislike of business in university and refused to study it at all. A very big mistake on my part...
Anyway thanks for understanding. It's nice to be able to say something without being judged or having a plethora of seemingly reasonable (but not really) suggestions thrown in my face.
As for chopsticks, not all food can be eaten reasonably with them. Even Japanese people use a fork and knife for some meals.
@TG16_IS_BAE Yeah, actually I don't know how one would eat sushi without chopsticks. If you stab it with a fork it will fall apart.
Nintendo Switch FC: 4867-2891-2493
Switch username: Em
Discord: Heavyarms55#1475
Pokemon Go FC: 3838 2595 7596
PSN: Heavyarms55zx
@Heavyarms55
I'm really sorry to hear you have to left from Japan.
I think living in Japan feel much better than in USA despite of high cost over there.
Will you keep pursuing your gaming hobby after you go back to USA ?
@heavyarms55 Just read about your return to the states. I’m sad for you leaving Japan, but I also have a feeling that you will readjust easily when you make it back safe. The US isn’t as bad as the news is making things out to be, at least in some places. I hope you are in a place that can welcome you with good news.
Weird side note, I bow all the time to Americans and most of them don’t even notice, heck some even bow back!
I know change can bring with it pain, if you need to talk, I’m a good listener. I may not be able to solve anything, but sometimes just hashing it out with someone can help you hear it differently yourself. Have a peaceful journey, and welcome back to the states!
Anti-matter, your food looks delicious. Let’s eat.
@Anti-Matter I don't imagine I would ever stop gaming unless I was physically unable to play games. Though I probably wont be buying any new games for a while until I work out my financial situation in the US. Although I've got more than enough in my backlog to keep me entertained for a good long time!
If family and friends were not a factor - like, if I was an orphan with no family in the US, I would never return. Japan is only very slightly more expensive than the US and it depends on where in Japan and where in the US you are talking about. Big cities like LA or NYC are WAY more expensive than anywhere in the Shiga prefecture of Japan, where I've spent the last 5 years.
Congrats on finally getting your copy of ACNH! Let me know if you ever want to play together. You're David on Switch right? I'm "Em" on Switch right now.
@TG16_IS_BAE I hope it goes as easily as you make it sound. I grew up in the US so one might think it would be easy to readjust but... I was always an outsider even in my hometown. I never fit in. My interests and hobbies just didn't and likely still don't remotely fit with typical Americans. Part of why I enjoy living in Japan was because I slipped right into Japanese "otaku" culture. Games and anime? Sci-fi and fantasy? Collecting merchandise and building model kits of things I like? I've always done that and in the US I was always regarded as strange, abnormal and weird for it. I don't like sports, I don't enjoy most mainstream American media. But I fit right in in Japan where my hobbies are common. While I'm still regarded as a big nerd even by Japan standards, big nerds are perfectly normal here. I've never faced the same sort of negative responses I almost always faced in the US. As a foreigner, I felt far more acceptance here in Japan, than I did as an American growing up in AMERICA.
I'll never forget the time I got lost in Jackson, Michigan. I had no smartphone or GPS and was asking several people how to get back to the highway, all of whom told me to "F off" and/or refused to help. I was mocked for even needing directions. When I finally found my way to a police station by chance, all I needed was directions and they treated me like a massive inconvenience! I'd have understood if the cops were dealing with a situation but the jerk behind the desk was chatting on his cell phone with his wife or girlfriend!
On contrary when I got lost once in Osaka, random strangers were more than happy to help me. I even had one woman who wasn't sure how to direct me, find someone else who could! And the one time I had to deal with police here in Japan, he was polite and friendly as can be! He walked up to me to ask if I was okay!
Just a handful of examples. But I never felt as comfortable in the US as I have in Japan and dread trying to "readjust"... Because for me, it means putting the mask back on. Hiding my interests and personality and conforming to what Americans consider normal - the way I did as a kid, teenager and young adult...
It means going back to pretending I care about sports, keep a vague eye on pop culture and acting all "America is the best" whenever the topic comes up. Just so I don't piss everyone in the room off.
When I moved to Japan you know what my father's brother called me? He called me a traitor. To my face. There was no sarcasm and he never apologized. He meant it.
Nintendo Switch FC: 4867-2891-2493
Switch username: Em
Discord: Heavyarms55#1475
Pokemon Go FC: 3838 2595 7596
PSN: Heavyarms55zx
@Heavyarms55
David.H is my username on Switch. 😀
My island name is SuperNOVA.
Native fruit = Apple.
Airport color = Orange.
Btw, is there any sturdy equipments as i play the game ?
The flimsy equipments were a mess.
My villagers are still 3 residents since i only accept the villagers based on my list and i will not build vacant house before i get the specific villagers because it will be filled with random villagers.
@Anti-Matter You'll eventually get access to better tools, but they all eventually break sadly. I wouldn't be surprised if eventually a free update adds a higher tier tool, it's one of the most requested things.
Nintendo Switch FC: 4867-2891-2493
Switch username: Em
Discord: Heavyarms55#1475
Pokemon Go FC: 3838 2595 7596
PSN: Heavyarms55zx
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