East Grove Blues

I explained how I felt about coming home, but now I’d like to explain what led me to the feeling.

Japan has been good to me. I have had a good job with great kids. I live in a great place, nestled in the mountains next to a bubbling river. I am only a short drive from the Pacific Ocean and some of the greatest seascapes that I have ever seen. The weather is almost exactly like home, but perhaps is a bit wetter. I have lots of friends and I am usually doing one activity or another. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

The thing is though, even though I am doing all these things, there are a few that stick out that I would like to be able to do more of.

Music is one. I play once a week with a Blue Grass band from Miyako. I was surprised and very pleased to join and be able to play so often with other people. It has been a great experience. I have gotten a lot better at the banjo and guitar. I have written several new songs and have a few more in the works. I have learned so much from the group. I want to play more and I want to learn more. As much as I get from them I, I still have problems asking how to do things, and that frustrates me. I know I can learn a lot more, but it would be a lot easier at home. I would like to be near a music scene that is alive and full of people closer to my own age. I like blue grass, but my playing style is more related to folk than to anything else. I don’t want to have to drive forty minutes to be able to see or play anything with other people.

Another activity is Yoga. I love Yoga. It is the glue that keeps all my other activities together and focused. It helps with everything; from running, biking or swimming. (Not including my everyday life.)I have been doing it for over a year and a half and I can both see and feel the change that my body has gone through. Recently I have been lucky enough to be able to both teach and have a teacher. This has improved my Yoga tremendously. Having a teacher has really shown me how much I can improve and where I need to improve. I love doing Yoga by myself, but I work myself a lot harder when there are other people around. I push myself to new levels. I really want to start focusing more on my Yoga. I enjoy doing it and I enjoy teaching it and I want that to be a larger part of my life than it is now. I am starting to do that now, but I know I could do so much more. I want to be around an area that has more days that I can take Yoga with a group. I also want to be around people who can explain to me things in my own language and where I can do likewise. I honestly don’t have the desire to get my Japanese to that level. Language is not something I have ever been good at. (This is true for English as well as any of the others that I have tried to learn.)

Ever since the Peace Corps my diet has changed a lot. I used to be a meat and dairy man. Now I rarely eat either, if at all. I would like to cut out meat all together. (For reasons I will post later.) I can’t do that here. I eat at school and I think it would be too rude for me to say to the Board of Education that I no longer want to eat the food they provide. I get weird looks as it is when I don’t drink the milk. Living on my own, with out a provided lunch would go a long ways towards accomplishing my goals.

To be honest I would like to be close to my family more. I have lived most of the last four years away from home. I think I would like to be closer to everyone. I can do that and still be far enough to not go to crazy. No one is getting any younger and I would like to be around more to help out when I can. I can’t do that at all when I live in a different country. It doesn’t mean I will stop traveling, but it does mean that I might take a break for a bit and reassess my options.

I know that it is a little strange to leave a decent paying job that I enjoy, but when my gut tells me its time to go I always listen. It knows better than I do and it has never lead me astray. It just feels like the right thing to do. I have put here just a few of the many reasons. These just stick out a bit more than the others.