Readjusting and Reminiscing

I have been home for a week and I’m still readjusting to Canadian culture. As I do so, it gives me the opportunity to reflect on my experiences in Japan. It goes to say that there are ups and downs wherever you live. Anyways, here are some observations I’ve made over the past week.
Tuesday: Started with cereal - cereal with lots of grains! Then I took the bus to town (I wasn’t stared at or avoided and it wouldn’t have been considered rude I had talked on a cell phone). I met my mom for coffee with some of her friends. There was a lady named Naoko who just moved to our town from Japan with her Canadian husband. We got chatting, sometimes in Japanese about the culture and different things. We both especially miss natto and using phrases such as gambatte, deshou, ne, unn, yoroshiku, hisashiburi, tadaima, okaeri, itadakimasu, etc. etc. I also still find myself bowing at people a bit. Later that day, I renewed my driver’s licence and suddenly remembered that in Canada you can turn right on a red light as long as no one is crossing! I also noticed the graffiti on buildings and mailboxes. I never noticed any vandalism in Japan. At the doctor’s office, it was nice to be able to communicate in English and I didn’t have to pay a penny for the check up or lab tests because of the provincial health care system. That night, I went to the Pizza and Pool Party at the Fire Department. It was wonderful to see everyone again and get so many hugs and seemed strange to shake hands when meeting someone. It was also great to eat nachos and pizza with whole grain crusts!!! Also I didn’t have to feel rude when I sat cross-legged on the floor.
Wednesday: The power had gone out overnight, so my alarm didn’t work, arg. That’s what you get for having so many trees in Canada, they fall on the power lines. I woke up 40 minutes late and scrambled to get ready and pack everything for our trip to Kelowna. It was hard to think of everything I needed for Canadian weather. It’s winter, so I had to throw in a bunch of warm layers for skiing, but I didn’t know where they were in my room so I borrowed my moms. Along the 4-hour drive to the Okanagan, I noticed the patches where the mountain had been logged. They are, unfortunately, not very pretty. I don’t remember noticing any logging in Japan.

That evening, we went to my uncle’s condominium at the ski hill near Kelowna. It was about -15C up there, which apparently was not cold at all compared to the weather lately. We went to a pub for dinner and I finally realized the answer to the question "What is typical Canadian food?" Well, it's soups, salads, wraps, sandwiches, gourmet burgers, fish ‘n chips, pizza and many cultural appetizers! Mmm….
Thursday: I got to go skiing with my uncle which is something I’ve done since I was a kid. Some Australian guys on the chair lift said I didn’t have a very Canadian accent and they thought maybe I was from England… hmm… I hope I didn’t loose my accent!

At my Grandma's house that evening, we had Chinese food as is tradition in our family on Christmas Eve. Unlike tradition, we opened some gifts that night with my 4-year-old cousin who is so chatty.
Friday: Christmas day was sunny and about -5C. It wasn't a white Christmas but it was just great to be with family. Christmas morning, we opened stockings together and then gifts. Everyone kept asking me what their gifts were, especially the omiyage and okashi, but sometimes their guess was as good as mine because there is still so much of the Japanese language that I can't read. My sister called from South America and it was great to chat because we haven't seen each other since last Christmas. I sure miss her and can't wait to visit her in Ecuador in a month!

The rest of the day we spent visiting with family and had a fabulous Christmas dinner at my Aunt and Uncle's new house in Summerland.

Saturday: I had breakfast with my Grandma who lives in Summerland and we played a game of cards before we all drove back to Kelowna and played more cards there in between playing tag and hide and go seek with my cousins and going for a walk on the family farm.

Sunday: We had Gram's delicious home made waffles for lunch then started the 4 or 5 hour drive home.
In the evening, we visited with some people we know in town and I met up with a good friend to go to a community dance. It's called Jusdance, there's funky music, you can't drink, sit or talk, you just dance! It’s so liberating and I love it!
All in all, I’m very happy to be home, but whether I am here or somewhere else in the world, I’ll keep Japan close to my heart and hope to return there sometime soon!

