Home Far From Home

Back in Kyoto, after spending a very pleasant time in Kagoshima, Nagasaki and Hiroshima, it was snowing. But luckily the weather was no parameter for the time I was going to spend with my parents, who arrived one day after I got back at Kansai Airport.
Although it was very real, even now in hindsight it seemed rather a dreamlike experience that my parents really made it all the way to Japan. I am talking here about my parents who went for more than 20 years in a row to Germany and until than I haven’t been able to find much urge to explore the huge parts of the world where they had never set foot on.
When I was for the first time in Japan it was discouraged by my exchange organization that the ‘real’ parents were going to visit there child because it might harm the integration process of a child into their host family. And it’s true that when I went to my host family in December I felt at home. But at the same time, I feel also at home in my own room here in Kyoto.
Back in the Netherlands, I felt like home when I went back to my parents, but at the same time I feel my room at Leiden is my home.
The transition from one family to another family was a much bigger change then from living in a dormitory in Leiden to living in a dormitory in Kyoto.
Adapted towards living on my own, doing my own things at my own space, my parents came and naturally a kind of family life, how short lived it was, occurred. Of course during the years our ways of living became different, but we very soon adapted and kind of went back to a kind of situation like 3 years ago.
The major change was that because we are in a country, where I speak the language, I know the way, I know the things to do and see, I know what kind of food is available, I was guiding my parents around. So in a sense the parent child relation changed, and I became the one who on the one hand felt responsible for the welfare of my parents, that they were enjoying Japan, that they could understand a little bit of my fascination. On the other hand I am still their child, and they treated me in this way, warning me to dress warmly enough and so on, which is in it’s own respect kind of sweet.
And although the environment might change drastically, and I sometimes to rub to believe that it were really my own parents standing in front of a huge temple, people don’t tend to be so much different even if you haven’t seen them for half a year, one year and even four years.
And so my mum had brought her camera and more than 20 rolls of film to catch everything which caught her attention. And to no great surprise, she was extremely thrilled to be exactly in Japan during the time that the cherry blossoms are in bloom. My personal opinion is that this Japanese obsession with the cherry blossoms is a little bit too much, as is the number of cherry trees. But my mom turned into a faithful follower of the cherry blossom forecast.
And as a thank for the very pleasant time we spend together the page underneath this gives a little peek into our explorations in Kyoto, Nara, Osaka and Himeji. And especially for my mom a picture of her and a very big cherry blossom. (just to make up for the 6 months you have to miss me ;-)