Where Are You Joe

Rokocoko that is. I miss rugby. A lot. What I wouldn't give for a Tui and a night in a rugbyhead- filled pub watching a good match. I never knew I liked rugby this much.
So the news is - well, not much really. I bought a new bike, a cool blue mountain bike that I can zoom around Hagi on. My old bike, kindly provided free of charge by the Board of Education, was to be frank a piece of shite.
I have been craving trash T.V and so downloaded the first series of The O.C off Limewire (I'm a huge advocate of illegal file sharing). It is so full of cliches and obviously the next generation's version of Beverly Hills 90210. However, it's grown on me. Or "You know, it's like, grown on may" as Marissa would declare on the show. Has anyone else been watching this? Do they even have it in NZ. God knows. I grow more and more out of touch by the day. I get asked questions about English all the time at school and I have to think about it. I speak English every day to Dan, how can I possibly lose it. I just do sometimes. The scariest moment was when I was sweeping the local cemetary with some students before Xmas. They held up a pinecone and said "matsubokuri". I was like, cool. And then when they asked what it was in English, I couldn't remember. I spent 5 minutes panicking, wondering if I was deranged after all, it wasn't just my imagination. I was beginning to question if I had even ever seen one before.
I have 5 months before I get home to Masterton for my holiday. However, I think about it everyday. I just wonder what my reaction is gonna be. I think I might get reverse culture shock. It's gonna be weird being around so many gaijin. I'm scared of it. I'm comfortable in my world of being the odd one out, the one who speaks a different langauage. I must get out of my habit of talking loudly about people when they are around. It's just so easy to go "Wow, look at that incredibly hideous haircut" or "Aaaargh, that man is wearing high heels" to Dan when we are at the mall, knowing we can't be understood.
Now here is food for thought, when I go home I am really going to miss being surrounded by another langauge. I love the fact that here, there is always something to learn. At home there is just one language - it's gonna be like, what, everyone knows what I mean here? No way! Note to self: practice speaking without dumbing down vocabulary...