Racism.

It seems like everywhere I go lately, it’s all around me. When that person standing in front of me in the checkout line and gives me that dirty look. When someone calls me Ms. Foreigner. When English is my first language but in English class I am not allowed to speak-especially not freely. When the garbage pickup people call the town office who calls someone at my office who tells my supervisor who tells me that I am not sorting my garbage correctly (when there is NO proof at all that it was me; the thought path is as follows –

1. someone is not sorting the newspapers from the flyers
2. someone is making a mistake
3. Japanese people don’t break the rules and make mistakes
4. it had to be a foreigner because foreigners break rules and are stupid
5. foreigner…isn’t there a foreigner who works at the Board of Education…nancy.

it turns out it wasn’t me afterall. The place in question isn’t near where I take my garbage.)

I need to come home. I need to be refreshed and remember how lucky I am and all the great things I have done since coming here as well as all the great things I will do when I return. Or else it’ll be really hard to come back.