Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Shock

Whenever one has been immersed in culture for a period of time, there is usually a culture shock of some sort that smacks you. Last year when I flew back to Canada after living in Japan for three months, it was the people, (or lack thereof). I wandered around for the first few days trying to figure out where everybody was. It was a little disconcerting, was everyone hiding? On vaction? The feeling went away.
This time, it was the silence. Living in Osaka is a constant barrage of noise, noise that never ceases, (especially with the windows open to let in the cool night air). As I went to sleep the first night in Canada, the lack of noise was very tangible, it was a palpable quiet. All I could hear was a whine in my ears.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome Back to CND! haha.. how did you find the weather? hehe it was very hot the few days you came back wasn't it? i'm glad it cooled down. I have to find time to read all your entries! haha busy doing university stuff :P.
Enjoy your time home and hopefully you'll get your visa soon!

Will Dykstra said...

Thanks for the welcome. Yes it was quite hot, but I didn't find the heat too bad since the humidity in Japan is higher than in Canada.