01::Adventure to Japanland, 3.4.06
I am exhausted!
At this moment, I am laying on a futon on the floor of my fathers apartment (more like dorm room). I am fresh out of a much needed shower and time zones are freaking with my head. I promised you folk that I'd post daily though, so this will be the first LJ post that I have ever made in a foreign land.
My day, a medium sized summary:
The plan was for me to stay awake Thursday night and Friday morning, and then sleep on the plane at around 9am Florida time, which would be 11pm Tokyo time so that I could get an early advantage on the jet lag problem. I didn't make it though. Mike stayed up with me till about 3 and went to sleep when his eyes couldnt stay open anymore (he had spent the evening rockin' out at an LTJ concert, the crazy fool!) I did some internet surfing, and talked to my dad a bit, but when it gets to be 4:30 am and you woke up at 8am for a class the previous morning and spent 4 hours driving in the afternoon, it stops being a fun idea to stay up all night. I fell asleep on the couch in the middle of writing the letter 6 on a sudoku puzzle.
At 5:30 my mom woke me up (not an easy feat) I grumpily packed the car and she drove me to the airport. After I checked my baggage, the longest line EVER was waiting for me to stand in it before I could go through security. I was happy though, because I was standing with another girl who was going to Japan as well, we traded plans and ideas for our trips, it was fun. When I went through security I got to flash my brand new passport, that made me excited. That moment was when it finally sunk in that I was leaving the country. I was going to a place that was full of people who did not primarily speak English. I realized that I did not know how to say essential phrases, "excuse me," "thank you," "please," what was I supposed to do when they answered the only phrase I knew, "Do you speak english," with a head-shake? I got scurred!
When I boarded the plane, I pulled out the book that Gus gave me (A tour guide to Tokyo) and luckily it had those very phrases in it, I spent a while learning those and then zonked out. The flight was SO easy, I slept 70% of the time, and watched "Waking Ned Devine" for the remainder. The airplane was HUGE. I have pictures, but no cable to connect the camera to my computer (great planning, eh?) so I'll post them when I get back. Don't worry though, I have my dad's camera for the rest of the trip, and I can hook that one up to my computer, so the rest of these posts will include pictures of all of the wonderfully Japanese things that are sure to happen to me.
After the flight, I got on a bus which took me to my father's neighborhood. The ride was an hour long, and only had a view of the highway, nothing too exciting. My dad met me at a hotel 2 blocks from his APT at 5:40 Tokyo time (3:40am for you!). We walked home and he took me on a 30 second tour ("This is the entry way, where the umbrella's go, that's the bathroom, and this is everything else") I'll post pictures of the place and you'll understand how laughably small it is in here. Anyway, after the tour, we had some sushi and some ice cream treats! The sushi was fantastic! And my ice cream treat was genius, it was vanilla ice cream with fudge swirled into it, but here's the special part, it was completely encased in a layer of waffle cone, and shaped like a bar. I don't understand why they're not available in The States, completely mess free, no drips, and it tastes like amazing.
After dinner, we walked to this high-end WalMart type place, called 7&i. It was 4 stories tall, and had TONS of stuff, food, furniture, stationary, video games, a 100 yen store, you name it- they had it. I spent forever in the grocery section marveling at all of the ridiculously packaged food that I would NEVER be brave enough to eat. We bought some experimental drinks and snacks and browsed the rest of the store. It was so fun! and went home so that we could call mom.
And now here I sit. My dad is sleeping 3 feet from me, and I can touch the kitchen counter.
Tomorrow I am going to go on the train to Disney with my dad so that I can get the hang of it, and then continue to downtown Tokyo. I have no idea where I am going to go first, my plan is to flip to a page in my amazing tour book and spend the day trying to find it. I'll continue like that until 5:00 and then head home for dinner, and hopefully catch Mike on the iSight before he goes to bed. (That's a big maybe though, it would depend on my not-lost factor, and his getting-a-reasonable-amount-of-sleep factor)
I have decided that every time I see a fat Japanese person, I am going to take a picture of them. ps. I haven't seen any yet! I am taking bets on how many pictures I'll get and the winner gets a prize!
If you or anyone you know has suggestions for things to do in Japan, you should totally post them, and I'll totally do them! It will be fantastic!
I miss everyone, and this place is amazing! More tomorrow, sorry that this was so long, and there wasn't really anything exciting.
<3
ps. the experimental tea i bought was gross, and my mom was right, the apples are orgasmic!
