Archive for category Return to Canada
December 26, 2004 – Boxing Day
Posted by Barniferous in Return to Canada on December 26, 2014
Happy Boxing Day!
For those unaware, Boxing Day is the name given to December 26 in British Commonwealth countries. In Canada, it is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Stores are usually open for reduced hours, and many offer big discounts or door crasher sales.
I didn’t line up early for any of the insane deals, but I did go to WalMart with my family to see the regular boxing day sales. The store was overcrowded and it took forever to get through the lines. Everyone was paying with plastic, and the machines were very slow.
Unless you are a die hard shopper, I recommend against shopping on Boxing Day.
December 25, 2004 – Merry Christmas!
Posted by Barniferous in Return to Canada on December 25, 2014
It was great to be home for Christmas! My Christmas day was like any other – opening presents in the morning followed by a big breakfast cooked by my Dad. Afternoon was filled with phone calls with relatives and napping, and the evening featured a huge turkey dinner.
One of the presents I got was the first season of “Corner Gas” on DVD. Corner Gas is a Canadian TV show set in the fictional small town of Dog River, Saskatchewan. The show can best be described as Seinfeld if it was set in Saskatchewan instead of New York.
Merry Christmas to all!
December 24, 2004 – Strangers in a foreign land
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Return to Canada on December 24, 2014
I woke up at the fraternity house and went out for breakfast at the nearby Perkins with some of the brothers. Perkins was a popular spot for University students due to its proximity to campus, never ending refills of ice tea, and the fact that it was open 24/7.
After breakfast, I went to pick up Fatima from her apartment to take her to my parents’ house. Fatima was originally from Sierra Leone, but had escaped the brutal civil war by seeking refugee status in Canada. My sister met her while volunteering at a support group for newcomers to Canada, and they became friends. Since then, Fatima has been an adopted part of the family, and she comes to our family dinners.
I had met Fatima a few times before, usually with my sister or at my parent’s house. In the past we never really had much in common. However, after living in Japan for a year, I found that we both had some similar experiences living as a visible minority in a foreign country. We both look different from many of the people around us, and we have both been treated differently because of it. We have both been surprised or confused by the local culture. We both have some experiences with the different climate in our new countries. Also, we both don’t speak the local language well enough (yet). Japanese is my second language (third if you count the French I learned in school), and English is Fatima’s third or fourth language.
It’s about a 75 minute drive from Fatima’s apartment to my parent’s house, and we talked the whole time. By the end of the drive, we had become good friends. It’s amazing what finding a few things in common can do to bring people together, even if they have very different backgrounds and situations.
In the evening, we stuck to our usual family tradition for Christmas Eve – a big meal featuring tourtierre (French Canadian meat pie), and then midnight mass at the Catholic church. For the record – midnight mass in Portage la Prairie starts around 9:00pm. It was my first time to see the new church building, which was finished while I was teaching in Japan. The new building replaced two 50+ year old smaller church buildings in town. It was a nice modern church, but I did kinda miss the classic “big stone church” feeling.
After mass, I finished the evening with my tradition of wrapping the last few presents frantically and sneaking them under the tree. I love Christmas!
December 23, 2004 – Extreme Tactics + Extreme Chair Destruction
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Return to Canada, Shenanigans on December 23, 2014
The aftermath of a man vs. chair grudge match
I started my day in Portage la Prairie with a visit to my old employer. I had worked there for several years during University, so it was good to drop in and say hi to my old coworkers. Naturally I brought donuts. I missed Canadian donuts.
In the afternoon I went to Winnipeg to hang out with the fraternity guys. I joined them for a group outing at a place called Xtreme Tactics. For the rest of the afternoon we chased each other around an indoor maze shooting each other with Airsoft pellet guns. I had played paintball before but never done indoor Airsoft, which is why I was not appropriately dressed for the occasion. I ended up with some nasty welts on my arms.
After spending the afternoon shooting each other, we all went to Boston Pizza for dinner and then returned to the fraternity house for the Brotherhood Bottle Exchange.
