Ahaha. So last time I posted, I was leaving for *sing-song* Aaaameeerica!
My vacation was interesting, but not really what I expected. I had a lot of lofty ideas about all the things I would do for myself and for my job while I was home, few of which actually panned out.
After I moved to Japan, my family moved from our comfy old house into my grandmother's house down the street. The "new" house is a house that I'd played in as a child, but my grandmother had moved out of it maybe ten years ago. So, when I went home for vacation, it held this unique new-old-house kind of nostalgia. It's definitely smaller, and more space is allocated for my parents to do their work. My sister and I now share a room, which mostly feels like her room because my crap has been stuffed away into boxes in the garage. I think most of my vacation was spent soaking up the newness of the house and trying to appreciate its warmth (in both senses of the word). I didn't take videos to bring back and show my classes. I didn't catch up with all the ethnic foods I wanted to (fuck American portion sizes, I was forced to eat leftovers for two days after every day I went out to eat). I didn't buy the things I needed for my remaining time in Japan. I didn't even make it up to SF. In other words...I lazed like a retarded sloth on valium.
The extent of my socializing was a three-day snowboarding trip to Tahoe and an intimate little New Year's party, plus a handful of meet-ups with random friends. I may have botched my first stint as a snowboarding guide, as one of my pupils ended up with a broken tailbone, and the other a minor concussion. But you know, in my defense, there's no accounting for the effects of hard-packed snow and ice. I realize now, though, that three days in a row is pretty rough for beginners, and a two-day trip would have been more kind to the bodies. But when you have to go to so much trouble just to get to the mountains (renting a car, heading out pre-dawn...), two days just doesn't seem worth it. And I'm glad we got to spend two nights in our fabulous hotel.
We loved the place. And their dog. And their free breakfasts and afternoon snack bar. Aren't we just one big happy family (+dog)?
BFF:
Awesome lodge:
Anyway, I left the warm insulated house in mild California, parted with family and friends, video games and TV. I returned to my freezing cold, lonely apartment, where all that was waiting for me was my upcoming conference presentation (pretty much unwritten). In a word, it sucked. I spent about two weeks after that thinking, I am done with Japan, I am done with this job. Fuck this presentation, I want to jab pointy things into my eyes.
Thankfully, the conference has come and gone, and my workshop achieved new heights of unmemorable mediocrity. We had some blizzard-y snowstorms at the end of the last week, which was heinous during the conference but ultimately fantastic for weekend snowboarding. As you can imagine, I've cheered up some.
Ugh, so, I took my boyfriend out for his first attempt at snowboarding, on fresh powder, and he turned out to be some kind of prodigy. Granted, he had skied for a bajillion years and is rather nimble/athletic to begin with...but still, at the end of one day he could do runs and turn like I could only after many excruciating days of torture. He didn't even get whiplash! I think everyone deserves a little whiplash on their first day of boarding. Feh. I'd like to take credit as the teacher but mostly I'm just jealous.
Contented as I am now, I still happily signed off on my recontracting forms with an "uh, NO" this morning. Meaning, I'll be back in the states this fall! Yeeeaaa! Now the only question is, where should I live? Some options that I like: Bay area, CA (just...can't...get...away...), Boston, New York, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, and D.C.
SO EXCITING!
