Sweet Spring Showers

Well, it’s been a busy day and I should have gone home an hour ago, but I wanted to post this Monday then it’s all done for the week, plus not a whole lot happened. School has been busy, now that it’s in full swing. I ended up not going to bed before 1 in the morning once the whole week as well, as I’ve been rather absorbed by a really good game I’m playing at the moment. Everyday after school it seems like I’m eating out at a new restaurant or something. (pictured: view from Yayoi School)

Monday night at a sports bar for burgers with Neal, Tuesday night was Sushi with Richard, Wednesday was Neal’s b-day party at a Nepalese restaurant, Thursday’s fast food before driving to the next town for my Japanese lesson, Friday for yakiniku (fried meat on sticks not unlike shish kabob) and Saturday night again with Rich for curry pork cutlets. I’m sure I forgot one more in there too.

Sunday was a bit interesting, in that we went out for pizza for Neal’s, Michelle’s and Craig’s birthday, and it took almost all afternoon. It was all worth it of course, I loved the drive and the food was amazing. Probably the best pizza I’ve had in Japan, we’ve eaten there before.

That’s all well and all, but really the best thing that’s going on is the fact that it’s spring. The sights and sounds are something else. Everything is coming to life, the rice fields are being planted, I can walk outside without a coat on and the sun doesn’t set before 6 anymore. Well, you don’t need me to tell you how awesome spring is. (pictured: view from Tatsuno School)

And maybe best of all: the spring showers. It poured ALL day Saturday. It was so incredible. It was such a perfect day of sitting inside and relaxing, listening to the rain on the roof and seeing it gush off the church in my backyard. It was still pouring Sunday morning. Maybe I should move to London, I hear it rains like 5 of 7 days a week or something. Anyways, I tried opening my windows too, to breathe in the fresh air, but it unfortunately got pretty cold when I did that, so I had to watch it from closed windows. No love lost; it will warm up more soon enough. (pictured: view from my front steps. Narrow road eh?)

So of course I’ve been snapping pictures and pausing every now and then when a sight of beauty strikes me, which seems to be all the time when I’m outside. I love being in the mountains so much that I can never describe it to you. Enjoy the pictures; I’m enjoying the life.

"Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or to lose." -Lyndon B. Johnson

tnoy

The Collaboration of Tasties

On Monday night a group of us went out for what ended up being our last time under the cherry blossoms. We went to Takato and got to see it at night now, and it is maybe more enjoyable during that time. The crowds weren’t so crazy, and the sights looked different. For example there was a ‘reflection pond’ which is pretty boring during the day, but at night it was reflecting beautifully the trees above it, interspaced by pink petals floating on its surface.

We were to meet again Tuesday, but hard rain canceled our plans, and largely knocked down the rest of the pedals for the year. It’s too bad the pedals didn’t float down again like they did last year, but it was still nice to enjoy them while they stuck around. It sure was a brief bloom, but last year is hard to compare to as mom and I went around the country, catching them at different times, so it seemed to last weeks in that respect.

It just happened to be coincidence that I had a Japanese class instead of being rained out that night. Again I was disappointed with my own lack of effort as of late. Since classed are in full swing now, there isn't much time to study. Any free time has been spent trying to memorize the students names in some of my classes. Because people were busy Wednesday, it was the first time I cooked something instead of eating out in weeks; ironic in that Wednesday is usually the day I eat out. It rained a lot, and I slept with my window open to take advantage of that. I love the spring.

On Friday a teacher came and asked me to play volleyball with the kids. I’m not going to refuse such a fun sport so I joined. We passed the ball for a warm up, and then the kids did some drills that I didn’t care much for, so I sat out. Later we scrimmaged! The big reason I want to play volleyball again. I don’t want to practice for hours, I want to goof around and have fun playing games. I didn’t do too much; in fact it has been so long the first 5 attempts to hit the ball had me swinging at the air. My timing is off because I couldn’t get nearly as far off the ground as I used to maybe. Thanks to muscle memory I’m sure I can be jumping high again soon enough.

Needless to say my body was grumpy with me after. I knew I needed to take it easy that night, so I went out to see my new town a bit; and have some beers to tenderize my sore muscles. Sure I didn’t see much, but I got to try a new ramen restaurant, and was entertained by my crazy students while I was there. Before they left they asked me if I liked “Adult” in a Japanese accent. They were talking about porn, but in those cases it’s best to pretend you don’t understand; at least that’s my policy. They were giggling and lost their courage soon enough and shuffled off to pretend they weren’t talking about dirty things out in public like that. You know how it is.

After the ramen and the beer I went to Hiroko’s, she has the Vietnamese restaurant. There is always a good atmosphere there, and it was good talking to new people. Rex was there with his mom too; she came in to visit from Winnipeg. When we all went home, I tried to watch a movie called “Baraka”, which is visually stunning and amazing. There is no language, just a bunch of artistic shots of different things like different cultures, religions and sights. As good as the movie is, it is not to be watched while sobering up while your body is sore and exhausted; I passed out on the couch and missed most of it.

Saturday had a slow start, but picked up when Neal messaged me about going for lunch at Hiroko’s. We had some great food and conversation, and all went together to a photo exhibit in a town center nearby. Some local people are photographers, and it was really neat seeing their shots posted up on a wall. I don’t ‘get’ art, but I appreciated visually stimulating works; part of the reason I tried watching that movie the night before. One of the shots on the wall was Neal too, which was pretty funny. I thought it was a really cool shot: he was simply eating some food. There was a cool look on his face thought, one of deep reflection, and the photos were cast in black and white. Interesting for sure, Neal asked for a print as well.

