"Miss" placed

I thought I would feel that way-- "misplaced," that is. Lost in translation in a dimension somewhere between Harajuku and Times Square. But no, my trip to the States made me feel far from "misplaced." In fact, I was brought back to a "missed" place. Home.

From my too short time in Nazareth (I feel as though I spent way too little time with my mom), I arrived in DC after a frenzied drive, stopping at K's house to see her parents and sister, my sister's, and T-pan's in Adams Morgan on the way in. Before I knew it, it was time to meet S at the airport, and I had barely made it into the city. I found him sitting on the baggage claim like a lost little boy with an IPOD. He'd had to wait half an hour after already flying 8. I'm a horrible person!

After we had gotten back to the T&B pad, it felt as if I'd never left-- all except for the Frenchman next to me, who reminded me that actually I was just passing through. But even with S in the picture, seeming to add a misplaced element to the reminiscence of it all, it really felt perfectly natural being there with him. That's good, at least I know we function the same, even outside the twilight zone of Tokyo. The T&B provided excellent service as always (late night spoons and even a short though unintentional peep show-- Thanks Trish!), and I got to spend some, though not enough, time with my girls and even a Mikey for breakfast at the greasiest diner I've ever experienced. The next day was spent showing S the sites of DC-- made even more special, I think, because I think it communicated in the best way where I come from. It's fairly natural to be able to meet someone and share fun experiences, but as things become more serious, isn't it also just as important to share the elements that make you who you are? My family, my friends from home, my life in Washington-- I feel like these are all major contributors to who I am now... and without understanding these elements, I think there are parts of me that would just always seem distant.

As for my family, S met the whole crew. According to him, "I trapped him." Partially true, but not intentionally. We were supposed to meet my sister and brother-in-law, which I knew would go over fine-- how could it not over a lobster dinner overlooking the sunset on the Potomac? But Mom was a different story. Fortunately, everyone liked each other (a lot, in fact!), and that especially made me very happy.

New York felt a bit more like a vacation to me, which is good, because I needed one! We stayed with a friend of S' in a beautiful apartment in the West Village. We brunched, we drank in some pretty hip local bars, we cultured ourselves with a Broadway show and a stop at the Frick Collection, we ran around like crazy to meet the friends we wanted to see, and we ate New York pizza (if only a very small slice), a veal parmigiana, and though I unfortunately failed to satisfy a few more cravings (Philly cheesesteak, STEAK, hamburger-- seems like a red meat thing), I did fulfill my shopping goals (black high pumps, black belt, and a few extras).

The trip wrapped up with a very long flight, made even longer by the Japanese ojisan next to me who, even after I had told him I live in Japan and majored in Japanese in university, apparently felt obliged to ask me if I can eat sushi, what sushi I like, if I've been to Kyoto, if I know that Japanese has 3 alphabets, and if I'd heard of the Kobe earthquake. Finally, I found seppuku to be the only solution and am writing now from the afterlife. Kidding, but not far from the truth. I returned with 2 little souvenirs-- one is Mash Daddy and the other is my favorite of her "home" friends Nina. Time to polish my tour leading skills some more. This-- to be continued....