i'm home now. it was a good trip. as always, its nice to leave this country to get a slightly different perspective on life. although canada is only slightly different, it still does the job. i'm back without being sick of it here anymore.
so i didn't really blog when i was gone. i've been thinking about why not. the main reason seems to be that when i travel i'm more focused on what is going on immediately around me and not letting political or other ideas rattle around my skull until they're dying to get out.
on the other hand, last year when i was traveling in uzbekistan i blogged pretty regularly. but that was more of a travelogue than my normal posts. which begs the question why i didn't write a travelogue in canada.
but the uzbek trip was different in one imporant way: i was traveling alone. sure i made some friends along the way and, in fact, was rarely completely solo anywhere i went. but because no one who i spent time with in uzbekistan shared my normal life with me back home meant i felt more of a need to document what i was seeing. when i sit here and remember something that happened in bukhara, i can read what i wrote on my trip to prove it really happened. and it helps me remember not just whatever i happened to write about. reading contemporaneous writings brings back the feeling of what it was like on that day. i remember not only what i wrote, but what i forgot to write, what i decided to edit out, what i did after i left the internet cafe, etc.
and it's not just what i wrote in this blog. i also kept a journal when i traveled in uzbekistan. i also wrote a journal when i visited europe in '92, kenya, uganda, vietnam and mali. in short, only on the trips that i did not take with mrs. noz. i never kept a journal on any of the trips where she accompanied me: europe in '96, turkey, tunisia, sicily, and now canada. because i can reminisce about each of those trips with her, i felt no need to document what did or didn't happen to prove that i didn't imagine it.
anyway, it was a good trip. i was a bit out of touch with politics, at least american politics. on our last night in the queen charlotte islands, we happened to have dinner with this guy. there were about 30 people at the dinner with us--a local woman hosted tourists at her house where she served us traditional haida food. one of the other tourists was mr. layton. almost all the other tourists at the dinner were canadian, so i think mrs. noz and i may have been the only ones who never heard of layton before he arrived. but i did get to talk to him. as a labor lawyer, it was pretty interesting to discuss labor issues with the leader of the NDP, basically canada's labor party. and now i got a name to drop whenever i talk to a canadian.
obviously, a lot more obviously happened over the past two weeks. maybe i'll mention it later. or maybe not. it is good to be back. even though i'm swamped at work (thanks cassie!) i'm anxious to start blogging more again. so i think my somewhat unintentional haitus is over now.