I was sore and wanted to play games, but the day was just too beautiful, and Neal was going out biking. It was good of him to give me the kick I needed to go out and see the town, and the pretty ladies walking around enjoying the weather like us; it’s hard to describe how happy I am to be out of Tatsuno.

We cycled around for hours, snapping pictures, talking and finding new and interesting places we didn’t know about, like a sports bar, and a little park for couples. We met up with the Philippine girls on the way back to my place, and picked up ingredients for pizza. Ike came over later, and for hours we cooked and ate different foods. He’s a good cook, and the girls made up a dish of their own which was quite tasty. When the oven was off, we had enough power to put on a movie so we watched some stuff. It was nice having guests over, and pretty cool a ‘party’ could be formed that fast and turn out that well. It was similar to the parties I had back in Canada. I’m so glad to be out of Tatsuno.

On Sunday I slept in, then tried out World of Warcraft to see if John was online. He came on briefly, but since it was Saturday night for him I’m sure he had something more fun planned. I was surprised I played as long as I did; it was actually kind of fun. Usually I just log in to talk with him, but enough changes were made and my new computer is fast enough that a number of other things in the game were able to hold my attention. After, I played a different game, Fallout 3, until late and then went to bed. Oh and I had clam chowder soup with hotdogs for supper, which tasted better than I ever thought it would. It’s nice how hot dogs are an all purpose meat if you want to give your meal a bit more girth. I’m only cooking for myself so it doesn’t have to be gourmet, it just has to taste good :)

“You can’t respect someone who kisses your ass. I just doesn’t work” -Ferris Bueller

tnoy

Pretty Pink Petal Parties

I had my first couple classes for the year, and I wanted a picture of myself in the cool dark mafia look I had going so I dressed up again for one of my first classes. (I posted the picture in the last entry) This year I’m trying something new: getting pictures with the kids holding up name cards, and then trying to memorize their names. Class just goes a lot better if you can call them out directly for answers, or for them to stop screwing around. Not to mention of the doors getting personal with them opens. (favourite music, movies, etc)

I saw one of my students working a part time job, and the next day at school she visited me and asked me to be “shh” about it. Haha, she’s not the first. Yayoi doesn’t let their students hold jobs; they figure they should be studying or doing clubs instead. Tatsuno is a different animal entirely; where most students won’t continue their education past high school and many have jobs though school.

I’ve been fighting something of a cold, so maybe I need to take it easy more. I don’t know. The school nurse gave me some medicine and I’m mostly better now. Regardless I’m not studying Japanese as much as I’d like or should. I’m busy going out every night it seems. This the season of cherry blossoms!

Friday night was my first picnic under the pink wonders. Neal said he went every day last year, and I didn’t go once! If I remember right, my mom and I figured it was always too crowded to be enjoyable, and well, we were having a blast with the other wonders of Japan. Richard and his friend came out, and we went shopping for picnic supplies at the grocery store first. After that, we indulged ourselves on good food, drinks and beautiful sights. They put up lights and it’s really pretty being surrounded by pink trees. There was a full moon out, the weather was perfect, and it was amazing.

We were there for hours, and later wandered to a nearby playground. We goofed around for a long time on the swings and various toys set up, and got some cool photos. For example there was this dolphin there that rocked back and forth. Since I weigh a fair amount, I could really get that sucker rocking! I rocked it so far back, that my back and legs would form a perfect right angle, parallel with the ground and straight up in the air respectively. Then I let one hand off and rode it like I was in the rodeo. There are some cool action photos; I have to ask them to email me some and post them later.

We went back to my place when it got late, and watched some new DVDs I bought while in Canada. The series is called “Blue Planet” and it’s a bunch of BBC Earth documentaries. That stuff is always fascinating, and watching it in high definition was unreal. We watched as much as we could, until we were all literally asleep, and I turned it off early so we could call it a night.

Saturday had a number of opportunities again, and I took them this week! As much as staying in my house and doing nothing is fun, these cherries blossoms are rather brief. Locally, I could go to a huge party in the park near my house, or go to the castle for another picnic and farewell party for Shane, who will be missed when he goes back home. I ended up getting on a train for Neal for 2 hours all the way to Kofu for a “Shingen-ko” Festival. There was a famous general in Japan’s history being celebrated by thousands of people dressed up in Samurai outfits. Along the way, we were treated to the beautiful, colourful countryside, enjoying the transition to spring. We were even close enough to see Mt. Fuji rolling in the distance.

Neal and I walked around the ruins of an old castle, took in the sights and sounds, and ate so much festival food it was comparable to my gluttony in Canada. Every time I wasn’t stuffed to the point of pain I’d buy something else that was tasty, and there was lots! Takoyaki (octopus balls), yakisoba (fried noodles), thick strips of bacon, pilafs, sausages, ice cream, stuffed potatoes, okonomiyaki (Japanese pancakes), BBQ, glazed roast chicken to die for, micro brewed beers, and various other things I’ve never seen before but tasted lovely. It was a hot day too; we did some sweating as we roamed.

Later we found a game stand. I’m no stranger to them, and old readers may remember me trying to win some porn DVDs they had on display. Anyways there was no porn in this game and you were guaranteed to win something. You pulled a string from a pile, and it would pull up a prize somewhere. It was all guess work of course, but there were some really, really good prizes in there; like a Playstation 3 and other things. I pulled, and ended up winning a BB gun shaped like a shotgun. Pretty cool! I made ‘gun’ jokes for the rest of the day at Neal’s expense, proving my immaturity.

