First I would like to write down two observations.
I drove down to Columbus (about 2 hours from Cleveland where my university is) and realized I can find my way around there way easier than Cleveland. I lived in Cleveland for my first 18 years (and still technically do) and I only lived in Columbus for 4 years, but for some reason my life there is more familiar.
On the drive home down some country roads you often see houses that are selling home grown produce. You can drive up, put some money in a can and buy fresh grown corn. This particular farm had an interesting marketing technique to entice future buyers. They had a sexy manaquin dressed in a bikini wearing an awful blonde wig attached to the sign that said "Fresh grown corn". I thought that was quite bizarre.
I should also add that I went to California for two weeks recently. It started off in LA with my cousins and it was a riot. I enjoy the fact that the older I become, the less embarrassed I am when for example my mom puts a pair of panties on her head and walks around an outlet mall. We had a good time dancing at the wedding, sitting by the pool and spending many hours hanging out with other family members. I will never forget Jimmy Connor with his signature dance move of stomping ants.
After that I spent a more days in LA hiking and visiting the beach. It is true, there are many surfer dudes in California. Next I headed up north to visit Bren. It was great seeing her and she lives in a unique world. Her college town is full of hippies but very quaint and cute. If you can imagine, her town, Happy Camp is more remote than any small town in Yamaguchi. Her driveway is 2 miles long. But is gorgeous and we were able to go rafting and hiking despite surrounding forest fires. She is the first friend from Japan I have seen outside of Japan and it was great.
So home has been good so far. Not too much longer until I head to Australasia.
