Ready....Go!
Wow. One week in Japan down and not so much as a hint of a post.
There are many reasons for this. The first is my own stupidity. This computer translates everything into Japanese, and I wrote a post before somehow pressing the 'delete everything' button unwittingly. D'oh! Oh well....2nd time lucky.
A lot of stuff has happened.
I left Bolton bright and early on Monday morning, and was driven to the airport. Everything felt a little strange. I found myself saying goodbye to English style cars, fields and even inanimate roadsigns. It was a quiet journey, made slightly frustrating by the volume of traffic. I arrived in good time.
Having said goodbye to my folks (my mum was back at the house, my dad had driven to the airport), it was time to look forwards. I had to check in a hgugely overweight suitcase, as well as a painfully heavy piece of hand luggage. The friendly lady on the KLM desk allowed my bag on board (after I explained that it contained my whole life, and that I would hate to leave part of that in Manchester Airport).
I had a couple of hours to kill, one of which was speeded along by the presence of my good friend Ben. He arrived at the departure loubnge and we had a tasty coffee, before exchanging very general views on the concept of me leaving to live in Japan without so much as a sentence of Japanese at my disposal. It was fun. I was scared. Talking helps!
Onwards and upwards then (about 30,000 feet upwards), and I found myself flying to Amsterdam. The flight was late, and I had a bit of time to make up in order top get to my connection to Tokyo, which was made all the more difficult by my back-breaking hand luggage. Maybe I should have listened to the KLM lady. I was comfortably on time in the end.
The 11 hours from Schipol to Narita didn't exactly fly by. I was in the middle of a row, with little leg room, sat nextto a friendly Italian lady and a (constantly) sleeping Japanese business man. I had to keep disturbing his slumber to walk around and fend of DVT. The film was crap. The beer was ok, but I couldn_' have much. The food featured a Pot Noodle, soi it was hardly gourmet, but such is life. We took off in Europe and landed in Japan. Job well done.
In Tokyo, I had an 8 hour wait until my flight to Nagoya. I spent 6 of these in the company of a lovely wee lass from Mansfield. 8 hours in an airport should be the low point of any long journey. Strangely, Narita airport was the highlight of this one.
Onwards to Nagoya, and this is where it all gets a bit hazey. I was met at the airport )after I put out a tannoy to find my pick-up person) and taken to Gifu to meet my new co-workers. I started work the next day (after getting to my shiny new apartment at about 10pm). I got up. I showered. I taught kids. Lots of kids. I had some beers. I taught adults. I did a puppet show. I did another puppet show. I had some noodles. I ate sushi. I drank coffee. I got a postcard. I drank more coffee. I planned lessons. I planned more lessons. I tried to plan even more lessons, but fell asleep. 5 days later I got a day off. I went to a Japanese restaurant. I fell asleep for many many hours.
All of the above happened- I am unsure of the order.
Yesterday I visited Nagoya. They had a fireworks festival and it was HUGE. There must have been hundreds of thousands of people watching- Nagoya Port looked like Wembley on cup final day. It was insane. They must have send hundreds of tons of explosives up into the air in order for us humble spectators to watch a few seconds of pretty colours. It was fantastic- and my home town has an even bigger festival in a couple of weeks. Bring it on! You can't beet a cool beer and a shed-load of explosions. Happy days.
Today I caught up with rather more sleep than I had planned to, and got far less done than I should have. Never mind. There's always next weekend...although I think I may be rather preoccupied next week. We'll have to wait and see.
There are many reasons for this. The first is my own stupidity. This computer translates everything into Japanese, and I wrote a post before somehow pressing the 'delete everything' button unwittingly. D'oh! Oh well....2nd time lucky.
A lot of stuff has happened.
I left Bolton bright and early on Monday morning, and was driven to the airport. Everything felt a little strange. I found myself saying goodbye to English style cars, fields and even inanimate roadsigns. It was a quiet journey, made slightly frustrating by the volume of traffic. I arrived in good time.
Having said goodbye to my folks (my mum was back at the house, my dad had driven to the airport), it was time to look forwards. I had to check in a hgugely overweight suitcase, as well as a painfully heavy piece of hand luggage. The friendly lady on the KLM desk allowed my bag on board (after I explained that it contained my whole life, and that I would hate to leave part of that in Manchester Airport).
I had a couple of hours to kill, one of which was speeded along by the presence of my good friend Ben. He arrived at the departure loubnge and we had a tasty coffee, before exchanging very general views on the concept of me leaving to live in Japan without so much as a sentence of Japanese at my disposal. It was fun. I was scared. Talking helps!
Onwards and upwards then (about 30,000 feet upwards), and I found myself flying to Amsterdam. The flight was late, and I had a bit of time to make up in order top get to my connection to Tokyo, which was made all the more difficult by my back-breaking hand luggage. Maybe I should have listened to the KLM lady. I was comfortably on time in the end.
The 11 hours from Schipol to Narita didn't exactly fly by. I was in the middle of a row, with little leg room, sat nextto a friendly Italian lady and a (constantly) sleeping Japanese business man. I had to keep disturbing his slumber to walk around and fend of DVT. The film was crap. The beer was ok, but I couldn_' have much. The food featured a Pot Noodle, soi it was hardly gourmet, but such is life. We took off in Europe and landed in Japan. Job well done.
In Tokyo, I had an 8 hour wait until my flight to Nagoya. I spent 6 of these in the company of a lovely wee lass from Mansfield. 8 hours in an airport should be the low point of any long journey. Strangely, Narita airport was the highlight of this one.
Onwards to Nagoya, and this is where it all gets a bit hazey. I was met at the airport )after I put out a tannoy to find my pick-up person) and taken to Gifu to meet my new co-workers. I started work the next day (after getting to my shiny new apartment at about 10pm). I got up. I showered. I taught kids. Lots of kids. I had some beers. I taught adults. I did a puppet show. I did another puppet show. I had some noodles. I ate sushi. I drank coffee. I got a postcard. I drank more coffee. I planned lessons. I planned more lessons. I tried to plan even more lessons, but fell asleep. 5 days later I got a day off. I went to a Japanese restaurant. I fell asleep for many many hours.
All of the above happened- I am unsure of the order.
Yesterday I visited Nagoya. They had a fireworks festival and it was HUGE. There must have been hundreds of thousands of people watching- Nagoya Port looked like Wembley on cup final day. It was insane. They must have send hundreds of tons of explosives up into the air in order for us humble spectators to watch a few seconds of pretty colours. It was fantastic- and my home town has an even bigger festival in a couple of weeks. Bring it on! You can't beet a cool beer and a shed-load of explosions. Happy days.
Today I caught up with rather more sleep than I had planned to, and got far less done than I should have. Never mind. There's always next weekend...although I think I may be rather preoccupied next week. We'll have to wait and see.
posted by Christopher at 6:00 AM
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