Last Summer

-Walking out of an airport into sauna like conditions
-Drinking papaya milk while waiting for the bus
-not getting jet lag
-watching Inuyasha subs at 12am
-purchasing items without knowing the price
-having a hard time figuring out the air conditioner remote
-Pastry stores with 100 varieties
-washing my wrist because wearing two watches has made it sweaty
-Holding on for dear life on the back of motorcycles
-letting go while on the back of motorcycles
-Screaming at the top of my lungs on the back of motorcycles
-finding out previously purchased items of clothing were worth over $400
-7-11's at just about every street corner
-Drawing blanks while trying to list famous canadians
-Thin films of sweat covering every inch of my body
-Mist machines spraying from above
-fitted pants and on-the-spot tailoring
-Learning to play pool in 35 degree conditions
-Playing pool surrounded by roaring wind and rain
-side stepping stacks of books in manga stores
-Sleeping through four hour train rides
-Salty-style soy milk and hot meat buns for breakfast
-Takings pictures inside high-end restaurants
-Attempting to catch giant carps with bare hands
-Going through nearly ten plates of meat at sukiyaki restaurants
-Critiquing j-pop imitators
-Walking by open air-conditioned stores during the heat of noon
-Side walk overheads on rainy days
-automated card readers at transit stations
-Losing ten games in a row at chinese chess to grandpa
-Umbrella battling at the metro
-hundred varieties of juices, teas, coffees, milks and more for under $1 Cdn
-conversing in english when no one can understand you
-Talking about Canadian politics
-Laughing non stop over spilled cups of instant noodles
-Looking down on the world from 500 feet ferris wheels
-Playing word games inside cabs
-Pretending to sleep for two hours in efforts to avoid conversation with unfamiliar relatives
-Trying to scream while submerged under water
-waiting in line for nearly an hour while catching up on six years of life
-Fighting over fishing rod colours while playing fishing games
-crying for hours in the dark from an overdosage of nostalgia
-filming city life from moving cabs
-counting $1000 bills
-not eating complimentary icecream because it was so shitty
-Urges to throw up from too much food
-reading the mind of a cat because I'm into psychology
-transferring twenty something giant tortoises to a new environment
-making maltose candy from scratch
-nearly throwing up after ten plates at revolving sushi restaurants
-teaching false english
-Holding my breath beside maniacs behind the wheels
-two hour sessions at the dentist
-endo operation without anesthetics
-falling asleep in dentist chairs
-talking about canadian highschools
-Being on the 79th floor of 101 floor structures
-being kicked out of my old elementary school
-trying to climb my old tree
-playing tag on the field surrounded by a hundred classrooms
-taking hours to find my old elementary school due to a change in the structure
-hiding keyboards under pillows
-pressing random buttons while trying to play medieval china video games
-beating my cousin at medieval video game while pressing random buttons
-Running down streets in darkness while storms roars all around you
-drying under the sun after falling into the stream
-discovering that our old grass field has been overrun by rainforest vegetation
-swatting mosquitos while walking through temperate rainforests
-Not singing karoake due to my lack of musical talent
-stealing pads from my aunts room
-looking through photo albums at 3am under flashlights
-smelling incence at temples
-misordering at restaurants due to illiteracy
-carrying calculators while shopping in order to articulate price tags in a currency I understand
-being inside movie theatres with less than 10 viewers
-stifling laughter inside said movie theatres
-not being able to sleep in said movie theatres because air conditioners were on so strong
-playing with the dentist's pomeranian
-complaining about the heat
-Using the side of the stream as a driving range
-fishing for golf balls in the stream
-smiling at my grandma due to a lack of words because I don't speak her language
-sobbing in corners at night because it's so fucking hot
-Walking barefoot in water fountains
-taking pictures while experiencing night markets
-drinking sugar cane juice while shopping for cowboy boots
-Having staring contests with lizards
-going from the un airconditioned streets into an air conditioned store
-chatting with hebrew jewelry makers who speak poor mandarin and english
-Trying on $1000 dresses without purchasing them
-counting 7-11's during an hour long taxi rides
-forgetting to shake before drinking guava juice
-Not being able to see sunrises due to excessive smog
-battling with four year-olds with lego soldiers
-hotspring soaking with sisters, naked
-Playing bowling with empty diet coke cans
-Picnicking beside lakes where suicides have taken place
-battling with promotional balloons inside mall lobbies
-Talking about Canadian weather
-exchanging life stories while waiting in traffic
-practicing golf under national golf champion uncles
-playing tag inside uncles' four story properties with 20 year old cousins
-piggy-backing unconcious seven year old cousins whom I've just met for the first time in my life
-watching sitcom series on buses
-Winning six games in a row at Big Two
-talking about attractive males with 20 year old male cousins
-complaining about the lack of vocabulary for relatives in the english language
-Missing buses, and having the next bus arrive within three minutes
-playing "lights-out" games with cousins inside a crowded apartment
-Lying beside bookcases not reading Naruto in chinese
-nearly passing out after walking around campus for hours under the sun
-eating shaved ice after spending hours walking around under the sun
-massaging 24 year old cousins who claim they're only 23
-Spending hours in book stores reading picture books of my childhood
-seating seven passengers in a five passenger car
-playing the brand-name game while eating snow cones
-eating Tic-Tacs from Canada after a long day of snorkeling
-Counting down the days before I return to Canada
-Wishing that I hadn't let my chinese go to waste
-Recieving underserved praise for my achievements
-Having five year old cousins run from me because I'm nothing more than a foreigner to him
-Walking over paved roads that used to be wilderness in my youth
-Crying because six years has changed everything
-Wondering what I would say to my grandma if I could communicate with her
-Wishing for just one day back in my childhood
-Hating the existing barrier between certain cousins
-Feeling like I have betrayed my heritage
-Understanding full well that previous relationships with cousins are gone forever
-Not knowing when I will be back again
-Knowing that non of my friends at home can share or understand any of these feelings and experiences.