The sky is bigger than the Earth

Do you know the movie "American Tale"? If you don't, please do yourself a favor and watch it right away. Preferably with a friend or family member. :) If you aren't familiar with it though, I'll summarize my favorite part: Phifel is feeling very lonely, and so is his big sister. They're separated and can't find each other, but they both look up in the sky and realize that they're "underneath the same big sky". I was walking home tonight. It's very cloudy outside just now, but there was a hole in the clouds and I saw Orion's belt. I had almost forgotten it existed; I haven't seen it for some time. But for whatever reason, I saw it and had that same feeling as Phifel Mouskavits. I may be half way across the globe, but I'll never go so far that I can't look up and see a beautiful constellation and remember my friends and family [not so] far away.

Also tonight, I listened to three episodes of A Prairie Home Companion. Some days, I feel like I lose track of who I am and where I'm from. On some days, I just feel so foreign and strange. But there is something about hearing the news from Lake Wobegon that takes me back to where I'm from. To hear about the sounds of nature and the smell of baking bread and listen to the stories of old men who lived when winter was really winter.

Maybe I'm feeling so nostalgic because of Christmas. I really love Japan, but the absolute worst thing about being here is that I'm not there for Christmas. I will just keep looking up at the stars and reminding myself that my home is not really so very far. It's only across this small planet underneath this great, big sky.