Jetlag: the first night HOME

I'm in Minnesota right now and so happy to be here. It is, however, 4am and I'm wide-awake, so I am obviously encountering my first bout of insomnia (aka jetlag), too. I took a few sleeping pills, so I should be able to go back to bed soon, but I think my body is confused by the TWO red-eye flights I did this week (leaving at 10:35 and 10:55 pm), not to mention the vast time differences between each place (14 hours to Japan and 5 to Hawaii from here).

Home Sweet Home

I am still glad I decided to break up the trip with my 3 days in Hawaii. Home is "home" and it feels good to be here (Hwy 169 is nice to see after a long trip away - felt the same thing when I saw it after folk school), but there are small things I have realized I am not adjusted to and I can't imagine how overwhelmed I could have felt without the buffer. Not to mention the simple relaxation (like travel detox) I received from my 3 days on the beach. I am staying at my parents house for most of the time, but might spend a few nights in Minneapolis with friends. My brother is at college, so it's a lot more quiet here, and now we have a cat (long story - used to live at our farm), which is a nice addition to the chinchilla. I love pets.

Culture Shock

Other differences that hit me? Hmm...this keyboard is really hard to type on (used to my Japanese PC at work) and especially how much people (in general - not just friends) seem SO Minnesotan... I fit right in. It's funny coming from a place where I look and speak really different than the norm and am literally called outsider (gaijin) as a foreigner. Everything seems so convenient. My car is here and I can drive around, too (used to driving on the right again from Hawaii!). Being able to just TALK to my parents and friends whenever, and just turning on the TV and finding a lot of stations I want to watch (and can understand) are other small things I feel grateful for right now. There is a certain charm in learning another language and not understanding, but man, it's nice to see MTV whenever I want;)

The Week Ahead

I just got in and haven't done much so far, but tomorrow is a big day of errands (dentist, haircut, bank, calling people...etc, etc). I'm going to a dinner with Al Franken on Tuesday with Jess ("because I'm good enough, I'm strong enough, and -doggone it - people like me"....SO FUNNY), the haircut with Megs, and doing dinner with Kristin tomorrow. Kristin actually picked me up from the airport (in her new CRV - it's so cute!!), but I spent the evening with my parents, just catching up. My mom and I also went to The Marsh (a wellness center for the mind - basically a gym/spa like a co-ed onsen with swimsuits) since it was Guest Day and she could bring me along for free. The hottub and therapy pool (huge, warm pool with classical music playing for meditation) were wonders after sitting on planes for 11 hours earlier in the day.



I need to try to catch more ZZs (it's about 4:30 am now...), but I'm doing well and excited to be home, even if it is a little surreal. I wrote a Hawaii post on the plane, but it's on my Mac, so I might not get it up for a while. More coming once I'm a bit more settled. Cheers!