Archive for category Return to Canada
August 20, 2005 part 1 – Getting there is not half the fun
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Return to Canada on August 20, 2015
This morning instead of getting ready for work, I finished packing my suitcase to fly home to visit my sick sister. My suitcase is the maximum size for Air Canada, and was completely loaded with clothes and last minute souvenirs. In addition, I also had my trusty Canada flag backpack loaded up to keep me entertained on my 3 train rides and two flights. To save time, I skipped breakfast and instead picked up a sandwich at 7-11 across from my apartment to eat on the train.
Japan in August is hot and humid. Unbelievably humid. I have been in less humid saunas. Usually I take my bike to the train station, but there was no safe way to bring my giant suitcase with me on the bike. I did consider trying, but thought that wiping out on a narrow road filled with traffic would probably not help my chances of getting to the airport on time.
The walk to the station with my large wheeled suitcase and fully loaded backpack took me about 20 minutes. By the end of the walk I had sweated through the back of my shirt. I loaded my giant bag onto the train for the short ride to Mishima, ignoring any dirty looks from other passengers. At Mishima station I rolled my giant bag from the main platform through the station towards the shinkansen platform. Fortunately this walk was completely inside and air conditioned. From Mishima to Tokyo I had the giant suitcase jammed between my legs and the seat in front of me. Usually I regret that I am not a very tall person. This was not one of those times.
Once I arrived at Tokyo station, I had to once again drag my mammoth suitcase through crazy crowds of people, past all the souvenir stands, and then down to the lowest level in order to catch the Narita Express. Fortunately the Narita Express is designed for travelers, and has ample storage space at the ends of the cars for luggage.
Train travel in Japan is quick, efficient, and convenient, unless you are bringing a large suitcase. When I came to Japan, NOVA was smart enough to get all of the teacher’s suitcases delivered to their new residences. The last time I went back to Canada, I did bring my suitcase, however it was not a horrible humid day like today.
By the time I got to Narita Airport I was sweaty, cranky, and exhausted. I was much happier and lighter when I was finally able to check my bag. Getting through security and immigration was quick and easy, and my flight left on time.
The first 2-3 hours of the flight was TERRIBLE. Our flight experienced non stop turbulence which got so bad that it occasionally shut down the in flight entertainment system. I rarely get motion sickness, but several people on the flight were not so lucky. The only thing worse than choppy air is the sounds and smells of other passengers barfing in a crowded, enclosed space.
The pilot did come on the PA several times to apologize and explain that the skies were quite busy, which prevented our flight from adjusting altitude. After about 3 hours of bouncing around, the air finally gave us a break and we enjoyed the remaining 7 hours in relative calm.
I was very happy to finally get on the ground in Vancouver. Whoever says getting there is half the fun is an idiot.
January 5, 2005 pt1 – Too cold to take off
Posted by Barniferous in Return to Canada on January 5, 2015
I was awake at 4:45am Winnipeg time, and managed to get to the airport at 5:30. It was below minus 35 degrees outside, so I was looking forward to getting back to a more sensible winter in Japan.
When I checked my bags, the employee at the Northwest airlines counter switched my seat on the Minneapolis to Tokyo flight so I could sit in an exit row. I am not a very tall person so leg room is not usually an issue on flights, but I was not about to turn down extra space. After checking in, I was pleasantly surprised that my friend Janet woke up early to meet me at the airport for a farewell Tim Hortons coffee.
After a short visit, I went through security where I was randomly selected to have my bag searched and shoes X-rayed. This was my first time ever to be selected for this kind of screening. It was a minor annoyance and was over quickly.
The major annoyance came at boarding time. Northwest announced that the air temperature on the runway was -35 degrees, and that their deicing fluid was only certified to -33 degrees. They said that we could not take off until the temperature increased enough to deice the plane.
There are a lot of annoying delays with air travel. However, people are far less likely to complain about delays related to safety. Nobody wants to take a chance with frozen wings on a plane. After about 30 minutes of waiting, Northwest announced that they were going to borrow some of Air Canada’s heavy duty deicing fluid so we could finally leave. I am not sure why Northwest didn’t have the serious deicing fluid in Winnipeg (Winterpeg), but that was probably a decision by someone in a warm office somewhere far to the south.
Remember friends – when traveling in the winter, make sure there is lots of time to catch a connecting flight in case it is too cold too take off.
January 4, 2005 – Last night in Canada (again)
Posted by Barniferous in Return to Canada on January 4, 2015
Today started with a great breakfast at the Wright Spot with my dad. I then went for a haircut, appreciating the fact that I could communicate properly with the stylist. After that, I finished my packing and my family took me back to Winnipeg.
We had a nice dinner together at Earl’s, and then I got dropped off at a hotel near the airport. My flight to Minneapolis is at 7:30am tomorrow, so it’s convenient to be near the airport. Compared to most of the rest of my visit home, it was an early night. I can’t believe how quickly my return to Canada went by. I will miss my family and friends again, but I will not miss the crazy winter weather.
See you soon Japan!
