Lamp pole that sings and other random things

There is one lamp pole in the middle of Nagoya that sings to you as you walk past it. It even seems to know your name.

Ooops. Sorry, that’s my futuristic post. There is no such lamp post in Nagoya, but there are a bunch of random things that I love about my life here.

1. There really are speakers on the lamp posts (or beside them somewhere) that play music as you walk in Sakae (downtown Nagoya).
2. As we stood at a red hand in Sakae yesterday (on our way to getting Coldstone ice cream), my friend looked behind us and noticed that there was a long line of people behind us. Everyone was waiting patiently without shoving or elbowing. Khartoum folks, can you imagine it!! Think of queues into the airport in the early morning. What a contrast!
3. Coldstone ice cream “like it” size is a manageable amount of ice cream. I can actually have it. I’d decided never to get another Coldstone ice cream in the states because it’s too big and I should never eat that much rich ice cream in one seating.
4. Starbucks has a creme brulee flavored coffee that’s not too sweet!
5. People don’t stare at me as I walk around Nagoya (or if they do, they’re really good at doing it covertly.
6. Canadians are considered good drivers so I don’t have to take a driving test (sorry Charlotte).
7. I have a GPS that can go home and an iPhone that can do almost everything else including get me home.
8. My iPhone has a compass.
9. I feel safe in my neighbourhood, enough so to go walking alone at night.
10. I have my own car but can carpool with colleagues off and on.
11. I can have excellent Japanese, Indian or American and Indian and Japanese are within walking distance. You can find almost any restaurant you want downtown.

To those of you who know me well, you’ll know that I hate stopping on an odd number when counting; I’m becoming a risk taker in Japan 😉