Varqanir is Back in the Homeland

Off Topic Politics & World Issues
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This is not necessarily political, but it is definitely a world event.

After living in Japan for nearly half my life, I decided on a whim to say sayonara to the Land of the Rising Sun and head back to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. I arrived just two days ago.

And you know what?

I like it.

A lot better than I thought I would.

There were no armed troops in front of the airport, nobody rifled through my luggage searching for anthrax or weapons of mass destruction, hell, I was waved through customs and immigration with a sincere “welcome home” and hardly a second glance: it was the easiest border crossing I have ever made in my life.

And the food! Oh my god. The first thing I did when I got settled was go out to the best steak restaurant I could find and order the biggest goddamn steak on the menu. It was “only” a 22-ounce T-bone, and I ate the hell out of that thing. Yeah, sure, America’s got a shitload of problems, but you know, they sure feel a lot less urgent with a belly-full of good beef.

Anyway, I guess that’s the point of this thread. I’ve been ragging on the USA quite a bit over the last few years, and while I’ve only been back a few days, I realize that perhaps I’ve overstated my critiques ever so slightly. Looking forward to being proven wrong even more.

God bless America.

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Welcome back.

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Welcome back!

It kinda grows on ya, don’t it?

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Glad you’re back - which state did you pick?

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Good shit

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Welcome back bro. Let us know other things you notice, both good or bad.

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Welcome back Varq!

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Uh oh. Lock up your Liquor cabinets and hide your daughters! Heh. Welcome home.

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Welcome back. I’m moving back myself (from the UK) in a little over five months, and can’t wait. And yeah, I miss the food more than almost anything else.

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Hey!!! so did you land in California?

I am a bit partial to that state.

Welcome back

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Welcome Back Varqanir :o)

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Another well-minded and educated individual. We needed another one of those. The absence of them is very obvious if you look for the signs a.k.a 90% of the US.

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[quote]Sloth wrote:
Uh oh. Lock up your Liquor cabinets and hide your daughters! Heh. Welcome home.[/quote]

Lock up your daughter, Lock up your wife, Lock up your back door and run for your life…The man is back in town…

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Don’t turn on the TV.

I’m just sayin’.

What are your plans, my man?

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Good stuff. Here’s hoping you remain pleasantly surprised.

The US is one of the greatest places on Earth, if not the greatest. You’re lucky you can call it home.

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Great to have you back, Varq.

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Welcome home.

How was your steak cooked? Rare? Medium Rare? If you had any doner, I am afraid I will have to call the steak police. Yeah - we have those now.

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[quote]Varqanir wrote:
It was “only” a 22-ounce T-bone, [/quote]

Pussy. We’ll have you eating a man sized steak in no time. Welcome back.

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If you are in CA, and happen to be in the San Diego area, I highly recommend stopping by Donovan’s in La Jolla:

http://www.donovanssteakhouse.com/

I haven’t been to the downtown version, nor the Phoenix establishment, so I can’t vouch that they’re as good as the original (note to self: book trips to San Diego and Phoenix…).

Mmmmmmmmm… Good stuff.

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Thanks everyone.

Rainjack, I can attest to the wholesome medium-rarity of my steak the other night. It was butter-knife tender and pussy pink inside.

BB, I have like four finalists as far as prospective new home base states: Alaska, Idaho, Montana and/or Arizona. I say and/or because it might be good to also have a winter place in a more southern state.

The much-anticipated shock of going to a supermarket hit yesterday.

Mind you, we do have Costco in Japan, which blunted what might have been a more severe shock, but the sheer size of the store, the shopping carts, the milk cartons. Just like gasoline, milk is sold by the liter in Japan. Gallons and half gallons of any beverage are unheard of. And here they have half-gallons of fucking Coffee-mate. Unbelievable.

And of course, I was pretty wigged out by the size of some of the patrons of the store. I saw a Time Magazine whose cover story was “Is fat the new normal?” I guess the fuck so, because with the exception of myself the only non-obese people in that store were the little chicano wannabe gang members and a couple of old ladies.

Went to Gold’s Gym, which is like the first time I’d been in a real gym in nearly ten years. Did nothing but kettlebell swings and pseudo-Olympic lifts. (I say pseudo- because one of my exercises was a clean-press-squat, which I’ve never seen in the Olympics.) They had the kettlebells locked up and it took the guy a half hour to find the key. I guess not too many people use them.

There were only maybe five or six other people in the gym: three big dudes who hung around the power rack flexing and occasionally doing a set of something or other, a college kid who did nothing but lat pulldowns, a fifty-something Japanese dude who looked like my sixth-grade teacher (might have been, in fact) and this really pretty latina chick who walked up to me and asked if she should do her squats with her legs open or closed.

So I coached her on her form a bit.