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2005.11.26
Well, an entire life-changing trip, along with a zillion other changes
occured in our lives since our last Mainichi log. A summary of
the past year can't capture what hasn't been included
on the site since January 2005. But, I have to say at least a few
words about the past year. Well, we returned from
Japan in August 2004 after living there for three years. Being
back in Canada has meant returning to a world of sofas and pizzas and
directness in conversation. It has also meant that we lost oodles
of free time and disposable income, and have returned to a more hectic,
involved lifestyle. Everything has a tradeoff.
Travel-wise, in January 2005, we took a four and a half month road trip
to Russia, across Siberia,
into China-- all by train. We then flew to Thailand and ended up
working with the Tsunami
Volunteer Centre in Khao Lak. We ended the trip by visiting
friends and family in England, France and even a brief side-trip to
Venice. We met so many amazing people along the road and hope
that we bring a little of their spirit back with us to Canada.
Creatively, Rod had a number of art shows in Toronto over the summer
and has been selling his digital pieces quite successfully. I'm
now an MA student at York, doing an interdisciplinary degree in
Creative Writing, History and French. My goal is to complete, as
my thesis, a historical novel on the filles
du roi of 17th century New France.
On a personal level, we spent the year living with the Diosos who were
generous enough to take us in when we needed a new home and a place in
which to gather our wits following our Japan return. I'm afraid
our salmon handroll dinners weren't enough to repay their
generosity. We finally gave them back their freedom in August
when we moved into our own place on Queen St. East.
Summaries, despite their obvious uses tend to miss the essential nature
of the thing. Rod asked me, in writing this entry, to "close off"
Mainichi. So this is a sort of goodbye message. But more
for us than for our readers. In the way that life is constantly
changing, we are moving on to the next journey. The need to
document our daily life for those we missed back home, and to share
with them the crazy world we were witnessing in Japan, has left since
we returned to Canada. We are no longer outsiders looking in, but
have now been re-subsumed into a culture and a country that is our
own. I hope we can keep two things from our experience, one is
the power of observation, so key to creative production, the second is
the awareness that all homes are temporary, and all journeys come to an
end.
Pageshome, like our life, is in evolution. I hope you'll be
patient enough to come along for the next ride, and we promise to try
our best to make it an interesting one.
love and peace,
Sue and Rod