Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Hop Around the World Again

New Years Resolution #1: Post more often

Went back to the US over Christmas and New Years, from Dec 22nd till Jan 9th. I got to have the bizarre experience of jumping back and forth between cultures again too. Actually since my trip this time was quite a long one (approx 3 weeks), I had started becoming more accustomed to American life again, so coming back to Japan was met with a bit of... nostalgic home-sickness? All the stuff I was getting used to again was now gone, and I had to dive right back into being the oddball giant foreigner again. But when I unlocked the door and stepped back in my apartment... yea, it's good to be home. I certainly miss everyone and many things in the US, but Japan has definitely become 'home' for me now. So it's good to be back.

Boy the roads were so much wider in the US though! I could sit back, relax and enjoy driving again over there. In Japan not only are the roads much narrower, where most of the side streets in the neighborhoods would be one way street in America (but they're not!), but also there's pedestrians and bicyclists galore, so you have to be super careful at every intersection you pass through, especially when turning. But driving in the US... oh man... just pick a lane and go.

Anyways, I got my good share of driving in over there with Milwaukee > Minneapolis > Menominee > La Crosse > Milwaukee. It was definitely good to see friends and family again, and even watch a Vikings game on live TV, in Minneapolis for that matter. Unfortunately I was half asleep through most of it (stupid jet lag!). On the flip side, as I was still getting drowsy in the late afternoon toward the end of my trip, it seems to be making it easier to readjust 15 hours ahead again to Japan time. We'll see how my first day back at work (after 3 weeks! ahhh!) goes. I'll be glad if I can make it into the afternoon without getting sleepy.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Parsons said...

"I had to dive right back into being the oddball giant foreigner again." Perhaps you should rename the blog Gulliver's Travels :-)

1/12/2011 6:31 AM  

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