The Longest Shortest Day of the Year

December 21st is the shortest day of the year except when you fly back in time and repeat 17 hours! For me, this day was not only long time wise, but also emotionally. I was sad to leave Japan, grateful to have met such wonderful people and to have learned so much, happy to go home, looking forward to next year, stressed that I wouldn't be able to land in Castlegar, excited to fly, etc.

I left I-House around 8:15am. It was really sad to leave all the great friends I have made there. It was Jun's birthday and him, Keisuke and Mayu came all the way to the airport to see me off. Some other friends also called to say goodbye. I’ve realized that goodbyes are sad, but “see you laters” also get me choked up because I am deeply honoured to have such great friends.
Coincidently, my classmate from Seattle, Cameron, happened to be booked on the same flights! On the flight from Nagoya, I was finally able to see Mount Fuji! It was very majestic rising out of the sea, peaked with snow.

We left Tokyo a few minutes later than scheduled and lucky we did because at last minute 2 ladies from Mexico came rushing on the plane and took the seats beside me. They had been waiting at the wrong gate number. It was nice to chat in Spanish and I didn’t use that many Japanese words! We had dinner complete with free plum wine and except for some good turbulence, the flight was uneventful.
We had left Tokyo at 5:30pm and after about an 8 hour flight, we arrive in Vancouver shortly after 8:30... AM... on the same day! Flights to Castlegar had been cancelled all week, and sure enough, so was my flight. Many people where stranded and most of us just decided to take the night bus from downtown Vancouver that left at 6:00pm and would take 11 or 12 hours to reach Nelson, hmm...
Then I recognized a girl I had gone to school with since we were 6 years old and another girl who had gone to the same high school! As we were chatting, a guy walked up and asked if we were interested in renting a car together! Once we got all our bags, we headed to the rental place, only to be told at 5 different companies that all vehicles available for drop off were rented out already. Just as we were loosing hope, the last rental company we tried had one minivan left, with snow tires!! And luckily Dan (from Ontario) was 27 years old because you have to be 25 to rent a vehicle, so he drove the 3 of us all the way to Castlegar, which only took just over 8 hours!

The roads were quite alright despite the fresh snow over the mountain passes. It was quite the enjoyable ride as I could catch up with Dana who I haven't seen since our high school graduation and hear all about Zoe's work with climate change, she had just got back from 2 weeks at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen! They of course got to hear all about Japan... I think it'll take a little while for me to get it about of my system. My parents picked us up in Castlegar and I finally arrived home around 9:30pm, exhausted but really happy to be home : )

Packing Things Up

Saturday morning I woke up before 6:00am to say goodbye to Alexis and I stepped outside into… snow! It was like it was saying goodbye to her too. After cleaning all morning, I took the subway to the other side of Nagoya to visit Naoko (a French studies student). By that time the sun came out and it was a beautiful, crisp day. First we went out to her favourite Ramen restaurant. It was a very stylish place... where we wore paper bibs to prevent splashing from over-enthousiastic noodle slurping!

Then we visited a nearby shrine that has the biggest Torii gate in all of Japan! There was also a beautiful garden. At the shrine, Naoko bought me a prayer slip and translated it for me. Apparently I have "good luck". I tied it on the string among others in hope that it comes true! Her house is very spacious with a pretty Japanese garden and a stylish little tea room, which I entered through and mini, Alice-in-Wonderland-style door. She treated me to some matcha and Japanese sweets.

Later that evening, I waited for a while at Nagoya Station which was super crowded since holidays are coming soon. There I went out for curry with Keisuke, Jun and Mayu. They are all so much fun!! I'm going to miss them lots, for sure. I can't wait to meet up with them somewhere, someday!

Sunday, laundry, cleaning, sorting, packing.....
The Suzukis came in the afternoon and treated Melanie and I to sushi at the restaurant that I always looked at from my room wanting to go to some day and I finally got to! It was their first time at a sushi-bar restaurant! Mmm... I love sushi! They gave us each a wall hanging for the year of the tiger next year and had one for themselves on which we all wrote a quote and signed. This apparently is a common thing to do at gatherings.

