Japan-Cottage-Canada

The cottage was the best possible buffer

Coming home to Canada to live after three years in Japan is like getting hit with a cultural brick. People are loud, rude, and not nearly as easy to look at as over in Japan. The surroundings are not nearly as pretty, daily life not as convenient, and on top of that, the "interesting" factor is gone. Not really wanting to come home in the first place, the transition was going to be extra hard. Thankfully, my return coincided perfectly with the Civic Day long weekend, and the cottage stepped in as the perfect buffer to ease my readjustment: in Canada, but still well in the peace and solitude of the countryside, much like I was used to in Miyagawa.

The weekend brought lots of family that I hadn't seen in quite a while, and the weather also cooperated, with sunny, cloudless days for an entire week. I spent time catching up with everyone, getting in plenty of water skiing (still got it!), and winning at ping-pong (thanks Miyagawa JHS table tennis club). After the weekend, Andrew came down for a few days to get some R&R. Given the circumstances, it was the best possible "back in Canada" week I could have hoped for.