I thought there would be a mock battle with the samurais, but that was not to be. Instead, they shut down around 8 city blocks around the train station, and filled the streets with samurai. There were thousands like I said, wearing different colours and different banners from different prefectures and, less traditionally, from company sponsors. They even had horses out on the street carrying the big shots, and the outfits were quite amazing. On the loud speakers they played battle music while the famous general barked out orders. This went on for hours, until it was dark. Neal and I got home all right that night to rest up for Sunday’s adventure: Takato.

Takato is about a ½ hour drive from Ina. It’s an isolated little town of around 1200 people; the nearest train station is a ½ hour drive away so access is limited. But this little town is in the top 3 ‘best’ places to see Cherry Blossoms in Japan. That being said, flocks of thousands come out as Japanese people are crazy for their Sakura (cherry blossoms).

I got some tips from Richard about a little known route to get there. It should be a ½ hour drive on a normal day, but since it’s so crazy it’s 2 hours or more waiting in traffic to get there. Thanks to Rich, we made the journey in 45 minutes. We still had to park about a 20-minute walk away, but things turned out ok. I picked up and went with the Philippine girls. Charity came back for another work term, but there were 3 new girls: Gwen, Jolie, and Watan. The car ride was filled with the standard questions like: “why are you single” and “what’s your type”. They’re fun though.

Takato is a beautiful place, even more so when the area is blanketed in pink. We stayed for hours taking pictures, talking and walking around. I didn’t eat as much festival food this day, as I was a bit sick from stuffing myself Saturday. Maybe that’s why I had something of a flu? I like how the girls are pretty straight when they talk, like Charity told me to keep my hat on (guess she doesn’t like the hair cut) and said something about how I became fat. Haha, maybe that’s why I didn’t eat so much this day; I still got time to work it off :)

Yea, just beautiful. I can’t say too much; it’s just pretty. You go there, and you relax. Thinking is optional, so sorry if I’m at a loss of words to describe these pink wonders (the trees). We were able to catch up with a bunch of other JETs and people out on a picnic of their own and that was fun. It was there we made plans to meet up again that night at Kasuga park, where I went Friday night.

At Kasuga I was free to drink since I wasn’t driving anymore and could walk home. We met up with Rex and Dave; two other Canadians and they spun glow… sticks. Think of fire spinning poles, except with flashing lights and less getting burnt. One thing led to another and they taught me some techniques of spinning them around. Regardless it makes for great pictures, and it was fun twirling around. We all hung out, spinning sticks and having deep conversation until the park turned off its lights at 11:30. Time for bed I guess, there was work to be done the next day.

"One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things." -Henry Miller

tnoy

Back in Black

My last Canadian entry ran long, so I ended it somewhat abruptly. I got back and I was lugging around 75 kilos on my back. The backpack and the carry-on were ok, but when I had to deal with that, and carry around a bulky oversized hockey bag which was over 30kg by itself; things got challenging.

I dragged it for a little bit, not very far, and when I got home I discovered I made some holes on the bag and some items inside got damaged, the worst of which being the power supply for the new computer. For 20 magic points, I cast my “powers of Electronic Systems Engineering” and patched the damaged/exposed wires with electrical tape.

I went to Ina instead of Tatsuno as that’s where my new house is. I ended up taking the taxi when I arrived even though I live a 5-minute walk away. Those 5 minutes are up a steep hill, and I’ve been drifting in and out of consciences due to exhaustion the last 20 hours or so, so it wasn’t hard to justify the $7 fare to get my heavy luggage home.

Once unloaded, I unpacked what I would need for the next day and took the last train to my old house in Tatsuno, where I spent my last night there. There I could shower, get my car, go to work and be ready for the moving van first thing in the morning. (pictured: my new house and car)

A couple trucks came and the big things were moved. I spent the majority of that day unpacking, and then later cleaning the old house. I got an unbelievable number of errands done with Matsushima sensei, my Yayoi Caretaker not until Uchiyama sensei. Things like electricity, water, registration at various places and other things I need not make you yawn over while reading. I know I’ve become much better at skipping over filler information I come across…

I sure spent a lot of time cleaning and unpacking and moving into my new house. By Sunday night it was all done. I am extremely happy with my new place; it’s such a good feeling. Little things like not hitting my head on the lights all the time, walls that aren’t cracked and dirty, and doors with doorknobs like the bathroom make for a more “home” feel, compared to feeling like I was camping.

I got Internet hooked up, and the couple of guys that came by to do it were pretty funny. They tried really hard to communicate and we had fun. When I was telling them how cold Sask gets in the winter, somehow I was able to understand them asking if your pee freezes before it hits the ground. Another funny thing was when we were looking at the “gigantic” church in my backyard, and they started talking about zombies. Haha those guys were something else; that led to talks of video games among other things.

I met up with Richard on Wednesday for supper at a Brazilian restaurant with huge burgers, and we played some video games after at my new pad. Responses so far to the haircut, or lack there of, have been positive. It’s funny explaining how calling someone a “skin head” is a label not unlike calling someone a “biker”, either way I’m learning to not let it bug me. The biggest shock so far came from Matsushima Sensei, when she fell backwards a couple meters in shock, and stared. The best thing though, a lot of people tell me I look younger now; not that I should be worried about that stuff anyways at my age, it just sucked hearing constantly how I looked like I was over 30 before.