In Delta Upsilon, new members are assigned a “big brother” when they join. The big brother is an existing member who is supposed to guide the little brother in the ways of the fraternity. At the brotherhood bottle exchange, big brothers and little brothers exchange bottles of alcohol and then everyone hangs out for some beverages and brotherhood. It was a great chance for me to catch up with my friends and hear some fun fraternity stories.
During the course of the evening, the following events may or may not have happened:
- People mixing shochu in their beer (a very bad idea).
- A centurion – this is a beer related challenge where participants drink one shot glass full of beer every minute. While one ounce of beer seems like a small amount, once ounce of beer every minute works out to about standard bottles of beer every hour. Centurions usually don’t end well.
- Vomiting in a holiday themed hat.
- A poker game which started with low stakes and ended up resulting in people losing part of their next month’s rent money. The big winner, who claimed several hundred dollars from other players, decided to tear up all of the IOUs and return the winnings.
- A stripper was hired, but since you can’t discuss prices over the phone, a long negotiation about money occured inside the front door. Both sides at times threatened to walk away from the deal.
- A WWE style wrestling match pitting man vs. wicker chair. After a long battle, the chair eventually lost after several Hulk Hogan style legdrops. It ended up being thrown over the balcony into the snow below.
It was a good time for everyone except the chair.
December 22, 2004 – Poutine and Hockey
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Return to Canada on December 22, 2014
Clubhouse sandwich and poutine at Chicken Chef
My jetlag feels much better today, and I have now assumed my holiday schedule; stay up late, sleep in late.
Today I went for lunch with my friend Janet and her son Dominic. We went to our old favourite lunch place, Chicken Chef. In my year in Japan, I have lost some weight due to lots of walking, biking, and eating better. Therefore, I didn’t feel bad at all about ordering a big clubhouse sandwich with an order of poutine instead of regular fries. For those sadly unaware of poutine, it is french fries with cheese curds covered in gravy. Poutine is one of the few true Canadian foods. It’s not what most people would consider “healthy”, but it tastes amazing.
After lunch we went to 7-11, which was a regular part of hanging out in high school. Canadian 7-11 is a big disappointment after living in Japan. The selection is much smaller and I missed my Japanese favourites.
In the evening my family took me to see junior hockey in Winnipeg at the new downtown arena. The game was an exhibition game in the annual World Junior tournament. We proudly watched Team Canada beat Switzerland 5-0 with a full house of 15,000 other noisy Canucks. I missed hockey!
(2014 Update) You may remember my friend Janet as the person who ruined my… um… romantic intentions on my trip to Edmonton to get my visa. Dominic was the product of her unexpected news.
You may notice in the picture that Chicken Chef’s poutine is made with shredded cheese instead of cheese curds. Poutine purists demand curds, but I assure you that the shredded cheese poutine shown above was still delicious.
December 21, 2004 – Breakfast – Canadian style
Posted by Barniferous in Return to Canada on December 21, 2014
After a long, long day of travel yesterday, I didn’t feel like doing much today. The only thing I really left the house for was breakfast with my dad at his favourite breakfast place – The Wright Spot.
My dad is the oldest of 5 brothers who all live in different cities in Canada. They all have their own favourite breakfast spot that they eat at religiously. The Wright Spot features a $5 breakfast special:
- Two eggs any style
- Bacon, ham or sausage
- Toast
- Your choice of potato
- Endless coffee
The restaurant also has a large selection of newspapers for diners. It is a popular hangout and breakfast spot for locals, especially members of the local farming community.
It’s possible to get eggs and bacon for breakfast in Japan, but it usually comes with a salad instead of a potato. It was nice to have a nice Canadian style breakfast for a change.
(2014 Update) Unfortunately the Wright Spot closed a few years ago. My dad has moved on to a new favourite breakfast spot.
December 20, 2004 pt2 – Back in North America
Posted by Barniferous in Return to Canada on December 20, 2014
After a 12+ hour flight from Tokyo, my plane landed in Minneapolis / St. Paul International airport. I got off the plane and then went through another round immigration and security checks, and moving my suitcase from one conveyor belt to another. I still don’t understand the purpose of moving my suitcase from one side of a room to the other.