At this moment, I am laying on a futon on the floor of my fathers apartment (more like dorm room). I am fresh out of a much needed shower and time zones are freaking with my head. I promised you folk that I'd post daily though, so this will be the first LJ post that I have ever made in a foreign land.
My day, a medium sized summary:
The plan was for me to stay awake Thursday night and Friday morning, and then sleep on the plane at around 9am Florida time, which would be 11pm Tokyo time so that I could get an early advantage on the jet lag problem. I didn't make it though. Mike stayed up with me till about 3 and went to sleep when his eyes couldnt stay open anymore (he had spent the evening rockin' out at an LTJ concert, the crazy fool!) I did some internet surfing, and talked to my dad a bit, but when it gets to be 4:30 am and you woke up at 8am for a class the previous morning and spent 4 hours driving in the afternoon, it stops being a fun idea to stay up all night. I fell asleep on the couch in the middle of writing the letter 6 on a sudoku puzzle.
At 5:30 my mom woke me up (not an easy feat) I grumpily packed the car and she drove me to the airport. After I checked my baggage, the longest line EVER was waiting for me to stand in it before I could go through security. I was happy though, because I was standing with another girl who was going to Japan as well, we traded plans and ideas for our trips, it was fun. When I went through security I got to flash my brand new passport, that made me excited. That moment was when it finally sunk in that I was leaving the country. I was going to a place that was full of people who did not primarily speak English. I realized that I did not know how to say essential phrases, "excuse me," "thank you," "please," what was I supposed to do when they answered the only phrase I knew, "Do you speak english," with a head-shake? I got scurred!
When I boarded the plane, I pulled out the book that Gus gave me (A tour guide to Tokyo) and luckily it had those very phrases in it, I spent a while learning those and then zonked out. The flight was SO easy, I slept 70% of the time, and watched "Waking Ned Devine" for the remainder. The airplane was HUGE. I have pictures, but no cable to connect the camera to my computer (great planning, eh?) so I'll post them when I get back. Don't worry though, I have my dad's camera for the rest of the trip, and I can hook that one up to my computer, so the rest of these posts will include pictures of all of the wonderfully Japanese things that are sure to happen to me.
After the flight, I got on a bus which took me to my father's neighborhood. The ride was an hour long, and only had a view of the highway, nothing too exciting. My dad met me at a hotel 2 blocks from his APT at 5:40 Tokyo time (3:40am for you!). We walked home and he took me on a 30 second tour ("This is the entry way, where the umbrella's go, that's the bathroom, and this is everything else") I'll post pictures of the place and you'll understand how laughably small it is in here. Anyway, after the tour, we had some sushi and some ice cream treats! The sushi was fantastic! And my ice cream treat was genius, it was vanilla ice cream with fudge swirled into it, but here's the special part, it was completely encased in a layer of waffle cone, and shaped like a bar. I don't understand why they're not available in The States, completely mess free, no drips, and it tastes like amazing.
After dinner, we walked to this high-end WalMart type place, called 7&i. It was 4 stories tall, and had TONS of stuff, food, furniture, stationary, video games, a 100 yen store, you name it- they had it. I spent forever in the grocery section marveling at all of the ridiculously packaged food that I would NEVER be brave enough to eat. We bought some experimental drinks and snacks and browsed the rest of the store. It was so fun! and went home so that we could call mom.
And now here I sit. My dad is sleeping 3 feet from me, and I can touch the kitchen counter.
Tomorrow I am going to go on the train to Disney with my dad so that I can get the hang of it, and then continue to downtown Tokyo. I have no idea where I am going to go first, my plan is to flip to a page in my amazing tour book and spend the day trying to find it. I'll continue like that until 5:00 and then head home for dinner, and hopefully catch Mike on the iSight before he goes to bed. (That's a big maybe though, it would depend on my not-lost factor, and his getting-a-reasonable-amount-of-sleep factor)
I have decided that every time I see a fat Japanese person, I am going to take a picture of them. ps. I haven't seen any yet! I am taking bets on how many pictures I'll get and the winner gets a prize!
If you or anyone you know has suggestions for things to do in Japan, you should totally post them, and I'll totally do them! It will be fantastic!
I miss everyone, and this place is amazing! More tomorrow, sorry that this was so long, and there wasn't really anything exciting.
<3
ps. the experimental tea i bought was gross, and my mom was right, the apples are orgasmic!