On Friday, April 3, I dressed to the 9’s and attended something of a welcome ceremony. I’m pretty good at handling standing out, but I was surprised how hundreds of students screaming in excited shock still shook my constitution. I thought I looked pretty awesome with my vest and tie and shaved head. One teacher came in and saw me and started yelling “Kowai! Kowai!” (it means ‘scary’) over and over. I guess I looked like a hardcore gangster! Anyways, that night, we partied :)

For $30, we sure put back a lot of tasty food and great drinks. I was shocked when I started to mix my whiskey and coke, that most people thought I was crazy. I mean, you can buy them at bars everywhere in Japan, I thought they were common too. I guess bars aren’t too common upon reflection. So I went around and shared my culture in the form of tasty alcohol, and they tried to share theirs:

More than one person: “have you tried mixing it with water too?”
Me: “Water? No, that’s crazy. I’ve tried it before when I had no pop, but it tasted bad”

Ah, cultural exchange at its finest; I sound like a jerk in retrospect. I never did mix it with water although a couple people brought me a glass of it. The people who did know my drink called it a “cola-shu”, and made mention of how they maybe tried it once before back in college.

That’s almost a problem with the “all you can drink” parties, because you’re given a time limit you suck back as much as you can before time runs out. I had an amazing time and then we went out for Karaoke after. It wasn’t long into the first song before the one dude busted off the tie, and tied up around his head like a headband; something you see in Japanese cartoons quite often, and they told me it’s “Japanese culture” haha. I snapped a picture, and I don’t think he liked that.

I hope I didn’t buzz kill the party as it was somewhat standard after that; still fun though. They didn’t pick many songs so there were many lulls, of which I waited shortly and then picked up the machine so I could burst out another song. I sang maybe 40% of the songs that night, and I tried to sing along with the Japanese ones they did to practice up on character recognition. Or something. You make weird rationalizations when you’re under the influence.

We the rest of last weekend had a lot of potential. I was suppose to have another work party Saturday night with Tatsuno, but got a message the night before saying it was cancelled due to complications. I had already cancelled out on my friend Megumi and her cute girlfriends in Tokyo for nights out on the town. Richard had his B-Day too, but despite sent inquiries I didn’t get much for information. In light of that I also called my Philippine friends. They were busy with shopping so we never did get together.

That left me with an amazing weekend of anti-socialism, plugging an absurd number of hours into a new game of mine, Valkyria Chronicles. I’ve never played anything like it before and it’s ridiculously fun. I’ll maybe make more of an effort to get out next time; I sure met a lot of new people in my short time here.

I wrote this update last week, and since it was short and I just finished posting the Canadian adventures I decided to wait another week and put the 3 weeks into this one post. A lot happened though so it will get its own post, I will put it online Wednesday so wait for that to hear about my good times with the Cherry Blossoms :)

"We are no longer happy as soon as we wish to be happier." -Walter Savage Landor

tnoy

This Crazy Canuck’s Canadian Conquest, Part 3

Another late night and slept-in morning later, it was Friday. I was supposed to ‘geek out’ all day with Steve, but I had stuff I needed to get done. I forget what it was right now though; I think this was when I went shopping for groceries and not Thursday. I do know that in the afternoon though, I took a step to the drastic, I shaved my head.

I’ve been meaning to do it for a while, but I feared looking like a chemo-patient. Comments like “you’re thinner up top” or seeing photos of me where you see the back of my head bugged me enough to give it a try. Now that there was a tanning booth nearby maybe I wouldn’t be so pasty white after. I’ve never been in a tanning bed before, but it didn’t do a thing, and I smelt like cooked chicken fat when I got out; which concerns me.

Bottom line though, I think it looks good, and I’m (mostly) enjoying the reactions I’m getting. On a side note, other comments I got were usually weight related, as I went from, I think size 40 when I was at my fattest, to size 34 pants. People asked if I’ve been working out in Japan, but not much more than pushing a pencil around making Japanese characters. It’s kind of ridiculous how much time I’ve spent studying now.

I guess when the fat goes away the muscles come out, but on another note I gained 3-5 kilograms in Canada from all the food and beer I was consuming :) and I’d do it all again. Mom made pies and desserts, and I ate what I could. Granted it wasn’t as much as I would have liked to eat, given how I was always stuffing myself on tasty foods and snacks wherever I went, and I was heartbroken when she threw out the leftovers days later; such a waste of scrumptious food. The things we take for granted :( Nothing ever really tastes as good as mom’s cooking.

Speaking of which, that night mom made some fresh tasty buns, and cinnamon buns. We enjoyed that, and more crazy family dinner conversation. My camera was making its rounds, as I wanted pictures of the tasty food with family and my new haircut or lack there of, and it ended up in John’s hands. Melissa took pictures with the milk jug so you knew it was bigger than her head, and John took pictures of things like condiments, hot dogs, sautéed onions, the nutritional information on the side, and other ‘treats’ that they ‘don’t have in Japan’ according to him.

John: “I bet Japanese people don't have Bananas!” *snap snap* with the camera
Tony: “They do John. They call them 'ba-na-na' in Japanese.”
John: “Oh!” Bewilderment in his voice. He kept taking pictures of the bananas, perhaps more curious at these yellow/green fruit in front of him than a small child discovering the world for the first time.

That night mom had to work, but we were going to have a good old-fashioned house party like I used to have practically weekly with friends before I left. The funny thing too, is that apparently there hasn’t been a party since I left. And our neighbor commented to Melissa that morning “you guys sure are quiet now!” to which she replied, “yea, I guess we grew up.” Well that night, we were going to bring the house down. Chris, Steve, Matt, John, Melissa, Kurt and I would have drinks, tasty snacks (like sour cream and bacon chips… mmm…) laughs, and play Rock Band on the PS3 for six hours straight.

It’s a video game using music for those who don’t know. And since it’s a music game with memorable music you sing along with, you play it loud, and sometimes the whole rooms bursts into karaoke together if we’re jamming hard enough. You have plastic guitars, drums and a microphone. 4 people can play at once and there are a lot of songs you can play along to. We jammed through the night, downloaded new songs to play, and had an absolute blast. I would dance along with my guitar and perform rock star poses to try and psyche Chris out on the other guitar. I got him laughing hard enough he screwed up more than a couple times.