As I had dinner with Yuuko-san tonight (a soup with a special mochi Susukis gave me), I realized that there are so many traditions and customs in Japan and the Japanese people are so happy to share them with us :) Yuuko-san told about how her father was from one town on Kyushu and her mom from another, so she grew up with a style of soup that mixed traditions from both towns!

Finally, after a whole day of cleaning, packing, sorting things out, etc. etc. it's nearly midnight and I'd better get some sleep before travelling tomorrow. It's going to be a very long day... 17 hours longer than usual...

Last Week at School

As I mentioned in the last post, I had a speech on Monday. Tuesday, we did a practice Level 2 Japanese Proficiency Exam. I only did the first half though then went for one last visit to the hospital (sinusitis again, I got some medication and am glad to be feeling 100% better!). There I marked what I did of the exam and I past that part but apparently the grammar section was the hard part. That evening at I-House, we made lots of Christmas cookies!
Wednesday we had a huge test on which I did quite alright. I also went to my last Portuguese class. The instructor will be in Brazil while I'm there this winter, so we might me up! Speaking of, it turns out that I have to take one Composition course before starting the Professional Communications Program at Royal Roads in July. It's a five week course offered once in February (while I'm in Ecuador) and once in May, so I have decided to come home early from Brazil to be able to really focus on it. I will be flying back to Canada on April 22nd instead of May 25th.

Anyways, I'm still in Japan and must focus on getting everything ready for leaving. Thursday, we watched a really funny movie instead of having class which was a nice break. That afternoon, I rode to the post office to send some packages and withdraw all my money, then to city hall to cancel my insurance and the fire department to trade fire crests. Later I went to cancel my cell and then Alexis and I had waffles for dinner one last time.

Friday (today) we had one last kanji test, then a group activity of writing newspaper posters. I wrote a 7-day "Emotional Forecast" for the students who are leaving this semester - lots of mixed emotions for sure. The posters were put up at the graduation ceremony that afternoon. After a few speeches, we chatted while enjoying lots of the wonderful food. Murakami-sensei even gave me a big hug saying that I was a good student. Back at I-House, I began the long process of sorting things out in my room. I called Osho-sama to see if we could get together one last time, but she said she is busy as New Years is coming and she also has a cold. We’ll keep in touch by letter and I hope to visit her when I come back to Japan, but it’s still sad.

This evening, we had a Christmas party where we exchanged some gifts and then ate more wonderful food (and way too much of it, heh heh!). I've been sorting out my room some more and I'm far from being packed up, there's a whole 9 months of life to fit in 2 suitcases, hmm...

The Goodbyes Begin

This weekend we had Ladies Night with Yuuko-san (the residence caretaker). I wanted to introduce her to the many ways to drink Baileys (me and my mom’s favourite liqueur). Some other girls joined in and we had a good night drinking Baileys and Kahlua on the rocks, with milk, with coffee, with hot chocolate and even with Tim Tams!!! Yuuko-san said that it's actually the first time in her life that she's had a drinking night just with girls!!!

Sunday, I unsuccessfully scrambled to write my speech and essay in the morning before heading up to Konan to visit with John and Shoko. After tea at their place (I kind of finished off my speech there with Shoko's help), we went to Kondoh's house to enjoy a beautiful, plentiful dinner that Michie had prepared for us.

We ate crab, 4 types of fish roe, vegetable side dishes and sukiyaki! I can't believe I've been in Japan for 9 months and hadn't eaten sukiyaki before! It's so good!! And they kept giving me more and more, accompanied by lovely red wine and even some plum wine because I mentioned I would miss it when I leave Japan. It was followed by some sushi and I even tried a rare delicacy of dried bees and ginger! We finished the meal off with some dried persimmon and a delicious home-baked cheesecake with fresh strawberries. Oh my, fabulous! I got home fairly late that night and stayed us writing my essay, not one of my best, it will do.

