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Published: April 24th 2006
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Out the Window
On the plane trip Written on Friday
Hey!
Lots to say. I'm trying to adapt to the lifestyle here, but it is a lot different and a lot harder than I expected. Trite, yeah, but damn - this is going take some time before I'm used to this.
After a scant 4 hours of sleep, my sister kindly drove me to SFO and managed to get through the U.S. end of the passport deally without any real difficulty. You know that big suitcase, though, the one we thought was less than 50 lbs for sure? Yeah, 'twas pushing 80. Turns out there isn't a charge, though, for overstepping the 50 lbs limit as long as it is under 75. So after a minor reshuffle, all was good.
The plane ride was long but marked by brief periods of acute and enveloping terror. I was flying without money into a foreign land where no one was waiting for me, where I had to navigate a complex route through multiple mass transit systems, where my baggage that I would physically carry weighed more than I did, and where I could not speak, read, or write the language. Think about that for a second.
Out the Window
The white poofy clouds that obscure everything. I kept expectantly looking out the window for an answer to assuage my fears, searching for the mainland as if it would offer up some deus ex machina to save me from my certain doom. I could never see Japan, though - the pilot kept counting down: 55 minutes, 30 minutes, 15 minutes, even 5 minutes still without land. The great billowing clouds obscured everything. Nonetheless, I persistently peered out my window as if Japan's neon glow would sear my retinas, aggressively announcing its presence. Of course, it was 2:05 in the afternoon with only the drone of the engines enveloping the quiet sun, sea, and sky.
I kept trying to read some metaphor into my descent - the nausea from the cloud-based turbulence and sudden drops being the birthpains of rebirth into a new life; the complete white that enveloped my window as wisps of cloud manifested and quickly whooshed away was the smoky uncertainty of the future while the drop below the cloudline was the manifestation of the future, concrete and hard, destiny awaiting.
Yeah, I had spent 11 hours on a plane and was going kind of crazy.
I survived the mass transit
Out the Window
Shinkansen view of a river. Note the large embankment on each side. exchanges, but not without considerable difficulty. It was hot, stressful, and physically exhausting, but in the end I felt the quiet joy of sleep in my intended destination. Nothing really to say about it, but I hope you never have to do it.
To simulate my mood (and save time), I'll switch to vignette style here:
-Meeting people from the U.S. - a guy from Springfield, VA on the Narita Express on the way to Tokyo Station, a cute young couple from San Francisco. Exchanged brief stories and advice.
-Impressing the customs agent when I switched over to Japanese, preventing her from searching my bags (and all the associated difficulty)
-Language forcing when I bought a train ticket: the question asked of me in English, responding in Japanese, next question in English, etc.
-First faux pas: like on planes, seats are assigned in the trains. Even if the cabin is empty, you might just get unlucky and get someone's assigned seat and have them yell at you for stupidly stealing their seat. *Cough*.
-Speeding along the countryside in a bullet train.
-Being chauffeured by a white gloved man in a fine suit in
The Hills
Another shinkansen pic of the hills a taxi. And not having to tip.
-Meeting up with the late crowd, and heading over to the restaurant, where a vast and tasty meal waited for me.
-Heading out into downtown Kyoto afterwards, and because of the crowd I accidentally chose, exploring the much sketchier areas of the city.
-Sleeping. Hallelujah.
-Waking up far too early, meeting downstairs, walking to the SCTI center (which will be the subject of a later post). Finding a crowd of people with whom I enjoy hanging out.
-Discovering we had a surprise Japanese placement interview. And yes, we can get demoted. If you know me, you know how much I dread oral examinations, Japanese in particular (such a fast language!). And, relying on my accumulated Japanese class skills and my less-than-24-hours-of-immmersion, managing okay - quick-ish speaking, quick comprehension, solidly complex grammar.
-A rockin' lunch of sushi and pizza.
-Dinner with Japanese University students, discovering jokes, learning my first Japanese pun-ish thing. "Alumikan no ue aru mikan" . Funny because of the repetition of Arumikan / Alumikan. Okay, yeah, not too funny, but we thought
Dinner
Dinner, Day 1. it was great.
-Karaoke. And more Karaoke.
-Relaxing in a hotel room with a couple others, quiet time after being overwhelmed.
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Kelvin
non-member comment
Sweet.
yeah the bag was 50. there scale was just off. and what's this i hear of karaoke? in japanese?