It's true to me.

I am in on my plane back to Japan writing an entry to drop into fistful upon arrival in Tokyo. (yes my tickets to the States were comp’d and yes they were Business Class) I somehow did not write a single update the entire time I was here. I had a pretty eventful two weeks in Philly and Chicago. I guess the thought that comes most immediately to mind is that I feel as though I’ve forgotten every bit of Japanese I knew. Of course it should flow back as soon as I hit Japanese soil and spend a few days immersed again, but it kind of sucks the speed with which my brain switches back to English.

Philly was really a great time. It was pretty weird being back at Penn as an alumni and having to be signed into every building and to see how the ways Philly has changed and Penn has changed (South is painted some horrible color; there is a new bar and a new cereal restaurant) just in the time since I graduated almost a year ago (!!!). I spent most of my time at Hyunjoo’s place in High Rise East doing graphic work for the Fulbright manual that I am in charge of designing, laying-out, and editing, and otherwise just traveling around campus and Philly seeing people. It was great to see a few of my old professors, though I feel like I may have annoyed JoPark, one of the best damn English professors at Penn for my money, by acting fairly ridiculous with WINDOW during a guest speaker event she invited US to that I found completely unintelligible. Friedel introduced me to a place in South Philly with phenomoneal cheesesteaks I had never been to before. I’m still not quite sure I understand why Philly has managed to develop a sustainable competitive advantage in cheesesteaks but I'm not complaining. The best part of the week and a half was definitely the time I spent with HJ running around town shopping and eating and just relaxing on campus. We had an OK meal at Pasion, this over-priced Latin fusion place in Center City known for its “ceviche”, which is basically citrus-cured Latino sashimi. It wasn’t as spectacular as the hype, though our bill was as spectacular as the hype.

Mom came out to Chicago to help me in my apartment search, which after some fruitless and half-hearted attempts at developing a list of interests over the internet basically became us wandering around the neighborhoods I had targeted (River North and the Westside of Gold Coast) and walking into every building we came upon. We stayed in the Four Seasons on Delaware and Michigan and we had a huge room with a living area and bedroom. It wasn’t as nice as the Peninsula Chicago, a hotel that has basically ruined all hotels for me for the rest of my life, but it was certainly good enough. For example, at the Four Seasons you are not able to watch TV, take a bath, and talk on an intercom phone all at the same time like you can at the Peninsula. How disappointing. Anyway, I’m really glad Mom came because as I expected (1) she knew better questions to ask than me, her perpetual dormlife son, (2) she has an unquenchable thirst for building walkthroughs, and (3) she gets excited about looking at floor plans. So it ended up coming down to about three buildings in Gold Coast, all with varying rents and amenities and sq. footage, but I decided in the end on an older building that was a bit cheaper and bigger. Every single person who lived in that building had the same complaint: the elevators are too slow. We’ll see how that and the other option I gave up (having my washer/dryer in the room) to live with the slightly cheaper rent and bigger but older rooms works out. I was pretty excited to get the place because none of the buildings I liked had any immediate availability that matched what I was looking for and I’m leasing for June, so I basically would have to join waitlists and cross my fingers. But I walked into the building to check on my last morning of hunting trying to make a decision between the places and the largest-sized one-bedroom had opened up that morning so I snapped it up immediately. Oh, and I should comment that the most annoying thing about searching for apartments is that I got that “this kid can’t afford to live in our building” attitude from a couple of the management people. One was rude and seemed entirely disinterested while I was looking around the building, even going so far as to suggest other buildings to me without me asking, and another one automatically assuming I wanted a studio without asking what I was looking for. I think that these people, whose entire career it is to get people to pay too much money for something they will never own, should never make assumptions about people that walk in their door. If I get passed their price quotes and ask to see an apartment, assume I can take the place. And never make assumptions about what I’m looking for based on my appearance. That’s bullshit. And yes, those women each worked in the buildings that I DIDN’T sign a lease with.

I had an enjoyable and all around interesting time catching up with the boys from my hiring class last year that I skipped out on to go on Fulbright. My new class is pretty cool – no real complaints – but I don’t really know anyone yet. I did get to know one person in the class as well as I could in about the one day we had to hang out (hello Qian) and I think we’re going to be very good friends. But otherwise, we’ll have to wait until June to see.

Right now my biggest issue is probably feeling very much in the work mindset that has displaced me from Japan and Fulbright. But now I’m going back to Japan again and going back to work on this stuff that doesn’t feel all that important anymore (not that it ever felt incredibly urgent, but even less so now). I will readjust quickly I’m sure, but right now my Fulbright thesis is not something I want to have to worry about at all. I guess that’s a good thing and a bad thing, huh?