[ U.S.A

My S.O. and I are back in the U.S.A enjoying some R and R. It has been so
wonderfully cool here, at times in the mid 60s. I cannot express how fabulous
that feels after the disgusting heat and humidity of Tokyo.

Everytime I come back I invariably experience culture shock, and this time has
been no different. I am on vacation though, so I just try to go with the flow,
but two things have bothered me:

1. There are no vending machines here. If you want something to drink you have
to go into a store, and drinks can be expensive.

2. There are very few public restrooms, and the ones you find aren't clean. To
be perfectly blunt, it's stupid how there are 10 million places to eat here but
almost no where to give it back.

On the whole though, it has been enjoyable. As strange as it may sound, I like
the uneven sidewalks, the potholes and run-down buildings here and there, with
their broken windows. Also the large oak trees pushing up parts of sidewalks,
how different the cicadas sound (there aren't thousands of them all droning at
once), and the lush green grass everywhere. This city is steeped in history and
I love seeing 100+ year old buildings dotted all around.

We had a bittersweet trip to the supermarket the other day: it was exciting to
see a real deli and ailes of frozen food and chips and granola bars and cake
mix and so on. It was sad thinking that unless we trek to a Costco far outside
the city in Japan (and pay a ton of money), we won't be seeing most of those
things again.

We have a road trip coming up which I am looking forward to, but with some
trepidation. I have gotten used to driving in Japan because it is civilized and
organized and predictable. Here it is a free-for-all where traffic rules are
ignored and people constantly honk their horn at the slightest thing. When
stopped at a red light it doesn't give me much confidence to see the car next
to me with a missing mirror or large dents or scratches all up and down.

Jetlag isn't much fun either, but I can sit here at a quarter part four in the
morning and listen to the crickets outside, and remember that I don't have to
go to work tomorrow.

Take it easy.



*Note: I overwrote this entry by accident and I didn't have a backup, but
someone graciously provided me with a copy which I have transcribed here.