Forty Days: Kanada ni kaerimasu.

Everyday, someone asks me how long I've been in Japan. "About a year," I reply. Sugoi!/Wow! they exclaim - either they think that's a really short or really long time. Actually, I think they just pretend to be surprised because there aren't many other reactions you could have when someone tells you they've been living in Japan for a year.

I don't feel like this year has flown by. Coming to Japan feels like ages ago and this whole era of my life has felt like just that: an entire era. Interestingly enough, my mind has adapted to Japan being 'home' and going back to visit Canada this summer felt like an exotic adventure. I sometimes daydream about what life's going to be like in Canada... giant waterfalls, maple syrup, snowshoes year-round, many natures, "aurora"... or at least that's what my students are telling me.

But yeah, as I was saying, Japan now feels like home. Not the good kind of home where you get to relax in front of the fireplace with your dog and eat cookies that your mother made, but the bad kind of home where you recognize the dirty faces of the homeless people and have to eat at McDonald's everyday to make sure you get your nutrition. And where the police show up at your work to shake things up and let us foreigners know that "they're watching us".

Anyway, as you may have wildly guessed, I'm moving back to Canada in November. I first came here on a one-year open return ticket, which expires on November 11th. Originally, I had planned on just foregoing this ticket, but some recent reassessments of my life have given me a change of heart.

So, those of you back in Halifax can expect me home in time for Remembrance Day. I don't want to wear a poppy, but we can celebrate the holiday by watching the following war movies: Saving Private Ryan, Mash, Apocalypse Now and Starship Troopers. See you soon. Peace out. One love. Latino forever.