Arrival

I arrived in Japan in the usual number of pieces (for those keeping track, the usual number is one). It's amazing to be here again - everything is just the same. I can read far, far more Japanese than I could when I left, which is a pleasant surprise. I've spent the last four years fairly steadily producing and learning flashcards, but this is the first I've had a feeling that that had actually acomplished something for me.

When I first arrived in Germany back in 2005, I was immediately taken to a rock concert. The band, Torf Rock, sings covers of American classic rock songs with lyrics sung in the Platt dialect about Viking adventures. Evidently, this is part of a theme in my life, because as soon as I arrived here I was taken to a Brazilian combination all-you-can-eat and all-you-can-drink place to spend four hours basically just discovering everything you can do with a cow. It turns out, you can do a lot, all of it delicious.