For many people around the world, tonight is a very special night, but for me, tonight is particularly special. Not only do I find myself spending my first Christmas Eve on the air as I fly across the Pacific Ocean, but I’m also leaving 日本 for the first time in fifteen months. Surprisingly, I find myself in a very peaceful state of mind despite knowing the series of changes that I already expect to see within a few hours from now. Indeed, you could say this will be the longest Christmas of my life since I will get to relive the 24th of December all over again once I land in Vancouver.
To start with, the apartment I once called “home” and my beloved dog, Mini, will no longer be there to welcome me. My parent’s new house will be a complete new beginning for me to explore and get to know. I am sure that it will feel “just like home” within a few hours of hanging out with my family though. It’s hard to believe that so much time has passed by since I said goodbye to them at YVR in August of 2009. It is for this very reason that I think going back for Christmas this year and tonight in particular is something that I simply had to do.
I have sat on this seat for the past couple of hours thinking about what this visit will be like. I suppose that in a way it will be quite mind-opening (or rather... mind-blowing) in many respects. Not only will it be a quick and short one, but also an intense once. I have already tried to prepare myself for the potential “reverse culture-shock” which I’m very likely to experience. I have also tried to anticipate some of the various questions I will be asked by friends and family about my experience so far and what my future plans are. Vancouver itself will look and perhaps even feel very different from when I left it. Even the friends and people that were such big part of my life back when I lived there over the last decade will surely have changed in their own respective ways.
The truth of the matter is that regardless of how much I try to anticipate how this visit is going to go, nothing I do will prepare me for what I will feel and experience. Suffice to say that I’m very happy to have decided to fly back at this point in time.... in order to be part of my parent’s new house “1st Christmas Eve” and personally congratulate my brother for not only graduating from University but also seeing him off at the airport as he begins his life as a full-time athlete in Australia over the next few months.
I’m also particularly excited to know that I’ll be spending NYE at Elphinstone, the YMCA summer camp, where I was not only a camper for two amazing years prior to moving to Vancouver, but also worked for two summers as a counsellor - a truly life changing experience.
If there’s anything I’ve learned very clearly over the past year and a half is that the doors we choose to open determine the path of our lives. We are defined by what we do and where we go, and we can’t go anywhere without opening the door. If not for anything else, I’m quite confident that this trip will let me come to grips with why moving to Japan was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Indeed, it will provide me with the opportunity to look back at my experience and current place of residence from an “outside perspective;” thus, giving me clarity as I look into the future.
And so as I come closer to the Western Canadian coastline, I rest assured that this trip will be an eye-opening experience in more ways than one.
Merry Christmas to you all (wherever on Earth you may currently find yourselves) from high above the clouds in the sky.
Sincerely,
- Iker
