I was back in America and it was an awesome feeling. It was actually quite surreal being back and seeing pretty much everything in my native language. I was a bit out of it due to all of the travel and really just wanted to lay down. My stepdad picked me up at the airport and took me to surprise my mom at home. I'm pretty sure I mentioned already that she was unaware of my arrival. The surprise went as well as was expected. She was there watching TV when I casually walked in as if it were just another day. She was shocked, and most importantly happy, so this mission was a success. That night, Christmas eve, it snowed, which was awesome timing, having a white Christmas and all. Christmas day, another surprise was looming for my mom as my brother would be flying in from LA and she had no idea about this as well. Sure enough, her reaction to his arrival was about the same as with me; shock and happiness. Solid. It was probably the first time in years that all of us had been together, so that alone made it worth the cost and exhaustion of flying back.
Back in Colorado, I was able so see a lot of old haunts, see a good friend and eat some foods I haven't had in over a year. My body had no idea what was going on after going nuts with all that American junk food. It was worth it though, believe me. Do you know how much it sucks not having Mexican food? I didn't do much on vacation aside from laying around like a bum, but that's pretty much all I wanted to do. Just kick back with the family and watch TV. It's weird, I didn't really do anything "special", but everything felt new to me. I'd like to go on record saying that I missed American grocery stores. The selection is ridiculous in the best way. We got it good Americans. I had a really good time being home and it definitely reminded me of what I missed and that it was where I wanted to be. Still have some business to settle up here in Japan, but I know where I wanna be.
After my very short nine days wrapped up back in the States, I was back on the plane at the all-too-early hour of 5am. First flight was Denver to Dallas, followed by Dallas to Tokyo, then Tokyo to Fukuoka. After arriving in Fukuoka, I'd still have a 2-hour train ride to Oita. Needless to say, I wasn't excited. The travel time on the way back was much longer. The direct flight from Dallas to Tokyo was 13 hours. No one should have to sit on a plane for that long, especially when you can't sleep, which is my problem. I watched pretty much all the in-flight movies again and tried to maintain my sanity by walking around and chatting with my neighbor. By the way, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", is a solid film. When I got back to Japan, I still had a day or so before I had to get back to work (planned it that way), so I wasn't totally stressed. I was able to recoup a bit before getting thrown back into the fire with my long-commute school. Also, January and February are parent observation months, so you have to get your A-game back quickly. Truth be told, I'd been transitioning smoothly into life back in Japan, until the night of the 23rd when a certain virus decided to hit me...
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