I tried singing a song I love, but I kept failing the vocals! It does tone recognition and I know I’m kind of tone deaf. Later since I love the song so much I requested it again but stuck to the guitar this time. Melissa ended up doing the vocals, but she had never heard the song before so she didn’t know the words. At points in the song she couldn’t handle, she kept singing the words “dinosaur dinosaur dinosaur”, and she never failed the song once! I was outraged, but I’ll take solace in getting to jam to an awesome song, and singing along over-top Melissa’s tonally correct, but infuriatingly wrong “dinosaur” rants.

Chris and John made it to about midnight, Kurt to about 2, Steve passed out shortly after, Melissa kept going until 3, then it was just Matt and I again. So we popped in a game we played until 5 in the morning before. I think I made it until 4 in the morning but it was time to pass out.

On a separate note, a different morning when I came home at 5 or 6, Melissa went upstairs right after to tell mom on me. I usually go to the bathroom before I go to bed, and she thought I was puking from drinking too much, when I was really quite sober. For shame Melissa; trying to get me into trouble with mom. I'm 26 now!

Anyways, when we got up in the morning we fired up the game again, and we even got my mom to sing along for a song before I had to take off. I wasn’t around for long, as my friend Steve talked me into building a gaming computer; so we went out to put one together. We picked out the pieces and I have a beastly machine now for my gaming needs, it wasn’t too expensive either! After which we made it to the movie theater to watch “Watchmen” after I gave up on any of the family members coming to see it with me. It was almost 3 hours long, but I thought the movie was pretty incredible; big points for style.

For supper, Chris and his girlfriend Fiona invited me over for a hot-pot supper. Those are always delicious and it was an awesome night talking and hanging out with Chris and his gal. They have quite the impressive place for university students, but it helps to work full time I suspect. That night I could have gone to a “sweat pants” party or even a house party with a live band, but I just chilled out at Chris’ instead and we played video games and chatted until 2 in the morning. Like JD’s with John the night before, where I went and what I did didn’t matter nearly as much as the people I was doing it with.

Sunday was always a brunch day with my dad, and when I showed up I was surprised and delighted to see more family made the trip as well. My Uncle Gordan and Aunt Elaine made the trek from the far Northern reaches of the province, and my Aunt Wendy, Aunt Iida, Uncle Bill and my Grandparents were there too. Since I was late though, my seat was at the far corner, far removed from everyone. It was unfortunate the place was so loud and everyone was so far away from me; it would have been nice to catch up a bit, but regardless it was great seeing them. We had a Hungarian food buffet, where you had cabbage rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, and other treats to stuff yourself silly with. Surprisingly again, I could only eat one plate and was too full for seconds. I wanted to pack more away, but I guess I gained enough weight on the trip as it was.

After we ate I was better able to talk with the family, however brief it was as you’re putting on coats, and we got pictures together. I was going to assemble my new computer and get it working that afternoon, but dad said we should hang out for a while instead and he was right, I didn’t know when I would see him again. We made our way to John’s where I, unfortunately unsurprisingly, got covered in dog hair again, and John played with his video game character while we talked away. I can’t help but feel I know too little about farming given how many years I lived on one, I guess I should be happy I’m not clueless when terms are thrown around.

Like before with the grandparents, I was happy to be able to ask questions outside of what used to be ‘normal’ conversation. I asked if dad every rode a train before for example, and I heard really interesting stories of how there used to be an express one from Saskatoon to Regina, and tangently, how a certain nearby town in the states used to be huge for parties every weekend because of the cheap American beer.

I wish I knew my family’s backgrounds better, as you know they’ve lived extremely amazing lives. I only know wild short stories like how a tornado ripped through the yard before I was born, or how my parent’s first house burnt down and lost everything; sometime before they came back from their honey moon and Dad’s old bachelor friends left garbage all over the place as something of a bad prank. Times sure were different back then, but I’m glad I can relate a little bit to their stories now, now that I live in a house that’s as cold inside as it is outside, and that I go to classrooms that have a stove in the middle, with frozen children everywhere else.

It’s too bad a life story isn’t something you can just put out of your head like a book with chapters. You need to trigger the memories to get the stories, and what do you use to trigger? I rely a lot on pictures I’ve taken to trigger them, but even then I forget a lot. Regardless, I think we had a good talk, and it’s just good to see my dad in good health and happy. He likes his new job, lost a lot of weight, and goes out and enjoys life now.

He had to leave to go to work eventually so we parted ways. My plane was leaving a bit too early in the morning I think to give a proper send off, it would be tough to make the trip to Regina just for that. I went to John’s basement and talked with Shane for 10 minutes or so, and at John’s request I saw his computer game for a bit, then I went home. I was to build the computer, but other plans were soon creeping up, and I used the rare downtime to start packing for my return.

That night, I unfortunately had to cancel on my Uncle Francis, but in that wake I was able to meet up with my close Engineering buddies. We were there for each other for years, and spent many long hours pulling out our hair trying to figure out how various abstract things worked, including our final project together, the GPS solar powered backpack. This was our first time being together since graduating 3 years prior. It was great swapping stories and catching up on how life is treating everyone.

