Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone ....

I'm sitting in my sisters house in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It's December 26th, Boxing Day ... another holiday we celebrate in Canada. That usually means we can go out and attempt those wonderful bargains that go on at the shopping malls. Or if you're smart, you would stay home and avoid the crowds all together.

So, it's been 3 months since I moved back home and to be honest the transition has been pretty good. There are lots of things that I miss about Japan, but there are also lots of things I missed about home. I guess I should've talked about this shortly after I arrived back home, but I figured it would be best to slowly get back into Canada life again so that I could really appreciate what I've experienced both here and in Japan and then do a comparison between the two .... OK, who am I kidding. I got lazy! But, now that I'm in a writing mood, let's talk about my final thoughts about life in Japan. I'm kind of stealing this idea from my friend Colleen's blog ... Sorry Colleen, but it's a good idea. So, without further ado, here are my top 8 thoughts about Japanese life:

1) You learned how not to be a pack rat

Because living quarters are a tid bit small ... OK that's the understatement of the day. When you have a room the size of your average dining room, it's a little difficult to keep things. But, I definitely have a whole new view about where to live. I'm currently staying at my friends house which is about a 1000 sq ft bungalow and I'm thinking this place is freakin huge. All this space I have, what am I going to do with it all. Also, if I ever decided to settle down, I'm definitely not concerned about that 2000 sq ft house. It just means more things to clean and collect. Also, with the prices of houses here in Calgary? I certainly won't be getting that size place.

2) Why is that Damn train so late? ... Oh yeah!

There is definitely a lot to be said about clean and efficient public transportation in Japan. In Calgary, you're waiting at the bus stop every morning for a bus that is always at least 10 minutes late and it's a bus ride that's 5 minutes away from the train station. Why do you take the bus? Because it's impossible to drive to the train station due to the lack of parking spaces. And there is no freakin way I'm going to pay $20 a day for parking downtown. Of course a $75 monthly pass is also a rip off, but it's better. I do miss hopping on a train to go anywhere.

3) -35C Sucks!

Yes, you read right. Shortly after I came home, the weather decided to change drastically and it gave me a welcome home to Canada present by going down to a record low in the beginning of November. I was ready to hop back on the plane and go back. The winters where I was living went down to about +5 ... Sure it was the same temperature in my apartment. But, I was able to curl up under that cozy Kotatsu ... I miss that thing.

4) What the Heck are with our Portions?

Wow, the Japanese really do know how reduce food waistage. Who needs these portion sizes anyway? It's ridiculous how much we eat. But, of course it hasn't stopped me from getting back into my regular eating habits ... yikes!

5) Bye Bye Bike ... Hello Driving!

OK, yeah that is what I missed about home. It is so much nicer to be able to get into a car and go wherever you want. Driving is the life!

6) Humidity is not my Friend!

Oh how it is nice to be back in this dry, prairie climate and not have to worry about walking around soaking wet. The summers in Japan are definitely unbearable ... not to mention noisy from all those damn Cicceda's (noisy bugs who just sit on trees and wait for young children to catch them). It's annoying.

7) Ah, but how about the Cherry Blossoms?

I don't think I'll every experience the same beauty as I did during cherry blossom season and not to mention the famous Hanami party's where you sit under the tree with friends and ... drink. I guess I could do the same thing here, but I'll have to hide the alcohol since drinking in public is illegal and well, there's no pretty white and pink flowers.

8) Karaoke is my friend!

Karaoke was definitely a stress reliever, especially when you'r'e having a rough day. It's nice to go out with a few friends, rent a room and just sing. You could go to Karaoke here as well, but it's definitely not the same as it's in a smokey pub and in front of a whole bunch of strangers, plus the chance of doing more than 2 songs is basically slim to nill.

So, that's about it, all my thoughts in just 8 thoughts ... OK, I know there's more, but these are the first that come to mind. One thing Colleen said in her blog that I have to agree with. This experience has definitely given me a greater appreciation for the world and it has also given me the desire to experience more. That's why I'm not done, there is another country that has my name on it ... it probably doesn't mean "castle", but that's OK. So stay tuned for more adventures in the near future. Hopefully sometime in 2007.

