Today we had the Japanese Junior High school version of a pep rally. It was fascinating. I've become so accustomed to the military-like procedures of hundreds of students yelling, chanting and repeating in unison, the straight arms tucked tightly by their sides, the perfection demanded from the teachers and the consistent, unquestioning acceptance of most cultural norms.
I don't mean to cast a negative spell onto the culture in which I observe and live, however, when I recall where I come from, I find it interesting as hell that I have pulled away from the initial wide-eyed, gawking stairs that I once gave only three years ago.
While that initial challenge of fending for myself in a new and strange culture was difficult, it was also simple. I had the wind at my back. My worldly innocence was virginal. And now, with this experience, I can't help but feel a new pressure bubbling within as adulthood slithers it's way through these dark, invisible corridors of future expectations...
And now I find myself as a row-boat, casting away into an infinitely massive, eerily frightening and yet seemingly conquerable ocean, and still all I can do is marvel at the beautiful beach from which I'm departing.
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