The Holiday Season...

I have just returned from a lovely, if not family filled Thanksgiving. It was nice to be home and spend some time with the family (especially the doggies...I miss them a lot). Lots of food, lots of family, and nearly not enough time for everything else I wanted to do/ should have done (i.e. shopping, or doing homework). The holiday season is in full swing, and I'm excited. Last year we went to Japan for Christmas to visit my brother. Though the trip was famazing and an experience I would never trade for anything, I missed the holiday spirit. There was none to be found anywhere in Japan. And when my family is really big into Christmas, I just felt a little shafted. This year, we're going all out. we're putting up all of our Christmas decorations and having lots of food and inviting over lots of people. I'm excited!

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Since I've been back I've had this weird feeling. Its almost physical. It's as if I feel afraid, yet embarrassed. My chest feels heavy and I feel like sleeping. It is the weirdest thing ever, but its not the first time I feel this way. I don't know if it's stress, or the weariness of having been "home" for a few days only to return "home". Its like homesickness, but not. I'm not sure what it is or why I feel it. I wonder if it has anything to do with my impending end to my undergraduate career (5 more days and I'm done with class, 11 more days and I'm done with school), the uncertainty of my actually career, and the thought of not being able to be in Miami during it all.

I really do miss home (Miami), and yet I sometimes forget that it is home because I feel so at home here (Pittsburgh). I have this feeling of cultural identity splitting me into two distinct people--Miami me and Pittsburgh me--a more Hispanic version of myself and a more American version myself. I used to be a mix, but now I feel split. Now I sound like a crazy person. I'll just stop.

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In other news. I did watch the new Karate Kid movie with Jackie Chan and Will Smith's kid. It wasn't bad at all. It was very entertaining. But something about it just didn't give me the emotional kick that the other one did. The original is such a classic with great lines such as wax on wax off and sweep the leg. Also, the crane kick seems much more believable than the strange (yet awesome and unrealistic) cobra thing. Plus, the romance between Jaden Smith and a 12 year old Chinese girl was kind of weird.