Today (Monday), we did our speeches in class and then used the second half to walk to the nearby bookstore where the university bought us each a book to take home or to read over the holidays :)
This afternoon, I met up with Ikue for the last time. Her daughter Ayumi joined us for a delicious lunch and then we went to a nearby park to take a nice long walk through the forest and around the ponds. I just keep thinking the next time we'll be able to meet up so that it's not so hard to leave.

The Old and the New

During these last two weeks I have been spending time with old friends and making new ones as well!
On December 1st, I helped out at the university Christmas party by making lots of Almond Roca and talking about Canada. Keisuke and Jun came to the party.

On the 3rd I went to Ikue's house. We hadn't gotten together since my Mom had visited because we were both really busy and sadly her father and uncle both passed away in November. It was really good to see her again and she managed to introduce me to a Japanese food that I hadn't tried yet! It was a warm dessert with toasted mochi and red beans in it.
This Tuesday, in the middle of class, a lady from the university came to talk to me. She explained that a partner elementary school needed an English teacher to fill in that afternoon because the regular teacher had called in sick. So next thing you know I was teaching 3 elementary English classes, from ages 5-7! It was fun!! Pretty exhausting though!
On Wednesday I got a phone call from Nomoto-san. I met him last semester while going for a walk in the community above the university. He had wanted to have me over to teach me Japanese cuisine as his wife is an instructor; however, due to a death in the family and his wife falling ill, we had never had the chance to get together. We talked for about 20 minutes and he invited me out to lunch. So yesterday we went out to a very nice Korean restaurant!

Today Melanie, Eva and I went straight after class to Meijo High School (more than an hour from here) to share our cultures with some students. We showed them some photos from our countries and all made Takoyaki together (little round balls of dough with cabbage and octopus, made in special grill pans).

This afternoon, we met with the Suzukis at the Orchid Garden. There were many poinsettias, Christmas decorations and lights everywhere :) I commented that it seemed strange with no snow, but for Eva (who's from Australia) it's strange that it's not really hot right now!

After relaxing among the orchids, Eva headed home and Melanie and I went out for dinner with the Suzukis. We ate everything from yakitori and sushi to stir-fry and pasta, finished off with matcha ice cream! They said we had to eat lots of good Japanese food before leaving the country. They also gave us some sweets to take home and me a 2010 calendar :)

Land of the Rising Sun

Land of the rising sun, karaoke, sashimi, onsens, plum wine and great friends!

This weekend, I got a wonderful break from all that's piling up while hanging out with Keisuke, Jun and the girls from Osaka – Ayumi T, Yuri and Yuki.
On Saturday, Jun drove us down to Keisuke’s hometown, Toyohashi.
First stop: Karaoke!!!!! We sang for 3 or 4 hours, sometimes in English, sometimes in Japanese :) We also wandered over to the batting centre across the road to try hitting some baseballs.

Second stop: Dinner – BBQ eel and a sashimi platter at a beautiful Japanese restaurant.
Third stop: Onsen… relaxing, naked, in the indoor and outdoor hot pools, cold pools, jet baths, steam rooms, saunas and rock beds.
Final stop for the day: Keisuke’s house in the countryside. His dad quit his job as a “salary man” (English expression?) almost 10 years ago and has been breeding dogs since then so we got to play with some really cute puppies! That night, we stayed up chatting over drinks and snacks, until 3:00am…

Sunday morning:
5:52am Wake up!
6:25am Leave the house and drive down the back roads to the beach
6:44am Watch the sun rise over the ocean, while realizing yet again how fortunate I am to be in the land of the rising sun, where the food is good, the language a challenge and the people ever so welcoming.

After breakfast at Keisuke’s house, we packed up and went to the zoo. There I saw kangaroos for the first time! Somehow I had never realized that they use their tales to support themselves when they move – so fascinating to watch! There were many other cool animals and a dinosaur museum.
We stopped for lunch at a rest stop along the expressway to Nagoya then all came here to Nisshin to show the Osaka girls around I-House and the university. Lastly, it was time to say goodbye, which is always sad, but I know that I will see them again, whether in Canada, Japan or somewhere else!