Arrival

I managed to get packed and left home at 6:45 Friday. (I left a bit of a mess in my room, even though I worked on it all night :-(. Thank god Adam is willing to send me the stuff that I wasn't able to fit in my bags. Adam took me to the airport, and I got checked in. My suitcase was 69 lbs., one under the limit *g* There was no problem getting out of San Diego, and then I had an hour and a half in LAX. It was kind of funny when we arrived-- the flight took 35 minutes, and they weren't expecting us so early. Finally, I got on the plane to go to Japan.

The flight was almost 12 hours long. I was exhausted, so I slept off and on. It surprised me how empty the plane was. I had an empty seat next to me, so I used it to put my legs up and sleep. The other guy in my row slept through the first portion of the trip, but then he started talking to me. He wanted to talk for a long time. For both meals, he bent my ear for about a half hour. Grrr. I pulled out my book, and did my best to ignore him without seeming impolite. ( Read more... )

We finally got to Narita, Tokyo's airport. I went to my connection, and we got a nice tour of the backside of a major airport as they took us on a bus to the domestic connections they had out in the middle of the airfield. Then, we had the joy of taxiing for about an hour, because they sent our plane to a runway that was closed for construction. Grrr. That sucked.

We arrived in Nagoya finally, and I got my luggage. Or tried to. They have lost my second piece of luggage, and I hope they find it. I was so exhausted at this point, I didn't really care. Between the transfer in Tokyo, and the plane delay, it had been about 7 hours since I had eaten. I felt really crappy, but I finally got out of customs, and I have to say, I was never so happy to see a familiar face. My friend Sakura was there, waiting for me. I talked with her, and we're supposed to get together today. She rode her bike from home to come meet me at the airport. I found the person who was meeting me from my company, and he took me and another teacher to my hotel in Nagoya.

The hotel is a business hotel close to Altia central office. I have a room and a bathroom that are maybe 10 by 12 together. The bath is great. I forgot how nice a deep bath is. It's about three feet long and three feet deep. I also love being able to set the temperature. The temperature knob has degrees on it, and you just put it where you want, no guessing. yeay!! I slept, and unfortunately woke up around 3am local (10am PST) and every hour after that. I gave up around 7am, and have been up watching TV and writing this.

Homeless in Nagoya

I just went for a walk. I'm in the center of Nagoya. It's all big buildings. I went over to Nagoya station and walked around. They have DVD-R/RW drives for about $100. How does this compare to home?

I also went around the food part of the department store. I could have bought a Fuji apple for a dollar, or 1/4 of a small watermelon for $9. I also tried some flavored vinegar (it's a popular health drink). I stopped by the tofu counter, and tried their cherry tofu. It didn't taste much diferent than regular tofu. I ended up buying something at the bread store. I decided to pass on the curry donut, and got a sausage bread with cheese and sauce, and a cherry sweet paste bun. They were pretty yummy.

When I got back to the hotel, I found out I was supposed to leave my key when I left so that they could clean my room. oops. I gave them the key, grabbed a drink from the free vending machine in the lobby, and went back out.

I went out and walked a good bit. I went the opposite direction of the station. I found a little park that was across the street from an elementary school. There were a couple of cherry trees in front of the school, and I had my first cherry blossom sighting. *g* The school had an outdoor swimming pool. I went to the swings in the park.

At first, I hadn't really noticed anything unusual, but as I sat there, I realized that the small structures around the edge of the park were built by homeless people. The favored construction seemed to be a wooden frame with blue plastic tarps for walls and roofs. They also used the trees for supports. There was a man who was washing his clothes, and hanging them on hangers out to dry. They are quite clean little places, each about the size of a small room. Many even have doors with handles on them. There are signs around the park that say putting up a tent and leaving belongings in the park is prohibited, but there is obviously no enforcement happening. There were neighborhood people there, a child on the slide, a couple on a bench, and an old man feeding the birds. I kind of want to approach the homeless people and find out how this happens-- if they work, their relationship with non-homeless, the unwritten rules and enforcement of such. They don't look scary. They were just cleaning out their places, and hanging out.

BTW, don't worry-- I be posting this much the entire time. I just have nothing to do at the moment.