That night, I started to put together my new computer with Steve and Matt, but it wasn’t going very well and we gave up around 1 in the morning. My last full day in Canada was spent a lot with my mom, as we went shopping for new clothes I could go to work in for the next year or so. We picked up various dress shirts and had a good time. At home, I opened up some Christmas presents that had been accumulating since I left so that was fun too. I gave her a DVD my school made of their music band; mom was so happy she cried. We later watched the family Christmases together that I missed. It was sweet and all, and the ending was unintentionally hilarious:

It started when I found something of a gag gift for John for Christmas. Since the can was for adults, it was sealed and you needed a can opener to open it. I couldn’t make out much on the Japanese can, other than the girl wearing a bikini and her information. It had her 3 measurements (bust, belly, butt), her hobbies and other stuff; her name was “moe-chan”. ‘moe’ is a name for Japanese anime genre, which borderlines Lolita (pedophile).

“This must be a blow up doll” I thought. Neal and Richard with me were in agreement; we didn’t know what it was other than being an adult product. For $10 it wasn’t outrageous to be a gag gift. So there John was on camera, opening the package. Inside was girl underwear with a marker to draw on them, a porn DVD, a box of condoms that John proudly claimed were too small for him “I only buy large”, and a curious pink toy.

John: “What is this…?” Inquisitive look. “A vibrator?”
Patty and Melissa, almost instantly: “ya it’s a vibrator”
John: “Why did Tony give me a vibrator?”

Leave it up to sisters. Later in the tape Melissa is going through some presents all family friendly like, while Kurt beside her is clearly preoccupied with the pink toy. Melissa would say things about her presents she was opening, and Kurt was all like “uh huh” and “yea that’s nice” while studying the pink marvel, clearly not listening to her. The tape cuts to John holding it. He turns it on and there is a large rattle noise of the vibrator rumbling against the controller.

John jumped shock: “Holy Dyna!” A brief pause later, as the vibrator slowly fell between his legs, with a creepy smile and sly voice he looked into the camera and said “Thanks Tony”. Haha. Almost immediately the tape cuts to a different scene. Now John is holding a lot of alcohol in his hands. Perhaps he was warming up for something?

Later when Christmas was over, Kurt turned on the camera and there was John with a big smile on his face and a can of Pringles chips in his hand. Kurt said: “Here I am, watching porn… with the family…” I guess John couldn’t wait until he got home, so you had the ambience of him making creepy laughs in the background while a Japanese girl was doing her thing on the TV. “Is she from your neighborhood Tony?” Kurt asked. My mom came into the room to show off some new clothes and asked if they looked good. The boys didn’t really pay her any attention, so she looked at the TV to see why. She shook her head and blocked the TV by walking in front of the camera. Haha priceless.

That wasn’t to be the end though. Another cut in the tape later, Kurt is laughing and John is screaming bloody murder in the background. “NOOOOO! It’s CENSORED!!!!!” The outrage he expressed in his voice was an ageless classic that will always echo in my head. Rage is his eyes, he then screamed “BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” as he pointed at the TV, bellowing out a condemnation fierce enough to make adults cry. The tape cut out and that was the timeless end to Christmas 2008.

My last supper was Mom’s potato sauce. I can’t make mine taste as good as hers of course, and I ate until I couldn’t move again. Chris and Fiona went out of their way to come over and wish me well, seeing how I was leaving in the morning and who knows when we’ll meet again. We all watched the ‘good parts’ of the Christmas tape together and laughed so hard we were in tears. Steve was there too, as we resumed building the new computer.

I said my “see you later” as I don’t believe in “goodbye”, got pictures with them and they were gone. John followed suit shortly after. Steve and I worked until 2 or 3 in the morning building the computer, with a movie and then cartoons in the background to keep us company. Finally it was all said and done and I needed to wake up in 4 hours to catch my plane. I said nuts to that, who knows when I’ll see my good friends again? So I went to Steve’s, where I was able to see his puppy and see Matt again before I headed out. Together we watched another movie, and later parted ways.

I got about an hour of sleep, and I was awake. Melissa and Kurt bid me farewell and mom took me to the airport. She was strong this time and I was proud of her. I think we both held our tears back and there was no sobbing, “There goes my son!” following me this time; a testament that still haunts me. I of course was tired, so there was little conversation, but we enjoyed each other’s presence up until the end.

The flight was long and getting home was so-so, even if I was lugging around 75 kilograms of luggage on my back. I did manage to drink Canadian beer everyday I was in Canada. On the plane there was a mom of 3 kids that had a Molson Canadian before lunch, so I ended up doing the same, on an empty stomach haha. We flew over some ice caps and it was breathtaking seeing them breaking up and splitting apart. I got some cool pictures of that.

Now for the impossible task of summing everything up, and giving last thoughts. It was hard to imagine me being a tiny person after being in Japan so long, but it was humbling being around Friendly Giants like my dad; whose forearms are bigger than my head and they’re all muscle. I was gone long enough and been to enough places to get a better idea of Canadian people and their culture in general. Canadians are a very polite, very friendly, shy and happy people. They act out of consideration of people around them as they realize they aren’t kings; perhaps they have good karma that way as well. No wonder the world looks to Canada in high regard.

But more importantly I hope I somewhat captured the crazy fun that is my family and friends. I definitely can’t capture just how much I enjoyed being home, and how unimaginably short my time there ended up being. I think I did well though considering how little time I had. I made sure to visit before 2 years had passed. I always knew in the back of my mind as soon as I’d visit home again I’d want to stay, that the honeymoon would be over.

Am I regretting going to Japan now? I felt that way for the first couple days, how criminally short it all felt, but honestly how could I say no to everything I’ve been fortunate to be apart of here? I don’t want to make it sound like I’m trying to justify my actions, but Japan has been absolutely incredible. It’s just a different lifestyle where the family is far away, familiar foods are harder to come by, and my friends are more plentiful at the sacrifice of not being as close. You can always have something that is new, but you can never replace that which is old.

