A Word from the New Sun Room Hello, everyone. I can officially greet you this way because, after a very long period of waiting, I am officially in the States. For a while. An all-too-short while, actually, about 11 days. But, I am determined to enjoy even a mini stay, because it is greatly needed, and, well, I'm just plain am glad to be home. I find myself quite altered since the last time I stepped foot on American soil. It could be in part because I haven't been able to sleep much yet. My plane was 2 1/2 hours late from Newark to Cleveland (the last #$&! leg of my journey...), so I didn't get home until midnight Tuesday night. Of course, I didn't go straight to bed, though (not even after not sleeping for 30-some hours), but instead, stayed up talking, not hitting the pillow until around 2 AM. Unfortunately, I'm living in a new house in a new neighborhood. This in and of itself is not unfortunate...I love the new house (it seems quite grand compared to my tiny apartment), but since it's freshly built, that means other houses around it are in the process of achieving the state of freshly built, too...beginning at 7:00 in the morning. So, my first night in Ohio allowed me a grand total of 5 hours of sleep. Figures. And yes, it is currently 5:50 AM. Jet lag is a killer, ne? We'll see if the changes I and other people see in me are really sleep-related, or more a direct result from the Japanese culture as the week carries on and I remember more fully that I am an American. I just hope I can sleep soon.