Uh oh….

Well, it had to happen sometime. All the euphoria, the excitement, the shopping, the food, the nightlife (if the ferry chugging back and forth in the dark constitutes nightlife) and the doughnuts — it all came crashing down on me last week.
Last week was a Bad Week.
These are the reasons why it was a Bad Week:
• The work flow slowed down, which is always slightly unsettling for a freelancer;
• I was in the latter stages of a book called We Have to Talk about Kevin, which though well-written and thought-provoking is unrelentingly bleak and frankly depressing;
• The dreaded after-school club activities started at Ruby’s high school, keeping her out until five every evening much to my indignance;
• Just as the weather was warming up nicely, Japan experienced a sudden and unexpected cold winter snap that somehow made everything appear cold and grey; and
• The Sushi on a Stick household very nearly ran out of money, due to a combination of over-zealous shopping and poor financial planning.
The experience of our very own micro-GFC in particular put a dampener on things; it’s kind of hard to get the most out of adventuring in Japan when you haven’t got the yen for it.
And when you have a Bad Week, there’s always those pernickety thoughts lurking in the back of your mind: Have we done the right thing? Should we have stayed at home? Was it all worth it?
Because this adventure was very much a matter of choice. It wasn’t an overseas posting for a multinational company or a forced relocation for work reasons. We arrived here entirely of our own free will, and therefore we could just as easily go back of our own free will if we felt like it.
Of course, the reality is somewhat different, and barring a major medical calamity or some sort of equivalent there’s no way we are going to turn around and go home having only just gotten ourselves settled in. There’s so much more to see and do, and besides, there’s the small matter of the two-year lease we have taken out on this house.
In any case, I’m pleased to report that this week has been a Much Better Week; the weather has improved, I get paid in a few days, and in other exciting news, Eleni has just been given her first English checking job, which should provide a few more yen for adventuring. At the moment we have one computer downstairs and one upstairs, which leads to moments of high farce when Eleni and I occasionally send emails to each other within the house. Once we even traded comments on Facebook when we both happened to be on at the same time. Isn’t technology great at bringing families together. We might try Skyping each other next.