It takes two, baby...

Its that time already...two months anniversary. Where did all the time go???!! I know I said it the last time but honestly, time has flown by so much...it seems like I faffed about a bit and we're heading into December already.

This month has been busy. Midterms kept me pretty occupied because in typical Thanh-fashion, I'd underestimated the amount of work I needed to put in for it. The problem was the time demanded for the most boring things, like memorising the particles and their correct usage in order to construct sentences. Another thing that I hate is learning counters because the Japanese do not simply say 1 apple, 3 cows, 2 beers. There are different counting numbers for most things and there are no easy rules to follow. You simply have to memorise them. Which was fun. A silly fact for you, farm yard animals are categorised into size, so that anything smaller than a hen has a different counter; bigger than a hen but smaller than a pig has a different counter; bigger than a pig but smaller than a cow has a different counter, and so on. See how it would irritate the hell out of me? Oh, and the Japanese say that dogs go 'wan wan' rather than 'wolf wolf'; pigs go 'boo boo' rather than 'oink oink'; and cats, well, they go 'na na' instead of 'meow meaow'! I love these simple cultural differences, they are such quirky idiosyncrasies.

Going away to Tokyo was simply brilliant, I had such a good time, and it really hit home that I am actually in Japan. Tokyo wasn't how I'd imagined it to be, I'd expected a lot more high-rises and that they'll be incredibly technologically advanced but the concentration of high-rises isn't on the same scale as New York, and there are many traditional, charming features still ever-present in the city.

Homesickness became a big problem this month and I got so upset at times just missing the simplest of things....like oak trees for instant. I'm no Swampy but I really miss oak, elm, and walnut- real macho trees unlike the sissy primmed-within-an-inch-of-life variety that they have here. Landscaped gardens are the rage, everything looks ordered and structured...almost unnatural. Sort of like the David Beckham of trees, if you like.

Anyway, moving on, I received my first package from home this month and my ma had sent me my duvet set. The duvet had the gorgeous smell of home, all Fairy fabric conditioner and it was heavenly to get into bed every night. I have never realised that I even know what our fabric conditioner smells like but it just hit me so hard when I was snuggling up in bed and the familiar scent floated over. Mmmmm...such a lovely piece of home in Japan.

With December fast approaching, the reality that I'll be spending Christmas without everybody is also sinking in, and unfortunately I haven't been able to find a Japanese family willing to adopt me for the festive season. Personally, I think this nagging worry is homesickness personified, and if I can figure out a way to get over the homesickness, the Christmas anxieties will also sort itself out. I really believe it'll be fine, that I'll actually enjoy myself. There are a few ideas Im deliberating over, and if I can get one sorted then I'll be set...you'll all be seething with jealousy if it goes ahead but for the minute, I'll be keeping schtum. Wish me luck though!