Like the mighty ice formations I flew over, in time we may break up, drift apart, and go our own ways, but you know that soon enough the season will come and we will get back together and be stronger than ever.

Haha that was so cheesy. I love you all. Thank you for the trip of a lifetime.

Anthony

P.S. This is my 100th post. Weird the numbers worked out that way, I think it's very fitting.

This Crazy Canuck’s Canadian Conquest, Part 2

Despite having stayed up so late, through the power of my magnificence (well, maybe jet lag) I was able to get up early enough to run errands. First I got a physical with an English speaking doctor, got blood work done, then went to meet up with my Uncle Francis, who coincidentally had the day off. We went to Houston’s, my old Wednesday-Wings-Night stomping grounds. It wasn’t Wednesday yet, so we had my other favourite, spaghetti pizza and dry ribs; great food, great company. Again with my smaller stomach, not much of an impact was made on the food even though I had fasted for 12 hours or so for the blood work. We both wanted to meet up again, but this was the one time I double booked for Sunday night and I ended up canceling. I’m glad we still got to meet and catch up when we did though. He graduated, and now has a job he doesn’t despise like before; I’m extremely happy for him.

That afternoon I went to get a booster immunization for tetanus. While I was there, we got to talking about the countries I’ve been to. She ran off some papers about health risks and shots I could take accordingly. Admittedly I’ve already been to those countries and I seemed to have made it out alright, but some of the effects of risks in those areas (ie brain damage and death) were a bit hard to ignore. Risks of contraction went up largely from eating local food, which scared me a bit because that what I like to eat the most in these countries! Also I picked up some other shots that have since become standard at the schools and stuff here, or shots that were bundled together; like protection against whooping cough with the tetanus.

In the end, my health is important to me and I hold immunization in a very favorable position. ‘Don’t get this horrible sickness forever? Sign me up!’ 3 needles, a thing of pills, and $340 later, I can now stuff various life threatening things in me, and still be able to chop wood, bench press cars, eat glass and other manly things without slowing down. This took over an hour with all the questions and discussion, so it was unfortunate I couldn’t make it to the mall to meet up with my good friend Chris. We’d have to do it another day, as Melissa was calling me, wondering where her car was. (It’s got some testosterone! I really enjoyed driving around on roads that don’t suck; Canada is so lucky)

I went home and had mom’s cream chicken made from yesterday’s roast for supper. During the meal Melissa’s friend Dianne kept calling about going to McNally’s, an Irish bar, and how it was getting crowded. She bought some passes for Melissa, John and I. I guess the siblings were going out on the town to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day together. We made a quick run to the Liquor Store, and I perused the isles. It was so nice to see Canadian Beer everywhere; I picked up some 6 packs to bring back to Japan with me. Surprisingly I went looking for the imported section too, but it has sadly been removed since I’ve been gone. I was curious if you could get Japanese, or more deliciously, Korean beer here. I need to go back to Korea again.

Once we were back, Melissa got her pre-drinking in order. She pounded half a mickey in maybe half an hour, and used her powers of math to justify her sporadic binge drinking. “I just had 6 shots. Times that by $5, that’s how much money I saved!” She then proceeded to “save more money” by topping her cup again with more hard liquor. I thought alcoholics made different excuses for their vice other than “I’m saving money this way” as she proceeded to dump liquid in her mouth. Each to their own I guess. We had to get going and she wanted to finish it in the car. In Japan it’s double stupid to have open alcohol in a vehicle, but I guess you can’t get deported from Canada for doing that. Either way we made her finish it before she got in.

When we got there, Dianna and another girlfriend of Melissa’s came out to greet us. One of the girls suddenly had to pee but couldn’t wait to get inside. So there we were, in the parking lot, while it’s still sunny, 10 feet from the door to get in, and one of the girls whips down her pants to colour the ice while the other two girls danced around to “draw attention away” from white/blue ice turning yellow nearby. I think those two only just drew more attention to it, as cars rolling by would slow down. John laughed nervously, and I pulled out my camera and performed my “I’m a tourist” routine. Girls will be girls I guess.

When the damage was done, less than a minute later we were inside, and I think one person in the group used the bathroom in the place but I don’t remember. We sat down, ordered some beers, and maybe 5 minutes later some wanker went up to John and propositioned him:

Wanker: “Hey man, want some… ‘E’…?” (insert sleazy sounding voice)
John: “Uh, E?”
Wanker: “you know… Ecstasy?”
John: “Oh! Uh, no thanks.” Waves his hand ‘no’ casually.
Me, after he walked away: “Wow, Regina has changed!”

John said that was the first time it’s ever happened to him, so I shouldn’t be too weirded out hard drugs were going around like that. But ya, that St. Patty’s party was a good time. They had live bands with bagpipes, Irish dancing, and lots of Canadian beer; it wasn’t green though :(

I actually got lots of sleep that night, and the next day, Wednesday, Melissa and I went for a Chinese food buffet with my Dad and my grandparents. It’s funny I would miss greasy buffet like that, but it’s tasty. We ate and talked for hours. It was interesting too, noticing to myself how I’ve changed with how I talk and such with family members. For example I asked my Grandpa if he’s ever been to Germany, as it surprises me sometimes how little I know about my family members concerning their past and life growing up. My Grandpa talks highly of Germany and can speak the language, but unfortunately hasn’t gone yet since coming to Canada as a child. This stuff is interesting to me, but either way I hope he gets the chance to go sometime; you don’t want to live with regrets. I know Germany is on my ‘to-see’ list for sure.

