Ta Da!

Those of you with eyes may have noticed the new layout. I figured that since my time in England was finished, I was no longer a 'Canadian Boy Across the Atlantic' (although Matt pointed out that now, to my British friends, I am 'across the atlantic'). Also, the likeness to the title of another blog further contributed to my need to differentiate myself. So, seeing as how I've spent a good chunk of the recent months of my life on sitting on trains and staring out the window, I thought the theme would be appropriate. Thanks to whoever took the photo that I stole for my funky new banner.

I'm heading up to Pook's cottage this weekend with Mark, Matty and some other folks, so I probably won't update again til late next week. It's been all right being back home, but I've definitely experienced reverse-culture shock in a couple ways already. For example, I forgot that taxes weren't included in the printed price, which caught me off guard. And then when I was 10 cents short, I pulled out a quarter instead of a dime (because a quarter is roughly the size of a British 10 pence piece, and my brain was looking for the 'ten'). It's also just strange to walk past groups of people and realize they aren't speaking in English accents. Plus a coffee and donut at Tim Horton's is now $2.09 instead of just 2 bucks -- what gives?! It's not all bad though. True, the weather is getting cold, but I really did miss it. It's that crisp cold that you don't get in England...it's sunny, and there's no dampness about it. Autumn, here we come!

One More Time

Well I'm off again in a few hours to catch my flight back to Canada. Although I'm not particularly looking forward to living in Southern Ontario, I am looking forward to seeing friends and family again. I'm also looking forward to staying in one place for more than 4 days, since I haven't really done that in the last two months! If you're on the other side of the Atlantic, I shall see you shortly.

The disconnect

EDIT: I think this entry came out more sappy than I originally intended. The point I was trying to make was not 'woe is me, I've never been in a serious relationship' but rather the difficulty of understanding and connecting to other people with regard to this, in my mind, rather monumentous topic.

---

A quick disclaimer -- this one is going to be a bit raw, so if you're not into awkward emotions, it's probably best you just skip it...

All right, so this is something I have thought about for a while now, but just feel compelled to write about tonight, for some odd reason:

I don't think I've ever been in love. I've certainly never had a serious relationship. And I feel subhuman because of it.

And the hardest part of this whole situation is that there's virtually no one to talk to about it. I mean, almost everybody has been in a serious relationship at some point in their lives, so when I try to share this sentiment with people, I get the typical responses of "Oh, it's not that big of a deal," or "it's not as important as you make it out to be." This advice is, of course, quite useless to me. It's all well and good for someone who's been there to make a judgement call about it, but after having experienced such a thing, I have noticed that it is very difficult for people to imagine never having had the experience in the first place. Do you get what I'm saying? What I mean is, it's easy for a person who's been in a relationship to say that it's not important, because at least they have had one and have experienced all the things that go with it. They don't know what it's like to not have that, and the fact is I have never experienced all of that and it makes me feel like I'm missing out on a big aspect of being human. Since these other people have already been through all of this, they don't have the same sense of not belonging, because even if they're single now, they've done it all at least once before in the past.

I urge you to really, seriously, consider this. I imagine that the majority of people who read this entry will have had been in a relationship at some point in their lives. Whoever you are, where ever you are reading this, I ask you to think of these important relationships with others and then to imagine that they had never happened. Imagine all those moments you shared together were erased and that you had never learnt how to compromise and exist with regard to another human being. You've never looked deep into the eyes of someone you cared about and then kissed them. You've never woken up next to someone who chose to sleep beside you. You've never droned on about stupid crap because another person was genuinely interested in absolutely everything you've had to say. In your mind, get rid of all of that but try to keep who you are as a person. And then try to imagine talking to people about such things. It kinda sucks sometimes...

Another Quick One

This is just a quickie for those who don't know. Sorry I haven't updated more often recently...Hong Kong was great, albeit far too brief. I am now back in Oxford until Tuesday when I fly home to Canada. I am staying with my friend Jim, who, I would like to say publicly, is one of the most generous men I have ever met.

Heather and Steve came to visit yesterday, so I got the chance to hang out with them a bit as well. I had supper at Brad's new place last night and tonight I will attend hOME and see some more friends. It will be sad to leave England, but in many ways I have already 'detached' myself from this place. And although I am not particularly looking forward to living in Southern Ontario, it will be nice to see my friends and family from there again.

If I get around to it later today, I might upload some pictures to my Flickr account to share with you folks.

See you soon.

Well sorry about the lack of recent updates folks. Tonight is my last night of the trip though. Ive still got all day tomorrow, but then I fly out at 12:30 at night for a 13 hour (!!!) flight directly from Hong Kong to London. I will have a few days in Oxford before flying back to Canada. Because of my limited time, this is all I'm going to write for now, as it is likely I will see most of you again and be able to speak in person in the not-so-distant future. See ya soon!

