So, at long last, here I am. Wired, or wireless rather, on my iBook. All it took was one router and a bit of poking about on my parents' PC, and voila. Internet in my bed.

I have been home in Canada for one week now, and I can't say I am any more at home than I was when I landed, exhausted and hungry, in Toronto last Tuesday night. I have eaten my fill, and then some, of Canadian foods. (or food that's common here, anyway.) Lasagna, perogies, pizza, soup and crusty bread, chocolate cake, lemon merengue pie, apple pie.... It's been delicious, but it actually makes me miss nabe, udon and shabu shabu a lot. Not sushi. Sushi is okay, but I never really understood why people love it. Sashimi I definitely don't get. I digress.

I have been writing down lots of words and such so I don't forget them. So far the list looks something like this:
hai - yes
sumimasen - excuse me/please/hello/welcome/etc.
domo - thanks
domo arigato - thanks a lot
atsui - hot
samui - cold
des - is
tsugi wa - next
shika - deer
kuma - bear/undereye circles
maiko - geisha in training
sakura - cherry blossom
hidare - left
migi - right
masugu - forward/straight ahead
kitsune udon - udon with fried tofu on top
omochi - with rice goo in it
mizu - water
seto - combo (like for fast food)
potato (po-tay-toe) - french fries
anco - red bean paste
nabe - food cooked in a big-ass pot, generally delicious

The list goes on, of course, but I'm not going to type out everything that comes to mind at the moment. That might be a bit much. Lily, the last samurai, is just not in the mood for too much reminiscing. (This shot taken at Padios media studios when I visited with Keiko. It is in Kyoto, and we had a great time, just fooling around in the edo period area!)

Now that I am wireless, I will likely post a bit more often, and maybe soon I will even post some photographs. I have some great ones care of my students and Candi chan. I miss everyone in Japan a lot, but especially Keiko and Candice. It's weird to go from living alone and depending on friends, to living with family and trying to retain your independence. Very odd, indeed.

I hung out with a friend from highschool on Sunday afternoon for a little while. Was SUPPOSED to do that on Friday night, but the wires got crossed and I was still rather jet lagged, so I fell asleep at the late hour of 8:00ish and that was the end of that. We met up at Tim Horton's, which is now my new favourite place, and talked for an hour or so. It was nice to catch up, because I hadn't seen him in ages. Not much has changed. Or maybe everything has. Funny, when you can't tell which it is.

I came home to Canada at the end of February, which means I will miss the beautiful 'sakura' or cherry blossoms in Japan. This is one of the regrets I have,s o I think I will return to Japan someday to see it. I took some photos of faux sakura while I was at Padios with Keiko. Nothing like the real thing, I imagine, but as close as I'll come to them.

Speaking of things I will miss in Japan.... Acceptable attire! Wow, I cannot believe this man wore this outfit. With THIS bag. And it's a le Sac, so the damn thing was probably quite expensive. I had to get a picture of it, so of course, I pretended to be taking one of Candichan, but voila. Wow, buddy, you need to tone it down a bit. Lose the beret, or the bag, or the jacket. Why does it say hate on it? WHY?! To the good men of Japan... please stop the madness.

At any rate, it is a bit late for me *WOOHOO I am still awake!* so I'm going to retire. My last photo for the post is also from my Kyoto trip to Padios. Myself and some black sworded man. Gotta love Japanese cinema. Sayonara, WWW.