I’m back in Japan! Err… well, I guess I’ve been back for a few days. Five to be exact. But the point is that I’m home safely.
My sleep cycle is slowly re-regulating. I was able to get an almost full night of sleep last night. Should be better by the beginning of my work week next week. Work has been very difficult this week. Haha.
I want to thank everyone for making this crazy traveler feel at home again. It was really nice to get to see everyone. I wish I could have spent more time with all of you who I was able to see, and time in general for those who I didn’t have a chance to see. You know who you are =)
This was the first year that I came back that I was actually overwhelmed by the differences between Japan and the US. I guess I had forgotten some of the things that I used to take for granted. For example, the food. If you had dinner with me, then you probably heard me complain about the size of the dishes. In Japan, very seldom do you find a place that serves meals with that many calories packed into them, on plates of that size. I’m pretty sure that this is a psychological phenomenon, but the huge plates with ginormous amounts of food made me feel obligated to finish, but at the point of complete stuffedness, I just couldn’t. I ended up gaining ten pounds in just two weeks. On that account, I’m happy to be back in Japan. Haha. Now I have to work on losing that extra weight.
Another thing that I realized was the amount of time I spent alone in the car. It felt really strange to be spending literally hours in the car everyday. I was driving everywhere: 15 minutes to the mall, 15 minutes home, 20 minutes to a friends house, 20 minutes home, 10 minutes to the convenience store, 10 minutes home, etc. It seemed like a complete waste of time, although it did give me the opportunity to catch up on new music, so I guess it wasn’t a complete waste of time.
After looking back on everything, I almost wish that I hadn’t come back for a big holiday, but rather a different time in the year when everyone was more available. I’ll have to remedy that next year.
Anyway, I’m just rambling now. In short, had a blast. Everyone was amazing, as usual. I’m looking forward to the next time I get to see you again.
I’ll update the pictures I took in my gallery. They’ll be pretty boring this time around though. I mostly just took pics of food for my students to see.