I've covered some of the great food Andrew and I had in Japan, so now let me move on to whatever else it was that we were doing between meals. Two posts ago I touched on Osaka, the second largest city in Japan and our fist stop in the country. Osaka is in the Kansai region of Japan, which also includes Kobe and Kyoto Osaka city proper has about 2.7 million people, but that is only a fraction of the true number. Citing population based on city limits can be quite misleading. Take my hometown of Columbus, and Cleveland, another city in Ohio, as examples. The population of the city of Columbus is over 800,000, while Cleveland's is less than half that. Take a look at the metro area, or the urban core plus surrounding suburbs and commuter towns, and the comparison is flipped: Cleveland is substantially larger than Columbus. Back to Osaka - while the city itself only has a couple million inhabitants, add in the urban sprawl and surrounding ...
This time I actually got a seat for the overnight trip! I slept better too, and when I awoke we were already in Strasbourg. After studying the train charts I decided that it would be best to go to Frankfurt first, spend a night there, and then head to Berlin. I had a couple of hours before the train to Frankfurt left, so I did the usual, exploring the city by foot. It was odd to see so many traditional German houses in a French city. Strasbourg (or Straβburg) has flipped between German and French control over the centuries, but much of the turn of the 20 th century German architecture remains. Although French is most common, I also encountered German speakers. The old town, with its massive cathedral, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Again I found myself wishing that I had more time to spend in a city that I was just passing through. Much of the architecture in Strasbourg reminded me of Germany, not France The massive (and impressive) Strasbourg Cathedral ...
As mentioned a few posts ago, I took a new job back in the US starting in mid-January. I flew back from Japan to my hometown in Ohio at the end of December, arriving just in time for New Year's. My initial contract in Japan ended along with 2020, so it didn't make sense to start a new one for a week or two in January. This way I was also able to spend time with my parents and my sister and her husband (who live nearby) before moving to Washington, DC. In addition to family time, I had a lot of administrative tasks to take care of before the move; my new job is with the government, which involves a long, at times frustrating onboarding process. I had to fill out several HR packets, arrange temporary housing for my training in DC, decide on consequential things such as life insurance and thrift savings plan contributions, and choose my healthcare plan. By the way, why is healthcare so complicated here?! The electronic form listed over 200 healthcare options to chose from! After e...
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