The fun way home!

I finally got through the door last night at 3AM and was welcomed by a really hot stuffy house. I reflexively opened all my windows. During my absence the whole of Japan had been under a heat wave of sorts. In most parts of the world sunny weather is welcomed but here in summer it turns everything into a humid mess. I experienced the worst of it landing in Tokyo where it was 35C and had humidity so bad it was practically foggy. Even the airport air conditioning couldn't keep up. The humidity abated slightly the further north I came. A second new experience yesterday was taking the night train home for the first time. Normally from the airport to the station it takes a quick and direct hour and a half, but catching the last midnight train yesterday on the exact same route took a plodding two hours and 40 minutes. It's something I had never tired before, dreading a route that stops at every little station. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the 3/4 empty train and dimmed lights. (Sometimes daytime trains can be over booked and a little crazy.) The darkened cars helped most to sleep but my body, thinking it was the afternoon, was wide awake. I had a pleasant chat with the bored conductor about how much I liked trains as a way to practice my Japanese that I was sure I had forgotten. After finally crawling into bed at 4:30AM after a shower, I was in the office at 8AM to welcome Shikaoi's new English teacher Austin. Welcome to Shikaoi Austin!

I guess the last thing to add was how much I enjoyed being able to read every sign in Canada. My kanji is pretty good at extracting meaning from the characters but it is a chore and takes effort (unlike reading signs in my native language). Sadly, as looked around Tokyo and Sapporo expecting to easily read signs, I was disappointed to be reminded that I would have to awkwardly struggle to read everything again.

Sorry! No pictures yet!