comparisons

OK!
All our stuff is finally in storage or on its way to the US, in some form or another. I now have officially nothing to do between now and Saturday. With this free time and the thought that I will be back in my own country in less than a week, I can't help thinking about what I'm gonna miss and what I'm looking forward to.
There are lots of nice and not-nice things in both countries. You know what that means, right?

Pro/con list!

I will miss:
*hand drying machines. They actually work here, really well. You dip your hands into these intense air jets and your hands get dry in approximately 3 seconds. You gotta try if you come here.
*bowing instead of hugging. I thought bowing was silly at first, but I like bowing to friendly aquaintences better than I like hugging them...I'd rather only hug very close friends. Does anybody else thing hugging is akward?

*No tipping!! Oh my god I hate tipping so much. After you live in Japan you will never want to tip again.
*Great service at stores. Super professional, smiling, fast service, and they are very good at dealing with annoying customers without getting self-righteous. And all without requiring tips. I think America and Japan's stranger/service friendliness is reversed.
*manga for cheap!
*japanese candies! They change all the time, there are always new ones to try ^^
*yes, even the crazy garbage sorting. I know this sounds weird, but now that I have gotten used to sorting the garbage, it's going to feel almost criminally wasteful to throw out pretty much everything in the same can.
*karaoke!! I love karaoke so much it's not funny. And most drinking parties end with karaoke, so I get to go once every two weeks or so. So, whether from all the karaoke practice, or natural ability, almost all of my coworkers have been great singers.

I am looking forward to... (drumroll, please...)

*drying machines
*native english speakers
*good TV
*seeing movies without waiting four months after they've been released
*friendly strangers
*...(tiny voice)..anime and comic conventions ... Ok. obviously they have them here too, but it isn't subculture and so it isn't the same thing.
*sourdough bread, toasted bagels with cream cheese, cereal... mmm ^_^
*Ovens! being able to bake food! here there are just these little tiny fish ovens that only fit one fish (or two little fish) inside. There are some cool microwave/ conventional oven all in one machines, but they don't get very high up temperature-wise. So basically, you can't make stuff like roasted chicken or lasagna.
*not being served scary foods like raw horse meat and still-moving fish at drinking parties. I'm still traumatized by the moving fish incident.
*streets that are wide and easy to drive on. Also.. street names!It's so hard to get directions to places here, because you can't say something like 'left on jefferson'... you have to count intersections and hope you see a landmark.
*diversity. I think Japan is slowly getting more diverse, but I'm really looking forward to NYC, the melting pot of every culture in the world. Or more importantly, all of said culture's food! Hee hee!

..I'm sure I'll think of more things when I'm in New York, but that's all for now. Wish me luck! ^_^