It's good to be back!

My trip to Canada was great. I didn't get to see everyone I had planned to but I tried my best. I spent a week with Shian in Calgary and took hundreds of pictures of little Wylie. He is the cutest baby ever! I'm not just saying that because I'm his favorite aunt, he really is a good looking baby.

Traveling back to Japan went well, until I actually got to Japan. What a different feeling it was to arrive in Japan this year (compared to last year). I knew exactly what was going to happen with customs and immigration, I unloaded my bags to the delivery company, and was out of the airport within a 1/2 hour of landing. Not bad, eh? I took the bus to downtown Osaka, found the bus stop I had never been to before (by asking only 2 random people) and then sat down to wait for my 3:20 bus to Izumo. I was feeling pretty competent and happy that everything was going according to plan.

3:20 rolls around and there is no bus for Izumo. My heart starts to beat a little faster. Am I at the wrong bus stop? Is it the wrong day? All my gaijin-concurring-Japan confidence flys out the window and I go up to the ticket counter.

Me- (showing my ticket) Izumo bus?
Ticket guy-NO BUS! TYPHOON! (and then points at the MANY posters up on the windows explaining the cancelled buses, which of course I can't read).
Me-when bus?
Ticket guy-tomorrow
Me (in my head) Muther F*cker!!!!
Me- Arigato

The thought of spending the night in Osaka (quite possibly the ugliest, most cement-encased city in the world) was not appealing to me. I noticed that the Yonago buses were running. Yonago is in Tottori prefecture, right next to Shimane. I had been there once before and knew that once I was there I could figure out the trains to get me back home. So I went to Yonago after being in that shitty little bus station for about 5 hours. I spent the night in a shitty, expensive hotel, and then caught the train home the next day. So really, it wasn't that bad. I got home only 14 hours later then I had originally planned, but it did cost me an extra $200. Gotta love typhoons.