Home Sweet Home: Japan to America and Back to Japan

WOW! Long time NO UPDATE :) It has been a terrific past month.

I finished up teaching at Itako 2nd last month by March 18th :) On the 18th I was homeward bound. I left school a bit early on the 18th and was able to park my car and get a ride to the airport with a friend. It was a beautiful day and I was really excited to be going back stateside.

I arrived at the airport with plenty of time to check in and make it to my airplane. I was instantly "harassed" by the American Express counter in Narita. I started speaking Japanese to them and that made it even worse. The sales rep told me that I was really cute. Need less to say I was definitely skeezed out by this one.

After putting everything in order I was off to my gate :) The reverse culture shock, as us foreigners have been warned about, began to sink in. I saw this horribly over weight guy shoving an ice cream cone down his throat and smacking his lips in the process - GROSS! THEN, there was this girl sitting on the floor speaking to this guy that was sitting on the floor - she too was smacking but this time it was gum! I was already annoyed before I even left NARITA. HOW SAD IS THAT?! hahaha.

I then found myself comfortably on the plane to Chicago. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous. An 11 hour flight, 2 movies, and a few moments of shut eye later, I found myself in Chicago! I had a four hour lay over so my dear friend Kate came and met me at the airport and we had dinner at the Hilton! As I waited for her I went into the bathroom and got cleaned up - it was nice to change clothes, wash face, etc.

My first meal back I had a Cobb salad and spinach dip - it was marvelous! We had a great time just talking and enjoying each others company. It was then time for me to depart for NASHVILLE! It was very surreal having woken up in my bed in Japan and was falling asleep in my bed in America - funny feeling of having two homes in two entirely different countries :)

It was really great to have my family meet me in the Nashville airport - tons of love and excitement! I was surprisingly not that tired and stayed up until about 12:30 and slept all the way through until noon the next day. Some how I really ROCKED at kicking jet lag in the butt. I really didn't experience too much of it.

The next day I stayed in my pj's and watched junk day time TV - oh how I have NOT missed that. I then pulled myself together and went and had coffee with my mom at our little cafe up the street, the one where "Nicole and Keith" are often spotted. Allie, my best friend from high school, came and met us there after she finished work!

The next few days were spent catching up with friends from Nashville, eating at my favorite restaurants, getting my nails done!, going to movies, watching movies at home, shopping, sleeping, and just enjoying being at home with my family.

My first Saturday evening back was nice! I went to my favorite restaurant with my parents and kitty kat. I enjoyed a delicious Mahi Mahi with all creations of flavor surrounding this great fish. It was then out for a night with the girls. We went to this adorable wine bar called Rumors then it was off to Tabolih's for hookah :)

Sunday was spent sleeping in. In the afternoon, my family and I went to see the new Julia Roberts/Clive Owen flick. Then we enjoyed MEXICAN food after that. It was great to eat Mexican food but I guess it has been sooo long since I have actually enjoyed it that it was actually way too much food and not as satisfying as I would have hoped!

The next week I spent with my mom because she had her spring break! We had a great week together just doing what we usually do, talking, eating, drinking coffee, and shopping. We had a great time and some really good conversations. We were able to go to the factory in Franklin for chicken salad and to Starbucks in green hills for a nice afternoon spent outside talking over coffee. We also walked around Hillsboro village looking at cute shoes and jewelry in Posh, Pangaea, and Fire Finch!

I spent a few evenings in hillsboro village at Jackson's, Bosco's, and Cabana - great restaurants for long conversation and good drinks! Some of my best memories ever have come from nights spent in Hillsboro Village - a must when going through Nashville!

On Thursday, We went up to Minnesota as a family to spend the weekend with my only remaining grandparent - my Grandma Parker. The older I get, the more people I loose (naturally) and the closer I am becoming with my family. It is important for me to see the ones I love, tell them thank you for being in my life, and to tell them simply, "I love you". I feel far too many times we are unable to have a really good heartfelt good-bye with the ones we really love for whatever reason that may be.

We spent Friday at the nursing home with Grandma Parker. She was in very high spirits. She was in much better shape then I was expecting. She was very witty and smiling. She looks happy for the state that she is in. She has made friends and is supported by an extremely caring staff. It was so fun being able to sit there with Kat and talk with her. The older I get the funnier my grandma seems. I understand her humor more and more. She is wonderful.

Friday night we went to my aunt, uncle, and cousin's house in Maple Grove. We enjoyed a take out dinner courtesy of Applebee's - actually NOT BAD! I had a native fish to MN called Walleye - it was extremely good! Ben, another cousin, was so sweet to drive all the way up to MN from Des Moines. It was really great to see him! Ben is a professor at a college in Iowa. We all talked, watched basketball, and went home.

On Saturday, Kathryn stayed back to work on her graduate school applications and we took grandma out to lunch. It was a nice lunch with Mom, Dad, Ben, and Grandma. We then enjoyed some talk back at the nursing home and then it was time to say our good-byes. I am really glad we were able to spend time with her.

My trip home was purposefully to go home and see my family of course but to fly to MN to see my grandmother. You just simply don't know when someones life will end. She just turned 92 on March 17th. She looks AMAZING for 92 :) It was a great trip and we managed to skip the snow!!

The next week I spent seeing friends, having lunch with mom and friends, shopping for things to bring back to Japan, going out in the evenings with friends, getting my nails and hair done :), eating SUSHI, and just enjoying the gorgeous weather before coming back to the gorgeous weather we are currently experiencing in Japan!

On Tuesday afternoon, I had the pleasure of seeing my Great Aunt Ann. She looks amazing! She is 82 years old. We talked for 3.5 hours. It was really nice being able to sit and just talk with her. She is our southern belle aunt. She full of life and terrific stories. We really enjoyed our time with one another.

It was really great to go home. The culture shock issue really wasn't that bad. Americans and people of the world come in all shapes and sizes. However, now living in Japan it is rare to see an severely overweight person. That was difficult to see overweight, poorly dressed individuals. Oh well, what are you gonna do? I suppose just continue on with life in your own way - the way you want to live your own life and I guess I do. I was just blindsided a few times by what people decided to put on when they woke up that morning and the amount of weight they have on their bodies...ANYWAY :)

I left Thursday morning on the 2nd of April and arrived in Japan on the 3rd in the afternoon. I was worse coming back to Japan with the whole jet lag thing. I was able to watch a few good movies on the plane and slept only about 3 hours (same as going back to the US). I love getting on international flights because it means you are going somewhere exciting - well for me anyway. It was very comforting to know that I still have my home in America and I have my home here in Japan. That way, I was never having to be really sad when I left either place knowing I will go back to both at least for this next year and 4 months.

Thank you to everyone back home that I was able to see! It was great to see you all! Know that you ALL have a standing invitation to come visit me whenever you'd like! I miss you guys so much and love you tons! However, I am so glad to be back in Japan - I really am happy here - I think that reflects on my face and in my stories. I can't tell you how many times everyone at home kept saying how young I look. I suppose its because I am not stressed in Japan. I love my life, I love what I am doing, I suppose when that happens it prevents wear and tear on your body and face :)

Love you =D