After escaping the security zone, Rob (the Winnipegger who sat next to me on the flight), and I decided to grab some lunch at Pizza Hut. In all of my travel plans I hadn’t considered the need for US currency. At the cash register I asked the Pizza Hut cashier if I could pay with Canadian dollars or Japanese Yen. She thought I was just being a jerk and was not amused. Thankfully my Canadian credit card worked, and I was able to “enjoy” a lunch of extremely greasy pizza. Seriously, after eating Japanese food for over a year I couldn’t believe how greasy the pizza was.
Rob and I explored the huge airport together. Just as we were getting ready to go to our gate, I noticed that I no longer had my sister’s extremely heavy ancient laptop. We returned to Pizza Hut and couldn’t find it. Fortunately someone had turned it into security. Unattended bags in an airport are no joke, and I am happy that I wasn’t detained and that the laptop wasn’t exploded or anything.
Our departure ended up being delayed by freezing rain, so we got to Winnipeg an hour late. We left Japan at 5:00pm on December 20, and landed in Winnipeg at 4:00pm on December 20, an hour before we left. Yes friends, time travel is possible. After landing in the past, we got sniffed by a police dog, and again went through immigration and customs. Thanks to a 2 litre bottle of shochu, I was over my limit for alcohol. The customs officer had the Christmas spirit, and let me bring my Christmas spirits through without having to pay extra.
It was great to see my family again! It had been six months since they left Japan, and I really missed them. On the way out of Winnipeg we stopped at Olive Garden for dinner. I did my best to avoid falling asleep at the table as I stuffed myself with breadsticks, salad and pasta. Since I was no longer used to heavy North American food, the oversauced pasta sat like a brick in my stomach.
The ride to Portage la Prairie was a typical, terrible winter drive. The road is flat with no wind breaks, so any amount of wind and snow provides for dangerous conditions with low visibility. I was happy that my dad was driving, and I slept in the back seat.
Despite the cold weather, it really is great to be home!
December 20, 2004 pt1 – Leaving Japan
Posted by Barniferous in Return to Canada on December 20, 2014
This is the first part of my returning home for Christmas story. All together, my Monday lasted 39 hours due to traveling across time zones.
I started my journey by walking 20 minutes to Numazu station while dragging my giant suitcase, wearing an overstuffed backpack, and carrying my sister’s incredibly heavy antique laptop. From Numazu I took the Tokaido line to Mishima where I switched to the Shinkansen bound for Tokyo. I managed to get all of my stuff through busy Tokyo station towards the Narita express platform, stopping to buy a few last minute souvenirs and Christmas presents. Yes, I bought even more stuff to carry.
I arrived at the airport at 1:00pm Japan time. and went to the baggage check. I bought most of my Christmas presents in Asakusa, so they were all very nicely wrapped. Airport security does not like wrapped Christmas presents, so all of my presents had to go through the x-ray scanner. I was also asked to turn the laptop. Since the battery is dead, it only lasts about 5 seconds before shutting off. This meant that the laptop got scanned and swabbed for bomb residue. The whole experience was time consuming and a bit annoying, but the airport staff was polite the entire time and managed to repack my suitcase EXACTLY the same way that it was before.
After getting rid of my bags, I got to wait in line to get my boarding pass. I then went though security and got to wait in line at immigration. Who knew what a major airport would be so busy before Christmas…
Eventually I got through all of the lines, and got on my plane. The first two hours of the flight were incredibly turbulent. I don’t think I have ever been on a flight so rough before. The captain kept apologizing and told us that the skies were busy, so we were not cleared to switch altitudes. At least the movies weren’t bad – they showed “I, Robot”, “Shark Tale”, and “Elf”. I think I managed to sleep for a few hours but can’t be sure.
Near the end of the flight I started talking to the guy sitting next to me who was named Rob. It turns out that he was in my intermediate Japanese class in University and was also returning to Winnipeg for Christmas. Unlike me, he managed to get into the JET program. We exchanged some stories about our experiences in Japan. Out of all of the flights home and all of the seats in the plane, I happened to sit next to I guy I knew from school. Sometimes it really is a small world.
Drinking in Japan 
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