she looked exactly the same as i had remembered her six years ago. tania with the same black curly hair, the same sideways smile and the same nod that she gives in quiet approval of everything around her. back from kyoto, japan for yet another visit to her home city (third one in a year), one senses that she is, again, restless. even as we sat in the quiet sanctuary of sam's one bedroom apartment overlooking the burrard street bridge, she stirs as we chat about babies, moving, and living arrangements in kyoto. in a few moments she will leave on another trek across the bridge to her apartment in coal harbour. and who knows when i'll see her again? perhaps in a year...perhaps five...perhaps never. but i know that if or if not, she'll still be the same tania alessandriani.