Stay The Course or Abort Mission?

There were tears, whispered conversations, coin-flipping, bribery-fuelled negotiations, even a few break-ups. Nothing could spark drama among my friends and coworkers during my time in Japan like this one word: Recontracting. Once a year, in the darkest, coldest and most depressing time of year, I had to sign my name on one of two lines: “I […]

The Day I Left

There is a small speck of dust in the pit of my stomach when I wake up. It grows quickly as I go through the motions I planned out so carefully the day before. Get dressed, throw nightclothes into bag. The dust becomes the size of a mustard seed. Fold bedding, place neatly in the corner. Now it’s becoming […]

Rethinking the “Reason”

“Tis the reason…” quipped the cover of a shopping guide for a retail establishment that should have known better. As if the insanity of Boxing Day shopping wasn’t enough in Canada, I’ve returned after 4 years living in Japan to discover the tendrils of America’s notorious Black Friday sales creeping north of the border as well. It is clear that […]

So This Is Canada: 12 Unguarded Observations of a Returning Canadian

Reverse culture shock is an interesting beast. It’s been six weeks that I’ve been back in Canada after living in Japan for four years, and I am in a weird headspace. People ask how the adjustment is going; it is certainly bewildering. I feel that I have not actually adjusted a single bit, but that I have […]

Notes From The Afterlife

I have been absent from this place for a good long while, and some of you may have thought I’ve dropped of the face of the earth, which wouldn’t be strictly false. I’ve gone on a journey of sorts, one I can never return from. A journey to the afterlife. The life after Japan, that […]

On The Fear Of Becoming a NEET

Dear Ms. Weibelzahl, Excuse the abruptness of this correspondence. I’ve heard all about you and your upcoming move to Ottawa. As it so happens, my organization is based in Ottawa, and we are in need of someone with your qualifications and experience. I have already reviewed your profile on LinkedIn, and believe that you would […]

No Place Like Home Base On Christmas

I remember clearly the first time I didn’t make it “home” for Christmas. It was Christmas Eve, and it was snowing. Christmas snow is rare in Vancouver. I was happy, but my family was worried. My uncle, a pilot, was set to take my cousins and I in his 6-seater twin engine plane, to the […]

The Other “F” Word

My Japanese high school students are doing group work on the pros and cons of the Internet, and I’m challenging them to come up with something more creative than “The Internet is bad because danger!” when a word pops out at me. A student has doodled a cute wide-eyed character on the bottom of her team’s paper, and drawn a […]

Arrrrr, Here There Be Pirates! Pirate Lore as Cultural Literacy

Ahoy, me hearties! Yaarrrrrrr, I’ve not seen yer faces fer awhile on the high seas. Alas, I’ve been locked up in the bilge, teachin foreign tongues to some green landlubbers. But t’night I be scribblin in me Captain’s log, so pillage yerself some grog and let some other scallywag swab the deck fer now. Illustration […]

Leaving and Being Left Behind: Airports, Farewells, Transience

Apologies for the radio silence lately. I have journeyed to the center of the world and returned to wallow in a terrible combination of heat exhaustion, separation anxiety and post-travel-poverty. I went to Tokyo last week to see a dear friend off at the airport. I like airports, but I’m used to being the one […]