Blue Sky

When I looked up at the clear azul sky, I think I felt the feeling of freedom. I wouldn’t consider myself trapped or locked away, but for some reason it has been a long time since I gazed up without looking through a glass window. Sometimes work seems like a prison. Stuck in a classroom or stuck in the teacher’s room looking at a computer screen. Go home at four, gets dark at five. Continue looking at a computer screen devising ways to circumvent hypothermia. Even now, as I type this, computer screen. Usually I don’t worry, but I love my eyes and the many blue skies they have yet to see.

It’s been a long time since a lazy Saturday. I woke up late, around eleven, and spent the daytime hours in my town, a rare occurrence. I headed to the new Indian restaurant, where I frequent about once a week, for lunch. Finally there is someone my age I can talk to in town. The girl who works at the Indian restaurant is also twenty-five. She has two children, her oldest being nine. I would have been more shocked about her being a mother at sixteen, except I know in her part of the world that’s the perfect age. It’s interesting having a conversation with someone in your second language, when that language is also their second language.

I finally got a library card. It only took about a year and a half before I decided to venture into the library. I love libraries but when you’re illiterate in the local language, it’s hard to convince yourself to go. As suspected, everything is in Japanese. They do carry one English version of the Tokyo Daily Yomimuri Newspaper. It’s great to catch up on national or world news, but pretty pointless when it comes to local news. Also just pretty pointless since I read most world news on the internet. However, I can now start renting J-pop music CDs. Music that I would never buy, and surprisingly hard to download. I figure it would probably be good for Japanese listing practice.

It’s been getting warmer, still cold when riding the motor bike but not painful. It’s at that strange transition period where I still need my snowboard coat not too freeze, but then I get to my destination it’s too hot walking around. When the blue sky turns black, signaling the end of the day, icy air creeps back into my life.

Now I sit in a familiar seat on a familiar train, riding out of isolation under a night sky. I’m on my way to Osaka to meet up with a couple friends. The night calls for dancing and distilled Russian water.