Hints of everyday life

Fri, 22 Apr 2016 02:44:15 +0000

Interior, night. Room 503-A of the Akamonkai Nippori Ryo. It is the eve of the weekend and it all began only two weeks ago. It is raining; the wind has finally stopped chasing itself up the stairwell of this building, and I can now perceive almost every single sound — and silence — of the lives in these apartments.

The earth, however, is trembling. Light, constant, sometimes imperceptible; other times with more intention. It does so often, when you least expect it; and even though you know it will happen again, you never find yourself quite ready enough to go along with it.

Japan is like this — it trembles often — and little by little you get used to it; it is a bit like an uninvited friend who drops in unannounced every so often.

Though, to be honest, I do not know whether I will ever truly get used to it. But my days are slowly filling with habits and rituals, with a whole new everyday routine that I like, that makes me feel light, fresh, full of life, charged with an energy I had forgotten.

There is the 8:30 alarm for work, messages with the family who gets up early to go to the office and cannot wait to hear from me, and school that takes up most of my week. Then there is the 4:30 ritual — the phone call with the people I love, while I walk through the streets of Nippori towards the Main Campus library where my new classmates are waiting to study together; the walks around Yanaka, the shopping at Inageya, coffee for everyone on Sunday morning up on the terrace.

Bow to the East, course set for Tokyo

Fri, 18 Mar 2016 11:48:30 +0000

I do not know where to begin, so I will say it all in one breath: I am moving to Tokyo!

Yes, I made it! Those who know me a little will understand that this is practically a dream come true — and to tell the truth, I still cannot quite believe it entirely :D

I am in a very particular mix of feelings that are difficult to describe.

I am used to travelling alone and for long stretches — I have done so since I was young, since my school days — but this time it is quite different.

In the dimension of travel in which, for better or worse, I had always moved, I was at ease because I had no great worries; I knew with relative certainty when I would return, roughly what I would see and how I would get around; there was no fear or confusion, there was mainly excitement, joy, and a great deal of curiosity to visit and experience a new country and a culture unknown to me.

There was movement, however slow.

Now, by contrast, there is something entirely different, something opposite: there is “stability.” A stability that, even if temporary (perhaps — who knows), I am transplanting completely into another country.

Because in Tokyo I will go to school every day to study the Japanese language, I will have a home to share, a job, groceries to buy, bills to pay, a city to discover and friends to meet. In short, that “normal” life which, for better or worse, I have always led here in my hometown or in Ventotene during the diving season.

Life on nhaima

Hints of everyday life

Bow to the East, course set for Tokyo