My Odyssey

My 2 week whirlwind tour of home has is over, and I must say that it was fun, but it wiped me out.
The jet lag was a major problem while I was home, as I never really got over it and found myself crawling to bed at 10 or 10:30 every night. I used to be the king of late night; especially in my last year of University when I wrote my thesis every night between 11pm and 4am. I would head to bed as my annoying neighbour brought her dog out to do its early morning business on OUR front lawn. Thanks...
And for the last 12 or 13 Christmases I would head to bed at 2am at the earliest because I wouldn't want the day to ever end; but this Christmas I fell asleep on the couch at 7:30 and then went to bed at 9:30. The king is dead(Sigh).
I call it a whirlwind trip because I think I only had 1 day out of 14 where I didn't go somewhere to do something. If I wasn't meeting friends or relatives, then I was oot and aboot buying something or doing some sort of business (bank, dentist, shoes, shirts, presents etc.). But I managed to see almost everyone I wanted to see (sorry Leo, next time) and it was great catching up. I managed to eat all the foods I had wanted as well, including a few fast food combos, pizza, Canadian beer, sweets and the innumerable delicacies from my mother(^_^). A day and a night in Toronto eating Fish & Chips, French food and shopping at the Eaton Centre was an added plus as well.
Surprisingly, I suffered "reverse culture shock" when I went home as well. When I got home on the 23rd, I decided to shower immediately (48 hours in the same clothes will do that to ya); I turned on the light to the bathroom and I stared in awe at the size of it for almost a minute. HUGE!!! My toilet in Japan is literally in a water closet sized space; it's separated from the tub and shower which are pretty small too. And you can forget about a bathroom sink; I use the kitchen sink. The biggest shock I had though was about Canadian people in general. When you live in Canada all your life, you really believe the stereotype that we're really nice people. Well, after you live in another country like Japan for 16 months, your perception drastically changes. I won't go into detail because I still love Canada.
All in all the trip was really fun. I got to spend some quality time with my parents, friends and other family members, and I met some people that I hadn't seen in many years, and others for the first time (Laura, Maria, Helen and Dave, yoroshiku onegaishimasu!!).
I look forward to my next visit and I hope I can see you all again then. And hopefully next time I'll bring a close friend of mine with me too (^o^). One can hope, eh?

P.S. some of you might not know this, but if you click on the pictures (all of them on the blog in fact), you can see a much larger image. Hope you enjoy them!!