Destination: Tokyo

Well I finally made it to Tokyo...alive and in one piece. I just got in late this evening, so I havent really had a chance to explore it yet, although Im sure it will yield some fantastic results. Tomorrow I plan on making a pilgrimage to the Park Hyatt Hotel where Lost in Translation was shot. In the mean time, here are some interesting facts about my trip:
(Please note that none of this includes Hong Kong, where I will be flying to next monday)

Kilometres travelled without flying: 13385 (note that this is a rough estimate using a combination of the City Distance Tool and my Trans-Sib Lonely Planet...in actual fact it is far more since it also doesnt include all the side trips ive taken, this is just my guess for Oxford to Tokyo)
Number of nights spent sleeping on a train or ferry: 11
Number of countries passed through: 10
Number of time zones crossed: 9
Number of different currencies used: 6
Amount of money lost: $150 US (somewhere in Mongolia i misplaced 3 AmEx travellers cheques)
Number of pig races witnessed: 1
Number of times I have hit my head on something in Japan (so far): 16
Number of those times that I have really smoked my head hard, leaving some sort of bruise or mark: 5

Blargh! As per usual I tried to upload photos, but to no avail...you will just have to hold your breath.

August 6th, 1945 - 8:15am

I went to Hiroshima yesterday and it was overwhelming. After getting off the train, we found the tram to the A-Bomb Dome. All but a few sturdy structures were wiped out by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima - the dome was the closest remaining building to the hypocentre of the explosion and has been preserved as a reminder of nuclear devastation. As we walked around the dome, the skies were clear and there was the sound of a plane flying over head...it was extremely unnerving.

After the dome we headed over to the Peace Memorial Museum which was incredible, albeit completely exhausting emotionally. I wish I could hook up my camera to this computer to show you some of the photos I took...I will make a real effort to upload them in the near future. Basically, its easy to think of a nuclear explosion on the macro scale but the museum brought it down to the micro scale. The lucky victims were vapourized instantly (I have a picture of an exhibit in the museum which was transported from the steps outside of a bank...there was no person left, just the shadow of where they were sitting). The unlucky ones had to watch as their melted skin dripped from their bodies while they wandered around, desperately in search of some water (the irony is that any water they found was, of course, highly contaminated with extreme amounts of radiation).

It is at this point that I would like to make a comparison between the events of August 6th, 1945 and September 11th, 2001. But let me write a few disclaimers first:
1.) I dont believe that anyone deserves to die, ever. The loss of all human life should be mourned.
2.) I dont believe that the wrongs of previous generations can be blamed on current populations or governments.

With those out of the way, let us then consider the act of dropping a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. An estimated 80,000 people died as a directed result, with another 60,000 dying (slowly and painfully) over the course of the next year due to the effects of radiation. They didnt drop this bomb on a military complex, they dropped it IN THE MIDDLE OF A FUCKING CITY. Granted, military activities were taking place, but that was the case in most cities during World War II. In addition to military activities, there were also kids on their way to school, old ladies grocery shopping, etc. etc.

So like I said, this isnt to diminish the pain or suffering caused by September 11th, but put into perspective, less than 3,000 people died in that event - over 140,000 died in Hiroshima (and thats not taking into consideration the bombing of Nagasaki a few days later). So while the United States has every right to condemn the killing of their innocent people, it strikes me as a bit of a double-standard...like somehow American lives are worth more than the lives of 'others.' I believe this sentiment is echoed in the recent Gulf conflicts as well. (Interestingly, one of the reasons that Hiroshima was chosen as a target was due to the fact that it was the only city on the short-list which didnt have a POW camp...another reason was to justify the enormous expense of the research & construction of the a-bomb to the American people). Now, I am also not saying that there is any sort of direct link between Sept. 11 and Hiroshima - clearly the terrorist acts of Sept. 11 were carried out by Islamic militants. I guess its just in some sort of cosmic karma thing that you cant be the only country in the history of humanity to drop a nuclear bomb on people and not expect it to come back and bite you in the ass. To reiterate: not that the victims of Sept. 11 deserved to die, but rather, the American foreign policy has been slowly building upon a foundation which devalues and is hostile to the outsider.

Anyhow, after the museum I wanted to sit down and cry for about an hour, but resisted the urge. Instead I started thinking about nuclear weapons today. And seriously, if Stephen Harper (or any other Canadian prime minister) allows the American government to put nukes over Canadian airspace as part of their crazy 'Star Wars' missle defence system, I will see to it that I personally kick his ass. Its absolutely ludicrous. I have enough problem with killing, let alone on a massive scale. The last thing we need is one of those puppies malfuctioning, flying astray and hitting the ground somewhere.

Finally, just in case anyone has anything positive to say about the use of nuclear weapons, like how it 'ended the war' or some other nonsense, I seriously urge you to visit the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima. In the case that you are unable to make that trip, I ask you to conjure up in your mind an image of the person you most love walking around with their melted skin dripping off of their body, and then re-consider your position on nuclear weapons.

I will try to write a happier, more expository entry in the near future.

The Land of the Rising Sun

Well Ive made it to Japan. Just a quick story for now:

Got off the boat from China and while waiting in line for customs I hung out with 3 Japanese girls and a Kiwi who is living in Kyoto. One of the Japanese girls was from the port town we arrived at (Kobe) and took us to a local market for good, cheap food. So we got to this place, which is essentially the dudes living quarters as well, went in and sat at his work desk while he used what looked like a waffle grill to cook pieces of octopus inside spheres of some egg-ish batter. It actually tasted all right, but wasnt nearly filling enough. That said, I think it was a very authentic first experience of Japan, and I cant wait to see more of it!