January 3, 2005 – Greyhound Bus
Posted by Barniferous in Return to Canada on January 3, 2015
My car was still stuck in the parking lot of my sister’s apartment building. This was especially annoying because the parking lot in the neighbouring building had been cleared of snow 3 times since the big snowstorm. The neighbouring building also had a different property management company. Unfortunately the apartment vacancy rate in Winnipeg is very low, so property managers can get away with being lazy.
I ended up taking a Greyhound bus back to Portage la Prairie. The Greyhound bus was just as glamorous as I remember (i.e. not very). However, it is a safe, reliable way to get between cities on horrible winter roads.
The only exciting thing that happened in Portage was a visit to the dentist. Apparently the dental hygienist was flirting with me and was asking about me after I left. As usual, I was completely oblivious.
January 2, 2005 – House of 1000 Corpses
Posted by Barniferous in Movies, Return to Canada on January 2, 2015
After several days of heavy snow, and no snow clearing in the apartment parking lot, my car was seriously stuck in the snow. I didn’t do anything during the day. In the evening I got picked up and went to my friend W+C’s for dinner. They love horror movies, so we ended up watching House of 1000 Corpses which was written and directed by Rob Zombie. It was an interesting combination of cheesy and extremely gory, but was overall entertaining.
January 1, 2005 – New Year’s Hangover
Posted by Barniferous in Return to Canada on January 1, 2015
Happy New Year! Due to a combination of hangover, lack of available vehicle and tiredness, I didn’t really want to do much with my day. I decided to watch some movies, but my sister and her roommate somehow don’t own a DVD player. Fortunately Movie Village was only a few minute walk from the apartment. I rented a player and some movies and spent the rest of the day being relaxed.
December 31, 2004 – Epic New Year’s Bongo Battle
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Return to Canada, Shenanigans on December 31, 2014
I got a call from Junk to go for lunch at Dirty Ken’s restaurant downtown (not the real name). Junk picked me up, and we tried to find a parking spot downtown that wasn’t completely filled with snow. After we braved the snow filled streets and got parked, we found that the restaurant was closed.
Our backup plan was Stella’s in Osborne Village, which was excellent as always. After breakfast we hung out for a few hours watching Simpsons, and then I returned home to prepare for the New Year’s Party at the fraternity house.
Due to the crazy amounts of snow and the fact that I was planning on drinking too much to safely drive home, I took the bus to the frat house. Winnipeg Transit is not the best form of transportation, and it doesn’t even come close to Japanese trains, but it sure beats driving in the winter.
The party was pretty good, even though only about half of the expected people showed up due to the snow. The people who did show up enjoyed a typical evening of alcohol fueled mayhem. Highlights included a live band in the basement, a sad female singing in Portuguese in the shower, communal baby duck, a cool projector, and getting to hang out with Hippie, who some of you may remember as one of the people who came to visit me in Japan in the summer.
My good friend / drinking buddy Triple D showed up late from work, and we recreated some of our wrestling night stupidity by attacking each other with plastic champagne glasses. It seemed like a fun idea at the time, but we both ended up with cuts on our foreheads. Fun fact: non stick cooking spray in an open wound stings like crazy.
Later in the evening Hippie, who was living in the fraternity house, retreated to his room with his girlfriend Sunny for some “alone time”. He left her alone in his room to have a shower, so Triple D and I (after way too many beers) decided to hang out with Sunny and interrupt their plans. When Hippie returned and found us hanging out, he was less than pleased. After much pleading and several threats, Hippie thought we were finally about to leave. At that moment, Triple D picked up some bongos and initiated an Epic Bongo Challenge.
One of the cardinal rules of being a Hippie is that you must own bongos. The related rule is that you are never able to turn down a bongo challenge at any time for any reason.
Triple D picked up Hippie’s bongos and played a pretty good beat, considering his blood alcohol content. Hippie took the bongos and responded to the challenge. I encouraged them both, and took the picture above. I honestly can’t say how long the epic bongo battle continued, but it probably seemed like hours to poor Sunny.
Eventually we did leave the room and I ended up crashing on one of the many available couches long after most people had gone to sleep. It was a fun New Year’s Eve with friends that I was going to regret in the morning.
(Updated Jan 4 – changed Hippie’s girlfriend’s from “Hippie’s girlfriend” to “Sunny” by request)
December 30, 2004 – Non alcohol karaoke!?
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Friends and coworkers, Return to Canada on December 30, 2014
Today it started snowing, and the snow didn’t stop. By the end of the day, some parts of Winnipeg had received more than 30 centimeters (about 12 inches) of Snow. Since I was only back in Canada for a few weeks, I didn’t want to let the weather slow me down. I had a full evening planned with friends.
The first venue of the evening was Smitty’s lounge for their famous wing night. My friends and I all gorged ourselves on chicken wings and beer. Sometime around 2000 or 2001, my friend Grog and I discovered the joys of Smitty’s Tuesday and Thursday cheap wing nights. We invited more people, and wing night became a regular event. I am proud to say that the wing night tradition survived even after Grog and I both moved away from Winnipeg. Tonight’s wing night was the first time we were both back in Winnipeg for wings in over a year.
