Day 21 - Homeward Bound!
On the way home!!!!
I'm sitting against a wall in Narita Airport, charging up my other laptop battery for the long trip home. It's good to be on the way, though I hope I still feel that way five hours into the flight over Alaska.
This morning was the slightly famous trip to the Tokyo Salvation Army!! I think part of my group thought I was crazy, but I went by myself anyway. After getting up, getting everything packed up and checked out, I took the subway out west. I only had to change once, and once I was above ground again was in a nice residential area of Tokyo. Following the directions I got on the website, I was soon at a low building, and as soon as I walked in it was clearly an SA. There was the requisite furniture section in the back, as well as various departments for kids, women and men. This one however had a section for kimonos and fabrics, as well as a section just for pottery. The housewares section was more likely to have brush paintings than posters, and most of the ceramics were of Japanese make.
I headed to housewares first, and picked up a few things, and then dove into the kimono area. I immediately found a nice cherry blossom yukata for myself, and grabbed a cord for my obi (essential for wrapping it). I then shouldered my way over to the obi bins, and grabbed THE find of the trip. It's a real brocade obi, all white with gold and white silk stitching. It's probably 12 ft long, and will become a table runner for special occasions or a wall hanging in short order. I also grabbed a nice purple one for Mad, and a smaller blue one that I thought would match a jacket Janet had bought. All in all a fantastic trip, just for those items. I then wandered through the ceramics section and got a few small things for people, and finally left around 11:30. I successfully used "Ikura dess ka?" "How much is it?" and got an answer, yay for survival Japanese! The sales people in the various departments were also funny, they would look at the price then say "Discount!" and take a hundred or so yen off, or throw in something extra. Very neat, and the only place that the price is negotiable.
On the way back to the train I was reminded that I wasn't quite home yet. Here I am in a Salvation Army store, walk half a block back and there's a huge wooden temple complete with glaring guardian warriors. The shift back and forth between things I know and accept, and those that are still foreign was nice, reminding me even though I'm leaving, I can still find incongruity amusing.
Back at the hotel I found out our bus reservation had been moved up, which was fine. I got to show off my amazing deals. Around 1pm we boarded the bus, and got to the airport just fine. Check in was a breeze, and even security was fine. Now we're about to board and get on our way home!!!
The rest of my life starts after I get home. I've been so focused on this trip for so long, that I didn't really think much about the summer at all. I couldn't think about it, because this was so overwhelming from the beginning. Now I'm able to look forward to weekends of dress shopping in July, an August reunion of my college friends, and just enjoying the summer months. Tomorrow I want BBQ and a walk on the beach!!!
I'm sitting against a wall in Narita Airport, charging up my other laptop battery for the long trip home. It's good to be on the way, though I hope I still feel that way five hours into the flight over Alaska.
This morning was the slightly famous trip to the Tokyo Salvation Army!! I think part of my group thought I was crazy, but I went by myself anyway. After getting up, getting everything packed up and checked out, I took the subway out west. I only had to change once, and once I was above ground again was in a nice residential area of Tokyo. Following the directions I got on the website, I was soon at a low building, and as soon as I walked in it was clearly an SA. There was the requisite furniture section in the back, as well as various departments for kids, women and men. This one however had a section for kimonos and fabrics, as well as a section just for pottery. The housewares section was more likely to have brush paintings than posters, and most of the ceramics were of Japanese make.
I headed to housewares first, and picked up a few things, and then dove into the kimono area. I immediately found a nice cherry blossom yukata for myself, and grabbed a cord for my obi (essential for wrapping it). I then shouldered my way over to the obi bins, and grabbed THE find of the trip. It's a real brocade obi, all white with gold and white silk stitching. It's probably 12 ft long, and will become a table runner for special occasions or a wall hanging in short order. I also grabbed a nice purple one for Mad, and a smaller blue one that I thought would match a jacket Janet had bought. All in all a fantastic trip, just for those items. I then wandered through the ceramics section and got a few small things for people, and finally left around 11:30. I successfully used "Ikura dess ka?" "How much is it?" and got an answer, yay for survival Japanese! The sales people in the various departments were also funny, they would look at the price then say "Discount!" and take a hundred or so yen off, or throw in something extra. Very neat, and the only place that the price is negotiable.
On the way back to the train I was reminded that I wasn't quite home yet. Here I am in a Salvation Army store, walk half a block back and there's a huge wooden temple complete with glaring guardian warriors. The shift back and forth between things I know and accept, and those that are still foreign was nice, reminding me even though I'm leaving, I can still find incongruity amusing.
Back at the hotel I found out our bus reservation had been moved up, which was fine. I got to show off my amazing deals. Around 1pm we boarded the bus, and got to the airport just fine. Check in was a breeze, and even security was fine. Now we're about to board and get on our way home!!!
The rest of my life starts after I get home. I've been so focused on this trip for so long, that I didn't really think much about the summer at all. I couldn't think about it, because this was so overwhelming from the beginning. Now I'm able to look forward to weekends of dress shopping in July, an August reunion of my college friends, and just enjoying the summer months. Tomorrow I want BBQ and a walk on the beach!!!