Before I conclude there is another thing I want to talk about which was our last few hours in Japan before heading home. Basically that time consisted of boozing, cleaning, a lack of sleep and oh yeah a little bit of a scare. So, the boozing and cleaning is self explanatory. While we were cleaning up Colleen and Carl's apartment we did some drinking. The cleaning was a long and grueling process. It lasted until about 2:00 am, but instead of being smart and getting rest, we felt since it was our last stay in Japan why not head to the Osaka castle and share a few drinks. So, by 3:00 am we decided to trek off to the castle. While we were walking there, Carl had the idea of randomly leaving things around like stuffed animals and ... umbrella's. Well, instead of throwing them away he decided it would be funny to display them in random places like oh ... trees, traffic lights, light posts, tractors ... you name it he left them. If you'd like to read more about this, check out Carl's Blog. Now, what Carl doesn't realize is that I had a telepathic connection with one of the umbrella's and I managed to understand some of it's thoughts that went a little like this ...

Memories of an Umbrella

So, here I am sitting by the door, thinking, resting, contemplating life. I'm noticing the blond and red gaijin have been ignoring me lately. I guess they haven't had much need for me recently. I'm feeling a little neglected right now... Also a bit used. I know it's my "job" to keep them from getting wet, but don't they ever think of my needs? I mean, all I want is for them to show a little appreciation. I shouldn't complain though as there were times where the blond gaijin and I would share a "connection". Oh how I loved the music and dancing. It was the spinning and dipping ... I always felt giddy. But, those days are over and now it looks like they've decided to ignore me. It seems they have so much on their mind. I keep on hearing things like "packing" and "cleaning" and "Throw away" ... gosh, I hope they're not thinking about me. Anyway, so as I mentioned I'm sitting by the door conte ... oh wait ... here they come. It looks as if I'm needed after all. I and the rest of us here are about to be used ... Wow, it must be really raining out if they need all of us, but I'm not complaining. So, off we go and ... hey wait ... what's going on here? why am I still closed up and why doesn't it feel wet? This is strange. I noticed we're walking and ... hold on here ... one of my buddy's was just dropped off on a light post ... that's strange. I wonder if the red gaijin knows what's going on. He was just left there and now we're walking ... Weird! Hey, another one of my friends was just left near a traffic light, what the ... Ok, I'm getting fairly alarmed here. I seem to be the only one left and ... hold on here, why am I going towards a tree? Is he about to stick me in a tree? I don't believe it, he just stuck me in a tree and left. After all I've done for him, he decided to just pawn me off to a tree? I outghta give him a piece of my ... Damn it, I'm stuck! I can't move ... yeah, you walk away buddy, walk fast ... you piece of ... Well, I guess one things for sure, getting stuck in a tree is better than getting stuck up somewhere else! .... (Haha ... revenge is sweet!)

Anyway, so moving on, we managed to make it to the airport after only getting a few hours sleep. We arrived there in plenty of time as we needed to do a few things like pick up our luggage we sent ahead of time as well as finalize our phone accounts. I, unfortunately, had a little bit of an issue with my Visa when I was talking to the ticket agents. Apparently I almost had to stay in Japan because I didn't renew my Visa for 4 days which doesn't make sense since I was planning on leaving the country I'm not a citizen of and going back to the country I am a citizen of ... "I'm sorry sir, you can't leave our country because you are here illegally and you shouldn't be here" ... Anyway, basically what I had to do (Don't believe what Carl wrote) was go down to immigration, pay about $40 and get an extended Visa to show to immigration. It didn't take that long to do and I was able to make the plane in plenty of time. Well, obvioulsy I made it, since I'm here now.

So, that's basically what happened in a nutshell. Sorry, this ended up being longer than I expected. I guess I was in a writing mood... what's in this egg nog anyway? But, I am going to conclude here and say Thank you to everyone for sharing in my adventures and for the great compliments about my journals. Maybe, one day I will take some of your advice and write a book, but that'll be in the distant future. Like I said, I'm not quite done with the experience.

So, before I end, I want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and all the best in 2007.

Take care.
Joe