I never thought I could be so excited to be leaving Asia and heading to Calgary, but an unusual chain of events has caused this to be the case. I'm sitting at the bus stop waiting to catch a bus to the Osaka airport. Thanks to Japanese efficiency and my lack of trust in myself, it would seem that I've arrived half an hour earlier than necessary. That would be fine if it weren't 5:30 in the morning and raining. Happily late last night, I figured out that I was pla...

The final week in Shanghai was a bit of a blur. We had a lot of loose ends to wrap up workwise and a talent show to prepare for. Everything seemed to go off without a hitch and aside from serious sleep deprivation I was pretty happy. We spent our final night having drinks at Cotton and ended the evening in a KTV- perfect. Of course when I woke up for my 5 am departure from the hotel still inebriated, it felt a little less perfect. I went through my various shades...

Once again I've been negligent with updating my blog, and once again I'm sitting on a plane to somewhere else- this time Japan. This is yet another odd flight in that it's the first truly budget flight I've ever taken, the sort where you have to pay to bring luggage or eat, but what I've found the most odd is that they don't even provide cups of water without payment! Sheesh, it looks like I'll be searching for water and coffee before leaving the airport in Osaka...

As our "reality show" continues and the ever changing group dynamics shift and evolve, the feeling that the end is in sight comes more and more to the surface. We've all grown a little tired and are starting to focus more on where we're heading after our Shanghai departure. I'm on a plane right now with Ola, heading from Shanghai over to Seoul for the weekend. For the first time since I was a child, the cigarette smoke is making me feel a little ill; despite bein...

It's been raining all day today, other than a nice big breakfast and a quick pop over to the knock-off mall to buy sunglasses, we're taking it easy for the afternoon. I've noticed that Shanghai doesn't smell so good when it rains- kind of a combination of wet dog and toxic chemicals. It's the sort of smell you can taste if you inhale too deeply, so I try to avoid breathing when possible. Much like last year, time is simultaneously crawling and flying. Yesterday w...