it's not life that matters but the journey...

As I was writing in an email to my mom, I realized that time has really flown since I left the U.S. It's hard to believe that it's already Sunday here in Japan. I feel like time just disappeared since I lost a whole day with the time change and the long travel. I left Port Angeles on Monday afternoon, flew out of Seattle Tuesday afternoon, and by the time I got to my new home in Japan, Wednesday was already over! Thursday was spent just resting in my room, and Friday was mostly spent just resting and unpacking and organizing. I realized that still had a bunch of clothes from when I lived in this house four years ago, and with all the new clothes that I brought with me, or sent in boxes, I won't have to shop for clothes for a long time! which is a great great thing! But I had lots of organizing to do, putting my clothes in drawers and hanging things up. I also had fun organizing my teaching room - I have lots of books and supplies from when I was here before, and Masahiko bought a couple of really nice tables and shelves for me to use. So I'm almost ready to start getting students! We're going to put up our sign outside the house next week and see if anyone calls - I really hope I can get lots and lots of interest! It's going to be hard to get myself into the mindset of working, and especially teaching which I haven't done for a few years. But I'm excited to get started.

But anyway, between all the resting and the unpacking, I didn't actually get out of the house until yesterday, which was Saturday. I went with Masahiko and his friend Onoda to see Masahiko play a blues gig at a very small bar in nearby Fujinomiya (which is the next town over, towards Mt. Fuji) called Roots and Fruits. He played with a bassist and a harmonica player (who won a contest for best blues harpist in all of Japan a few years ago), and it was a really fun show. Even though I was still jet lagging and could hardly keep my eyes open towards the end of the night, and even though the bar was extremely small and crowded, the music was great, and I met some interesting people, including a woman from Brazil. I love going out in Japan - as a foreigner I get lots of attention, and most of the time people are so nice and really want to talk to me. And people are so so nice here!

Today Masahiko is out at a seminar all day - he's trying to get some forklift training so he might get some kind of certificate. I think he should be aiming higher and trying to get a job using English, but he's being practical and worried he can't get anything more than a manual labor job. But at least he's being proactive, which is good. In about 30 minutes, I'm supposed to be meeting my friend Akiko, who was my former supervisor at the high school where I taught 10 years ago. She was supposed to meet me earlier, but she's busy with work (typical, teachers working on a Sunday!) Then Tuesday I should be meeting some other friends for lunch, and Friday Masahiko and I might take a trip back to Tokyo, this time by train, to see the U.S. Embassy about his green card. Now that he's living in Japan again, there are some issues about whether he will have to abandon his permanent residency in the states, since he isn't intending to go back soon and doesn't have a re-entry permit. it's complicated...

Anyway, speaking of complications, I had meant to write about the couple little minor complications that occurred during my travel.

As I've mentioned, I decided to stay in a hotel near the airport Monday night so that I could easily get to the airport on Tuesday without any delays. Port Angeles is quite far from the Seattle-Tacoma area, and my mom couldn't take me to Seattle because she can't ever leave my father alone. So, my neighbor Clare, who was already going to Seattle for a nursing seminar, was kind enough to let me ride with her, and she dropped me at my hotel Monday afternoon. I had reserved a room in the Quality Inn because when I did a search for pet-friendly hotels near the airport, it was the first site to come up. It was cheap, and near the airport, so I didn't give it any thought. I checked in, and with Clare's help got all my stuff into the room, got Leo out of his cage, and even put some of my cosmetics near the sink, and my shampoo in the shower. The room was comfortable - nothing fancy, but just what I needed for one night. However, when I went to flush the toilet, I discovered the first problem. The toilet would not flush! I called the front desk and they sent someone to fix it - but by the time he arrived, I'd discovered a second problem. My phone kept ringing once and then stopping. There were no message lights, and the guy at the desk didn't know what the problem was. So when they were unable to fix my toilet, they decided to move me into the room next door. The front desk guy was nice enough to help me move my stuff over, and I had just about settled into the new room, and was contemplating asking for some kind of discount on my room, when the tv set literally blew out! Seriously I had the tv on, and then there was a bright light, and it was dead. I tried turning it back on, and nothing. And then I realized what happened when I smelled the burning. So I called the front desk again and very patiently told the exasperated clerk, whose name I learned was Gary, that the TV set in my new room had blown out. There was some general confusion as Gary ried to decide what to do, whether I should get a new tv in this room, or move back to the other room. But luckily the maintenance guy was already there, and he got a new Tv installed in just a few minutes, and I was back in business. However, I had already wasted about 40 minutes with all this moving back and forth, and my sister was on her way to pick me up for dinner, so I was on my way to the front desk to ask for some kind of monetary compensation when I was met in the hallway by Gary. He was super apologetic and said that after talking with his manager, they decided to comp my room completely for my inconvenience! So I got my room for free! And on top of that, he said that he would have a shuttle ready for me in the morning to take me to the airport and drop me off right outside the gates (they normally drop shuttle passengers below where the parking lots are). I had already talked with Gary at length about needing some assistance in getting to the airport since I had two huge bags, a cat in a carrier, and two carry-on bags.

After I finally got back into my room, my sister was already at my hotel to take us to dinner at Red Robin - my niece and nephew were there too, and we had a great time. There were no further problems with my room that night, and the shuttle guy came on time the next morning (though he had to wait a bit for me since I was super disorganized trying to get all my stuff packed and get all my things together, and Leo in his box), helped me load all my stuff, took me right to the entrance to the gate where a sky cap was waiting for me with a huge cart. I gave the shuttle driver a huge tip for his help, because without him, I would have really had trouble! Check in was easy, and the flight was smooth and even a couple hours shorter than scheduled. When I got to Japan, immigration was easy, my bags and Leo were waiting for me when I got to the baggage claim, and I got right through customs. Masahiko was waiting for me outside customs, and we went together to the quarantine office where we didn’t have to wait more than 20 minutes to get Leo. It was so easy! Unfortunately, we had some problems getting through the maze of Tokyo. Masahiko hadn’t printed out any maps, and didn’t have car navigation, and believe me, Tokyo is one of the biggest and most confusing cities you’ll ever see. It’s a really interesting city if you’re able to go by Train, or if you’re not driving, but poor Masahiko was trying so hard to find the way home that he missed the one turnoff to the highway that would have led us right to our home. So instead, we ended up going about two hours out of the way through Yamanashi prefecture, which is near Mt. Fuji. It would have been a pretty drive if it weren’t night time and if we both weren’t so tired. But we got home safely, even though it was late, and Masahiko has been super sweet and attentive ever since I got here.

I feel like there’s so much I want to write about - and so much I need to do. But I guess I’ll just take things one day at a time, and have faith that all will work out.