After wings, we drove to Osborne village to find something fun to do. I was staying in my old apartment (now shared by my sister and a roommate) in the neighbourhood, so I was able to safely park my car and meet up with the group at a new karaoke place. It was Asian style private room karaoke, but they weren’t licensed to serve alcohol. I hadn’t realized before how important alcohol was to karaoke. We still had fun, however. My group had a few people who had been in some local bands, so the quality of karaoke was above my usual drunk English teacher level.
We finished up with some beverages at Toad in the Hole, a popular pub style watering hold that has become a landmark in Osborne Village. It was a really fun night, and despite me being away for a year, my friends made me feel like I had never left at all.
December 29, 2004 – An awkward meeting and an awkward movie
Posted by Barniferous in Movies, Return to Canada, The Ex on December 29, 2014
During the afternoon I met up with Brother X, one of my pledge brothers from when I joined the fraternity. Brother X was usually a pretty good guy, but had some bad habits that got him kicked out of the fraternity. We had been keeping in touch, so it was good to see him again. After catching up for a bit, we went to see Meet the Fockers at the cheap theater. MTF is a sequel to the hilarious “Meet the Parents”. It was disappointing.
In the evening I met up with The Ex. When I had originally decided to move to Japan, we were having a lot of problems in our relationship. We had been together for about 5 years, but weren’t sure where the relationship was going. I wanted to have an adventure before I got locked into a career, and after studying Japanese in University, I decided a year overseas to teach English would fit the bill.
It would be hard to describe the current status of our relationship. Ironically the word “complicated” is the simplest way to describe things. When I decided to go on an overseas adventure, I asked The Ex to come with me but she had no interest in living in Japan for a year. I asked if she was interested in coming to visit, but she wasn’t completely sold on the idea and was also planning a major trip to visit her cousins in Portugal. Before I left Canada, we had agreed to go our separate ways and to reassess the situation when I moved home.
For the first part of my time away, we had exchanged some phone calls to keep in touch. We switched to emails to try and get some distance. The emails were generally friendly, but it was a strange situation that we were both having trouble navigating. My decision to stay longer in Japan was also a bit of a stress point.
Before I left Japan, The Ex and I made plans to meet for coffee at Perkins while I was in Canada. We met in the entrance way and then moved to a table. It was strange to talk to the woman I had been in a relationship with for 5 years but hadn’t actually seen in a year. Things started reasonably well; we hit the safe topics – catching up on how our mutual friends were doing, and exchanging some of our current adventures.
The topic then changed to relationship stuff. She told me that she had been dating a coworker for several months now, and made a point of telling me that he was really tall. I told her that I was dating The Penpal (which understandably got a negative reaction), and that my parents had already met The Penpal’s parents. One of my biggest complaints about my relationship with The Ex was that in the 5 years we were together, our parents had never met each other.
I’m not really sure what either one of us was expecting out of this meeting. It was an extremely awkward situation and one of my least favourite trips to Perkins, but I think we both walked away with a bit more closure than we had before.
Perkins was close to Cinema City 8, the discount movie theater. Instead of being left by myself to over-analyze the uncomfortable conversation I just had with The Ex, I met up with my sister and we went to see Napoleon Dynamite. The movie was a collection of loosely related events in the lives of some very strange people in Idaho. It was weird and funny and very quotable. Napoleon Dynamite was a good ending to a day with some uncomfortable moments.
December 27, 2004 – I miss Japanese Customer Service
Posted by Barniferous in Return to Canada on December 27, 2014
I did a lot of shopping in Winnipeg today. After spending hours in the mall, I realized how much I miss Japanese Customer Service. If you only ever shop in Canada, you don’t realize just how good service can be. I found that some clerks just simply had no interest in serving customers at all.
In Japan I have had great service in almost any place where I was a customer. Staff will do their best to help you, even with a language barrier. Restaurant servers are fantastic even though they don’t get tips. Japanese customer service truly raises the bar for everyone else.
The worst offenders on my return home so far have been Sport-Check and Roots, where the staff had no interest in working at all. I am not sure if they were unhappy to be working in busy stores over the holidays, or if they just didn’t like their jobs. Getting any help at all was a major imposition. Those clerks would have been fired in Japan immediately. Koya, Moore’s, Robin’s Donuts and Osborne Cyber Cafe (where I am now) haven’t been very good either.
To be fair, I have gotten some great service at Carlos and Murphys, Olive Garden, Applebees, Lens-Crafters and The Liquor Mart. Well done folks, well done.
I spent several hours at Polo Park mall shopping with my mom. By the end I was tired and grumpy, and just wanted to leave. If you are living away from home and only have limited time to spend with your family, spend that time doing something you both enjoy. Shopping was a poor choice and I wish I had just played a few intense games of Scrabble instead.
(2014 Update) Please remember that these posts happened 10 years ago. I make no assertions about the level of service you will receive in any of these stores now. Even if the service has improved, it’s still probably not as good as service in Japan. Seriously, I miss Japanese customer service.
Drinking in Japan 
Recent Comments