Food...

One of my favourite blogs is Kyoto Daily Photo, I love looking at the various pictures Macky has up on different parts of Kyoto, there is always something new and there is always something beautiful. Today as I scrolling through I found this KyotoDailyPhoto: Mixed food and it just made me crave food from back home. Now it's not because I'm hungry, because I had a gorgeous breakfast of a bagel with brie oozing out of it, and a rather large cup of tea, but because I miss what home cooking is all about. I get home cooked meals living with my grandmother which I truly appreciate. But nothing quite compares to the love and comfort that comes from a home cooked meal from your mother. Which is why I'm putting a picture of one of my favourite dishes my mother makes:

Steamed meet dumplings. They're gorgeous and they're a typical Bukhari dish (my mother is Italian) and I love them. What we usually do is steam them, and when you serve them you pour vinegar over them. Yes, it pickles them a bit, but you do the same to pie and mash anyway! They are delicious and when they're served straight from the stove they're just amazing. I know when I'm home when my mother cooks these because only she knows how to make them just the way I like them.

(Someone tucking into it - I'm sure it was me because my father was getting annoyed that I was taking pictures and not 'respecting the food' and just eating it. If I said "because I miss it when I'm in London" he'd have turned and said to me, "Learn how to make it to do it while you're there or just come back and settle here")

Going through some home movies, really cracking up on some of them because my sister is just hilarious and feeling just a little homesick. But must put that aside to finish this one last chapter (don't say it like that or you'll have to really push yourself and there's still so much to write about!!).

A 'missing' feeling...

I just don't know what it is, I'm sitting at my desk as I have been all day, it was a truly beautiful day that I spent inside, at my desk. I was brainstorming and managed to get a few thoughts down, doubt my own study and the participants I was including. I managed to pour my thoughts out to a friend who I sometimes wonder if he just says that I sound weird so that he can be the person to make me feel better? I wrote two long emails to my mum about my work and thoughts, then got chatting to both my parents online at the end of the day. I've had all three meals and contemplating on whether to make myself a cup of tea and see how long I can stay up to work on my chapter.

Then a song comes on, "Melt" by Leftfield. I only heard it once in my 'other home' and straight away it makes me homesick. This feeling of me missing something. I.just.don't.know.what.it.is. This feeling takes over me and for a second I don't know where I am. It didn't last as long as it does sometimes. A couple of seconds and I reminded myself I was in England. But there are times when it lasts for minutes, I sit there in a slight panic, confused as to where I am and what I'm doing.

It's worse when I'm sleeping and I dream that I'm back there, in my big bed, large room and glorious balcony windows. My cat sleeps at the end of my bed and things are how they were. As I slowly wake up, I start to panic as to where I am and it takes me a while to realise that I'm in my much smaller bed, my cat has passed away and things are how they are.

I just feel so lost and I don't know what to do. I thought this was what I wanted. I've never felt so disoriented in my life. During the masters I had even more bouts like these, and a friend said that I didn't feel settled, but that if I were to do my PhD I'd feel more settled and make my roots. It's been two years now... and I still feel as though I'm missing something. I miss my mum, I miss my old life, I miss my cat and I miss my job. I miss my friends, I miss being able to afford things, I miss going out and enjoying my independance. I miss my best friend, I miss my sister, I miss those nights where I'd get calls from friends at 1 or 2am because they just felt the need to talk. I miss how my cousin and I used to talk, before he got married, before we fell out with each other, when we used to be truly close. I miss how I used to go to Jiji's house and just help myself to her fridge. I miss how I'd pick my mum up from work and we'd go shopping, or out for a meal and just talk. I miss how at the end of each working day, while my dad was napping and my mum was at work, I'd boil the kettle, make a pot of tea and wait for my mum to come home and my dad to wake up. We'd drink tea together and just sit and talk, or watch tv. I miss how my cat used to wait for me when I'd come home from work, sitting outside my bedroom, and meow loudly when she'd see me come up the stairs, running to me to give me a cuddle.

I am truly blessed for the experience I'm getting now. But I can't help but wonder, will I ever get over this feeling of being disoriented? Will I ever get my bearings? I'm sitting at my desk, and I feel dizzy. I think I need to finish my PhD, and then we'll see where I land.