2006-08-21

Re-adjusting

Well, I've been back in Montreal for a little over 3 weeks now and the reverse culture-shock seems to have worn off. I suppose the fact that I started school again has something to do with it. Bar school is certainly not as bad I thought it would be although the whole French thing is going to cause more than a few problems.
In all honesty, it's nice to be back in the law thing. I remember now why I went into it in the first place. It's an interesting field even if I am, according to James Kennedy, pursuing a career in fake law. Whatever, it's only fake if I leave Quebec. The "cours de preparation" are quite relaxed in atmosphere which is a nice change from the big ball of stress also known as "law school". Classes are conducted entirely in French, reading materials and the practical examples assigned to us are also in French. Which presents an extra challenge seeing as all the legaleese I learned was in English. How am I supposed to know that "signifier" is "to serve"?! At least it's not Japanese.

Speaking of Japanese, the last 2 weekends, the Russell Family has been playing host family to Japanese university students. It was a great experience and it was nice to feel reconnected to Japan even if it was just for a short time. And since last weekend was absolutly GORGEOUS, I felt like I was able to rediscover my city in all its glory. With the Japanese students, I went to all the beautiful places I have missed over the last two years. Montreal is certainly a great place to live... in the summer.
The girls that we hosted were so sweet. They were all first-year University students so that means that they could have been my students had I not been in Nara (all of them were from Tokyo and surrounding prefectures). The whole family had a great time and considering the tears when they left, I'm thinking they had a good time too. I'll post some pictures as soon as I work out my wireless network issues with my laptop.

I guess that's about all I can say for now. I'll definitely try and keep updating as often as possible. My life certainly won't be as exciting as it was when I was in Japan but I'm sure that something is bound to happen at some point, right? Besides... Angie requested that I keep posting and I can't say no to the lovely lady who took over AJET for me ;)

2006-08-05

That's the end?

Well I'm back in Montreal. So much for "Lost in Japan" now. I guess this will be my almost last post. I plan on adding some pics of my last few days in Japan at some point but for now, I don't want to. Being back in Montreal is weird. Reverse culture shock is NOT a myth people...
The weather here is nice aside from the crazy thunderstorm we had that knocked out our power for 15 hours... No lights, no TV, no Internet, no A/C in 47 degree heat (with the Humidex--34 without)... Oh how fun! Right now the weather is fantastic though. Wish I could be out visiting temples.... but I'll save the "I miss Japan" for another day.
So that's it. I start school next week on the 14th. Going back to bar school will be interesting. My family will be playing host family to 2 Japanese students on the 12-13th and 2 different ones on the 19-20th. I'm really excited about that. I may blog about it. We'll see.
For now, I'm going to say Good Bye Japan. I miss you. We had our good times, we had our bad times. But I will never forget our time together. And though right now we are far apart, I will always love you and you will forevermore hold a special place in my heart. But don't despair... you haven't see the last of me because I'll be back... whether you like it or not.