After 2 years of being away I finally went back home to the States to visit. There are a few reasons I hadn't returned sooner. The cost of a ticket and the flight time were pretty high on the list but also I've enjoyed traveling to other countries and cities during my vacation. Other places in Asia which are closer, cheaper and were first time experiences for me. Finally I began missing home enough to take the trip back. I chose Christmas vacation because it was a good time to see a lot of my family at one time as well as I really miss the feel of Christmas in the US. It's just not the same here in Asia. It was a good 3 weeks. I've missed all the sarcasm and humor that comes with my family, a lot of it that I had to tone down greatly in myself in order to fit in better here. Also got to see a lot of old friends and remembered just how much I miss hanging out with them. I've not found that kind of closeness with people in Japan as I had with my childhood and college friends despite the majority of the college friends being from Asia.
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| Sister,Mom, and me |
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| Our real Christmas Tree at home. Looks nice but the poor thing was super dried out. |
Besides people, one of the best things about being back was food. I'm a fan of Japanese food, but I miss a lot of restaurants in America like Steak N Shake, Penn Station, Qdoba, and almost any pizza place. My city St.Louis also has some great not so Chinese Chinese food that you can't even find in other cities in America.
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| My Mom's home made cooking. Fried chicken, macaroni & cheese and string beans. So good! |
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| Took my sister to have her first Thai meal. |
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| Garden Salad from the restaurant called Red Lobster |
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| Coconut fried jumbo shrimp. Big shrimp with coconut in the fried coating. A very interesting taste and the white sauce along with it had a sweet tropical taste. |
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Lucky for me the Japanese Yen is quite strong in comparison with the US dollar and so I got a nice extra bit of cash when exchanging my money over to dollars. I did a lot of shopping with this money. Clothes, candy, video games and especially a pair of shoes which is vital because finding my size in Japan is near impossible. Besides shopping, trips to the zoo and ice skating with friends was pretty fun.
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| With friends at the St.Louis Zoo |
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| Spent the last night ice skating |
I didn't realize how much I missed my 1st home until I visited and then left. It's been a little tougher being back in Japan just remembering how lonely I'm not when I'm back in the US. Honestly I'm afraid I won't be able to find the kind of friendships and relationships here in Japan but its my home now and I'm praying for a more active fulfilling life in the year 2012.
