30 minute massages

今日は戻ったからちょっと違うの日だった。俺日本から韓国に１２月２８日帰りました。その時から帰ったからちょう嬉しかった、なんか楽だから。家にゴロゴロできるし。でも、今日は日本を出たのことをちょっと気づいてしまいました。銭湯に行ってのんびりしている時看板を読みました。その看板には「マサジ無料」と書いてありました。それを読んで笑っちゃった。笑った理由は日本にいる時日本人の生徒たちとどうやって日本語と韓国語がにいてるか話を何回しました。例えば、一つにいてるのは日本語と韓国語にはマサジ三十分無料が同じこと。

その看板を読んで何回その話をしたか思い出が出ました。三日日本にいないことをあまり関係なかったけど、日本を出たことを気づきました。なんか懐かしいになって心辛くなりました。日本に戻りたいんです。でも、あまり寒くない季節がいいかな。

Today was definitely a change of pace since I returned to Korea. I got back from Japan to Korea on December 28th, 2008. Since then, I've just been very happy to be home, enjoying how everything was so comfortable. It feels great to just relax at home. But today, a little bit of the reality that I just left Japan sunk in. I was in a public bath and I was relaxing and such when I read a sign that said "free massages included". 마사지무료. And I just laughed. I laughed because I had this conversation with Japanese students numerous times about how Japanese and Korean sounds alike in certain ways, one of which is the fact that free 30 minute massage sounds just the same in Japanese and in Korean.

Just reading the sign reminded me of how many times I had that silly conversation with different people. After three days of just not caring I was not in Japan, it finally hit me that I left Japan. It made me slightly reminiscent and panged at my heart. I long to be back in Japan soon. But maybe when it is not so cold.

(I never write notes or a blog except when I have a buttload of free time. Last year, I had my part time job to thank for providing me ample time to write incessant notes and observations. This year, maybe not so much. Except for this week, where I seem to be sending a lot more emails and writing more than I have ever before. While I love my puppy, the excitement does wear off after a while and I can't play with the dog for 14 hours a day. I need other forms of stimulation. Also, Korea is very cold right now, being around -6~-10 degrees Celcius and I hate being out in the cold for too long so I don't feel like goofing off around Seoul by myself, which is what I usually do in the summer. So I decided, what the hell, let's just write some journal entries to keep myself busy. Then I got the bright idea of just translating everything into Japanese or Korean just to keep myself busy. I could definitely use the practice.）