Some Perspective

Being away from home really makes you appreciate home.  Before now, I'd never really been away from home without any friends or family for more than two weeks (except for Field Training, but you don't really get time for reflection there).  Now with thousands of miles and about 5 weeks introspection between me and everything I've ever know, man there are some really amazing things back home that you really can't find anywhere else in the world.

Last nights hanabi festival was really fun, but aside from praying at the shrine and buy things there wasn't really anything to do.  And the fireworks were pretty, but they were just fireworks and they were  in the middle of the city so it was difficult to see them well.

Also, never ending seas of people

The 4th of July festival at Stone Mountain on the other hand never disappoints.  My family would go early every year to secure our spot on the lawn. We would rotate turns holding down the fort, so everyone could enjoy all the attractions at the park before the show started. And it was really a show. Since the mountain is white and flat like a projector screen, it happens to be the perfect place to have a laser light display.  It may be cheezy, but it's a whole lot of fun!  The fireworks afterword are hard to beat too, since the mountain is a perfect backdrop reflecting all the light and color from the explosions. But honestly where else can you find such a perfect place to view fireworks? Now every time I see fireworks I compare it to those wonderful memories.

Before coming to Japan, I couldn't wait to have authentic udon and sushi and see what other wonders I could find here.  I did find some that I know I'll have cravings for when I'm back stateside like dango with anko topping (sweet rice-flour ball with red bean topping) and umeshu (plum liqueur), but there are a lot of things that surprised me.  It seems like it's very expensive to bring meat into Japan, so the meat (even fish) quality here is typically low.  That means the typical sushi here is fairly average.  And though my host mom raves about all the veggies I'm getting, I could barely choke down her eggplant because it was over cooked and heavily seasoned with salt and vinegar.  Thankfully though, I told her I don't eat mayo before she loaded it onto my salad.

Rib-cage style sweat markings from sitting in class.

Maybe what surprised me most is the A/C here.  A typical greeting here is either sumimasen (excuse me) or atsui-ne (hot isn't it), but no matter how hot it gets Japanese people are convinced that A/C is to expensive to run.  It's certainly more expensive than in the US because they have such inefficient units, but when your whole family is sitting in their underwear "sweating it out,"maybe it's worth it.  Japan is in many ways a country of cutting edge technology, but while my parents house out in the country doesn't have heated toilet seat it is the perfect temperature year round.