Hours later we parted ways, and I went shopping with Melissa and Kurt. It was fun being in a supermarket again and going over so many items I love and miss. Little things like some cereals or mac’ and cheese. I ended up buying $180 of groceries to take back to Japan with me. All kinds of things like instant gravy, cheese whiz, ketchup chips, and chocolates/candy for example. Most things were a dollar here, two dollars there, but I guess I sure got a lot. I also found some wild rice, which makes for a very good present I’m told. The people I’ve given it to since being back sure seemed appreciative anyways.

It was Wednesday night now, and despite still being full of Chinese, this was traditional wing night for me ;) I went to Houston’s Pizza every Wednesday before, but that crowd I went with have since moved on in life; getting married and/or moving out of Regina, so I went with family to Melissa’s choice; the Press Box. It’s like a sports lounge with many TVs all over the place. It happened to be a hockey night again, which is a common thing in Canada. Either way, surprisingly good entertainment again! Maybe I’ve taken Hockey for granted…

My Aunt Jeanette even showed up to say hello which was a nice surprise. We talked a little bit, but it was a little unfortunate the table was so rowdy with the drinking and noise level that we couldn’t really have a deep conversation. I feel a bit bad for that, but it was still good to see her. When things winded down, I went to the Matrix gaming center with Steve and Matt, and we played online video games together until Midnight. After which we went back to their house and played games again until 5 in the morning. It’s great seeing good friends again and doing stuff you love. We didn’t mean to play that late, but we were like “one more level” and “this is the end boss” and other weak excuses to snuff out the voice of reason of “go to bed”.

I slept in late, but went out for some Vietnamese noodles for lunch with Mom and Melissa. I used to eat this stuff like once a week before coming to Japan; it was still as tasty as I remember, and I used plenty of hot sauce again too! Melissa and I went shopping for a bit later, but we were both tired and not really in the mood so we didn’t buy much. I was finally able to meet up with my friend Chris though during his coffee break. We had a great chat, made plans to meet up later, then I went out for supper with my Uncle Merv, Aunt Diane, and other family that night at a nearby restaurant, “Angkor”.

Before I just thought it was a Chinese food restaurant, but after the traveling I’ve done, I now know it’s more food from Thai and surrounding areas. The pictures hanging on the wall were that of Angkor Watt, an Ancient city centered in Cambodia. I’ll need to make the trip eventually; I saw a replica model in at the huge palace in Bangkok. Being informed does strange things for your awareness. We had great food and conversation again, and I was informed to do some research into an “international MBA.” I can’t get a masters in Engineering by correspondence, but and MBA is still possible. I’ll have to give it a look-see soon enough.

That night was another odd reminder of how Regina is shut down after 9:00. I still wanted to see a movie, but alas it was not to be this night as well. I played with some ideas, talked with some friends online, but eventually decided to go with my John to a bar called JD’s for their infamous ladies night. I didn’t really want to go, but I justified it as time to bond with my older brother, and it paid off. The bar was dead so we didn’t go in, and instead just sat around and talked over burgers and root beer.

It was such a good feeling to talk with him like that, something I’ve kind of secretly longed for, perhaps for most of my life. It sure wasn’t easy growing up with him, but we’ve both come a long way since the days of him calling me nothing but “nerdy” instead of my name for years, or one of the time(s) he me made snap and I chased him around the yard with a rake, screaming bloody murder. Reflecting on it now, I’m glad I didn’t murder him for one thing, and another is I have too many stories to put here; of growing pains we suffered together, but I’m glad we can laugh about it now. Since I’ve been gone though I haven’t really been able to talk to him outside of a certain video game.

We all choose our paths in life; the trick is picking your own without regrets and without apology. Choosing means deciding. A nice change I noticed in myself when I was home was my ability to make decisions. Perhaps living alone has done that to me, perhaps other factors, but either way I’m glad I’m not nearly so apathetic and passive anymore. Melissa said to me she doesn’t think I’ve changed. While such a disheartening statement, I don’t think that’s entirely accurate. How you see the world is just a reflection of how you think of it.

Perhaps those happy, smiling, friendly Canadians were there all along; it’s strange the memories I took with me weren’t so bright. I know for a while in Japan, when anyone asked me about how Sask was, I never did have anything nice to say so I didn’t say much. I guess instead of talking about the place, I should talk about the great people instead.

Anyways, after the burgers we ended up going to the bar, which was an experience mostly as I remember. I hate making excuses for my actions so I won’t, but I didn’t really talk with many people. Instead I enjoyed some drinks, listened to how a lot of the bar music has changed (surprisingly), watched the movies playing in the background, and most importantly, just chilling with John. When it started getting late, we made our way back to the car (we didn’t drink much, don’t worry. I’m not in Japan anymore with that zero tolerance!) there was an advertisement under the windshield wiper for ‘Dancers’, Regina’s only strip club. What better way for brothers to bond? It’s legendary for being so bad, but I’ve never been before.

So there we were, second skin show I’ve ever been to in Canada. I don’t know if you can count that stuff I saw in Thailand with the razor blades and the hookers, but either way it was kinda fun. The place was pretty empty and the girls were bored so they’d just hang out and talk with you. This one girl was really interesting, she was from Winnipeg and worked in Calgary for a while, but she said the economy was hurting work there, so she came to Regina.

There were 4 girls working, but we mostly just talked with two, as one was drunk and the other one didn’t want to talk as much as she tried to solicit a dance. Funniest thing of the night was when a young group came in, obviously just having left the bar after last call. Since it’s illegal to drink and watch skin shows in Sask, they were ordering up cans of root beer, 7-up and snack foods like chips and pizza pops. So there you were, watching a dance on stage while smelling pizza pops behind you, it was pretty funny.

Good times. Perhaps manly bonding at its best.

"Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." -From A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh

tnoy