Sunday January 4, 1998: 9:50am
Ew, what a flight. I think I was spoiled on the way over with first class treatment, and economy was just crummy in comparison. Or perhaps it was because I did not sleep a wink until 15 minutes before landing - I mean, first I take the darn sleepin g pill (well, half) and then also the flight is overnight - but I could NOT sleep. And of al the movies, they showed "George of the Jungle".. didn't even bother putting on the headsets. Woulda preferred "Contact" or something like that.
And the guy who sat beside me, well, he obviously knew our stewardess pretty well, because she was giving him puh-lenty of attention! I thought it was quite funny.
But at least I got to proudly queue in the "Japanese" line for customs because of my newly-acquired reentry permit - an honour only bestowed on a select few foreigners ;) Yeah, a security dude even came up to me to check I wasn't totally confused.
Just waiting for this darned train to arrive - I want to get home! I want my bed and I want to sleep! Argh.
4:50pm
Well it was raining when the plane landed, but by the time I'd gotten home (1pm) it had turned into a stunning sunny day, reminiscent of the first days of spring. So I went for a very short walk. My mission: to find bread. Not exactly the most di fficult thing - or so I thought.
First I try the nearest Lawson's - no luck. What?! Who ever heard of a 24 hour *convenience* store being out of BREAD?! Hmph. Well, being such a nice day I thought I would just mosey on down to the grocery store. I mean, GROCERY STORES always ha ve bread! I've seen them, I've bought it, I KNOW. Ok, I'm getting all worked up about bread. The short story is that all stores (save 24 hour ones) are still closed for the New Year's holidays. Yeah. And all the 24 hour stores are long sold-out of an y sort of useful (ie, convenient) product. Well, New Year's is the big holiday around here, supposedly - guess it's the Japanese Xmas.
Now, I'm going to sleep. Yes, at 5pm. I figure I'm so tired, etc, that I could sleep forever. So if I never write again, you know what happened.
Monday January 5, 1998: 8am
Well, it was close to forever. 14 HOURS! I just slept for 14 HOURS!! I'm quite excited about this - hey, I've never clunked out for that long before. It's like discovering you can leap tall buildings in a single bound, which, btw, I've already ma stered. A new talent, I will have to practice.
6pm
Hey cool, today was one of teh 2 days of the year when we had to be at work for set hours. Today's hours? 8:45am to 4:33pm. Oh yeah, 4:33pm exactly, to the minute! Gotta love that Seiko watch preciseness! Anyway, I'm not positive as to why they have these special hours, but I believe it has something to do with it being the first work day of the year. Maybe.
Oh I got all these New Year's cards in the mail today. Well, 4 of them that is. Wakako-chan was telling me how everyone sends them out - they're sort of postcards actualy, except that you put the address of the receiver on the front where the pictu
re would usually go. Anyway, I feel special cuz I got Japanese mail!
Wednesday January 7, 1998: 6:30pm
Well it's a bit chilly today. I can tell because my thumbs froze on the way to work this morning. Hm, that could also be because my mittens conveniently have big huge holes in the thumbs.. y'know how there are those people who just always get holes in their socks at the big toe? Wel, I'm like taht but with mittens and thumbs. Ok, I'm like that with with socks and big toes too, but I keep on trying to repair my mittens, but the holes persist, and my mitts end up being a sorry sight of frayed fabri c, funny bumps, loose threads, and the inevitable hole. But I'm a very spiteful person, and I'm determined to conquer these mittens! The will see their hole-less days!
9:30pm
Wow, I just had a guy beg money from me. I mean, I'm standing here waiting for the train, and he just kept on coming over and asking for different things. First, a smoke. Second, a drink. Last, money. Well I only had 20 yen (25 cents) on me (ser iously) so it couldn't hurt. You'd think that I could handle begging after years of Jakarta, but I suppose it depends on relative poverty - it's just that there are practically NO beggers in Tokyo.
On a brighter note, I'm listening to Fleetwood Mac. How could I go wrong? And tonight was calligraphy - I wrote "hana goyomi", or "flower calendar" - y'know, the flower of each month, kinduv like birthstones (but flowers, duh). I think the Japanes e flower calendar is different from the Canadian one, although now that I think about it, I have absolutely no clue what the flower calendar is. But the stone one is the same because Sensei and I talked about it. She asked what my birthstone was - it's difficult to explain a peridot, other than saying it's green, not an emerald, and ugly as hell. Oh well.
Woah, a Japanese Mulder just walked onto the train! [ed. note: That would be , of course] Oh cool. Wow, exactly the same! All ya'd have to do is add a couple of inches,
dye the hair, lighten the skin tone a pinch.. perfect. I'm just gonna sit here and stare at him for the rest of the ride, excuse me!
Thursday January 8, 1998: 9pm
SNOW!! And *tons* of it! Wow, it started at lunchtime - just a few flakes here and there.. not fluffy at all, and definitely not staying on the ground. Then at about 2 or so I look out the window and it's a full-blown blizzard out there! How craz y is that? And then it continued on all afternoon - and I was so excited. Y'know all babbling and jabbing like a kid. Hey, I may be an Ottawa-gal born-and-bred, but I doubt I will ever tire of the first snowfall! Anyway, in honour of the snow, I decid ed to go for a nice long walk on the way home. Now it was still snowing hard at this point - and I was out for an hour and a half.. I was *thouroughly* and *completely* wet and covered in white stuff.
So Tokyoites are very singular I think - snow is falling, and what do they all do? Pull out UMBRELLAS. Now is this just not a bit odd? It's not as though it was the occasional person here and there - no, I'm talkin' everyone! Hahaha!!
And for once I was right to wear my boots. Everyone coments on them because to a Tokyoite, my Thinsulate hiking-style boots are absolutely ridiculous, not to mention unnecessary. But tonight, I have the last laugh, cuz I can trek through the foot o
f snow that has already fallen. Eat that!
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