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too dark, too soon

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

I'd forgotten what it's like, living in this city in the Winter - it gets dark so soon!

The other day I had lunch with one of Toronto's millions of foreigners. We talked about the way things are done here in Toronto, especially the cliquey way that people spend their careers in the company of the same people they were working with ten years ago. After the conversation, it struck me that I've spent a whole year re-adjusting to work in this city: not wearing neck ties; not delivering at the same breakneck pace as everything's done in Tokyo; not getting the same degree of follow-through from, well, anybody.

It extends past work, too. I'm amazed at how no one seems to want to go out for an occasional drink or a meal: in a year, I've not done it more than four or five times. It's occurred to me that perhaps I don't make for great company, but then I hear from all of my old friends that they simply don't go out that much any more. Tokyo's spoiled me, it seems.

All in, there's so much to relearn. I guess five years is a long time to be away, and coming back with a foreign spouse teaches you a new way of seeing what was once familiar anyway. In sum: I feel like a foreigner in this country.