http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Japan , Chiba , Narita en-us Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:07:32 +0000 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:07:32 +0000 After an expired Visa and the chinese culture was a break the deserved resultand so i head off to sunshine coast BC.Campingfishing in inflatable small funny cruiseship with awesome foodawesome weatherand awesome girl was what i needed.After dreamlike days under the BC sun back to China wasn't that easy.After 2 failed flights back to Hongkong i made it through Narita Japan.So i dropped into an an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-422630.html Day 6 Meeting CIEE Program1000am I woke up took shower fixed self went online fixed bed packed wrote letter to Ate Reci Aimi.1200pm I left to go to the train station with my heavy suitcase bookbag and a plastic bag of clothes.1205pm The train I took stopped at MinamiUrawa and changed to RAPID to Kamata. I left the train because Ate Reci said that if I'm unsure leave the train. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-382823.html Our flight out of Winnipeg was quite ordinary. Thanks to my Dad we arrived at YWG only to have to wait in one of the longest lines I have ever seen at the Winnipeg Airport. Over 300 people waiting to go through security in Winnipeg. It appears that everyone had flights leaving at 800. The start of the Friday 13th curse.With the line seeming to move backwards at times what better way to pass ou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-373156.html After China trip I think about airplane meals. Well I had never taken Japanese Airplane before Beijing trip. Japanese friends often complained airplane meal except ANA or JAL because of the qualities. I remembered Continental Airline provided great meals when I went to Boston from Tokyo 10 years ago and Swiss Air had a huge choice of drink. I didn't think Japanese airlines did only provide http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-365042.html Life in A traditional Ryokan Guest HouseI am used to taking of shoes in Asian houses but Japan takes it to a whole new levelFirst you take your shoes off at the front door then you don green slippers to walk around the ryokanthen you take off your slippers to enter the bedrooms with tatami mat floorsthen you don red slippers to enter the toiletthen you don wooden clogs getas to go to the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-333739.html I had a bad flu and was not too well in Singapore so we postponed the flight to Tokyo fora couple of days. Then Jasmine was very sick the day after we got to Japan. We took her to a hospital and it turns out she had a gallstone attack. She's never had that before but she is better now but still feeling a bit vulnerable. She has to keep off the fatty food. Laurie looked up the web which said http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-333558.html I said Narita where the airport is but technically I'm over the Pacific We just crossed the Int'l Date Line. So on my flight today I have left Narita at 530 p.m. on Tuesday Sept. 16th and I will land in Seattle at 1000 a.m. on Tuesday Sept. 16th. It's doing something funky to my brain.Rachel slept in a bit today. Check out was officially at 11 a.m. but you could buy extra time http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-324414.html Quick first post.... touched down after an uneventful flight over. Good flight JAL was great as always. Had two options of hot food for supper I went with chicken and rice and washed it down with some not too bad red wine all complimentary of course. Met a guy from Korea who's heading back there for a bit and watched the movie Iron Man about 2 and a half times.Made one rather large oops.. I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-323350.html I've rented a phone for the duration of our stay. Incoming calls are free but outgoing are 4 yen second. So I will be making short calls sparingly To call me dial 81 8034955378. So feel free to call. Just check your international rates the time differenceJa neRae http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-320373.html Wee I made it to Japan. Crazily I left Seattle at 130 pm on Friday traveled for a straight 10 hours and landed at Narita at 330 pm on Saturday. Not once during our travels did it get dark outside.The plane ride was awesome It's the first time I've had real food on a plane since 1999 We got two hot meals plus snacks and tons of drinks. Lots of movie choices I could be as ADD as I want http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-320355.html H http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-306574.html So for the beginning of this journey there was plenty of comradery to go around. It started as soon as I walked into O'Hare. The nerdar nerd radar went off as I made the acquaintence of a great guy named Tony. For those outside the field any time you go off to something like this you can spot the people sharing your fate by the big poster tubes they're carrying if not by some other stran http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-293036.html We were returning to California on Japan Airlines and our connection was in Japan. Because of the scheduling we found ourselves with a 10 hour layover in Narita. Rather than spending all that time at the airport with nothing to do we decided to see if we could pick up a one day tour of the area. We checked at the information desk and found no short tours available. Speaking only English we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-268051.html Die ein Stunde verbrachte ich auf einer Bank in der Ankunftshalle des Airports. Als ich kurz auf Klo ging meinen Rucksack mitnahm und mein Waegelchen vorm kloh stehn lies haben sie es mir natuerlich gleich geklaut bzw sie haben es weggeraumt.Puenkltich um 1415 stand ich an der Busshaltestelle. Der Buss fuhr und ich zeigte mein ticket dem schaffner der nickt und riss einen Teil davon ab. Dann ue http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-266652.html Traininghellip..and TrainsThe events from 29th March5th AprilOKhellip. I arrived in Japan on March 29th had a day to myself to meet the other gaikokujin outside country people chillout and explore and then on March 30th a Sunday mind you we started training. It basically consisted of group work notetaking presentations many anecdotes about living and working in Japan and went fr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-265638.html HelloSorry for being lazy and not writing...We have been training all week from 9am to 6pm and then samling the delights of Narita in the evenings. Training finished yesterday and after going over policy teaching techniques lesson planning demonstration lessons Japanese etiquette expectations for and by schools and company...... I can safely say i'm knackered. There has been an overload of http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-263118.html I have arrivedWow.First impressions calm friendly clean busy foreign fun exciting new surreal and fantasticI arrived yesterday morning and training started this morning so I had a free day to explore with some of the new to be teachers I have met. There are several going to my area which is reassuring and all of the staff seem friendly and helpful which they assured me is only a fa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-261240.html Okay so I made it to Japan in one piece Not got any proper pictures yet but will get on it in the coming days. The flights were pretty crap got no sleep and was sooo bored for 16 hours. But its ok now found Ian and got a class hotel room in the Hilton. Even the toilet has all kinds of buttons and dials and flushes automatically and stuff haha. The hotel is well expensive though so me an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-255780.html We waved bye bye to the Ryokan at about 6am... and again cos we are mad walked to Ueno station with our bags hehe pCaught the morning liner to the airport and managed to get there alittle early.. problem there was our plane was delayed... 3 and a half hours After spending an hour and a half checking in what i expected in Heathrow we went and had some breakfast. We then went to out gate and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-250213.html In ancient Rome the emperor used to open the gladiator matches or the Christian martyrdoms by saying ldquoLet the Games Beginrdquo. Easy for him to saymdashRome conquered the world without having to deal with the Council for Labor Affairs. Honestly the bureaucracy has to be experienced to be believed. Caesar quit when he was ahead and didnrsquot even try to knock over China. The red http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Chiba/Narita/blog-196398.html