The Travel & Arrival Post

(So this is a very long post... but if you want to skip to the highlights, funny moments are listed separately at the bottom.)

We have to back up a few days before the 21st.. to the packing. I'm sure that somewhere in hell there is a packing room. A room where you have to figure out how to live for a year abroad but have a 50 lb limit per suitcase (checked luggage that is). I was tortured in that hell from Monday up to Thursday morning (yes I was still weighing suitcases and making sure they were under the limit). I had packed what I felt like were the basics but then had to go back, as my luggage was overweight and fleece. **When I called the airline (as I was about 12 lbs over total between my two bags) and they said the fee for overweight baggage was $252/piece. The guy tried to be nice about it and he suggest I just check an additional bag which could also weigh up to 50 lb  and only incur an $84 fee. Well, that seemed all well and good until it came to getting around in Japan. (Plus I was checking 2 big bags and the allowance was a big bag and carry-on size check for free. The oversize fee was $84 so I was looking at $84 x 2.) I didn't want to have to get around with 5 bags! (3 checked, 1 carry-on, and my personal bag/giant pink purse) My parents can tell you, the last three nights before I left, I was waking them, in a panic about the packing. Well my parents, being the geniuses they are, suggested they ship a box to me because, as my mom put it, even if it costs $50, that's less than $84! So I pulled out things I thought I could live without (my wellies, long john garments, small books, my all-natural shampoo stash) and told my parents I'd get them my address as soon as I had it.

So, as I said, even Thursday morning I was still making sure everything fit (as I had to put in my last couple toiletries). I had the grand task of hugging my family goodbye (and I had done so the night before, but did it again). And then getting into the car and on the way. Luckily Nadia's first class was cancelled so she and my dad went with me to the airport. They helped me get my bags inside and off we went to the AA counter. Each bag weighed in at 49.5! And I opened my wallet to pay that fee, but I wasn't charged one! (a my many miracles addition) They also didn't weigh my carry-on, thank goodness (as I the limit is 15 lbs and mine weighed in on the bathroom scale at 30). So I get checked in and then more hugs and tears all around. I felt a fair amount of trepidation but at the same time was telling myself, "It's only to California," as my first flight was taking me to LAX. I started to read a book on all natural cures that I planned to leave in CA.

While I was in line to get onto the plane, my carry-on was tagged as "valet" and I had to give the bag up. I started to get upset and nervous and asked the guy who took my bag if I would be charged extra and he said he had no idea and took the bag away. I tried to tell him I had measured it (I had) and it met their specifications, and he said, "Sorry, the bins are pretty small and I'm just supposed to take it." In any case, the plane to LAX was the next step up from a prop job! There was one aisle with 2 seats on either side down the whole plane. We had one attendant and got a drink during the flight. (I chose cran apple juice.) The guy who sat next to me was very big and his arm kept jabbing me and he rested his legs against me and kept falling asleep then jerking awake (hence the jabbing). He also smelled strongly of liquor. I kept telling myself to relax, and tried to remember it was only a 2 hour flight. It ended up being a little longer than it was supposed to be (it was delayed leaving I believe), but I made it to CA in one piece! I got my bag "plane side" with no charge and was omw again. When I got to LAX, there was a surprise for me! Jerod drove down to say goodbye to me. It was amazing and hard to see him - I still love him very much, and I consider it one of my many miracles that I was able to see him before I left. I was able to spend an hour with him catching up and then it was more goodbyes, more tears, but I told Jerod that I was promised angels would look out for me and that some of them were family so I expected that Roy would be watching out for me (Roy is Jerod's brother who passed away last year). That made Jerod tear up and I hope that he felt the same strong spirit that I did. And then I was off through security again and onto the next plane. And I was blessed once again as my carry-on was not weighed.

Singapore airlines... the plane was HUGE. There was an upper deck (wish I could have seen it), and a main deck. I was in the second section of the main deck. The sides had 3 seats a piece and the center section was 4. When I got my boarding pass, it said my seat was 53H. I silently prayed that I wouldn't be in the center seats. When I flew to Argentina, I had to sit in the center seats surrounded by people I didn't know. It was hard on my claustrophobia and I just wanted to feel calm as the flight was 11 hours long. I wanted to have an armrest (center seats typically don't seem to get any armrest space). So the next mmm (my many miracles) was getting a seat that was on the aisle. I wish I could have seen out the window (my view was limited to the wing), but I consider it a small miracle that I didn't get put in a center seat. 2 young Japanese teens sat next to me, and it was as though I didn't exist. I didn't need to chat with them the whole flight but I felt really strange like I was invisible. I only spoke to them at the end of the flight to ask if they were home or visiting (I'd heard them speak both Japanese and English). One told me they had lived in Japan and were now visiting and that was all she wrote. However, I didn't have time to be nervous on the plane. I watched movies and tv and ignored everything else! I assumed the movies would be edited and started Looper. However, it seems to me that it wasn't. So I only got 5 minutes or so into the movie before I switched to Skyfall. So, big news! I finally saw Skyfall! *laughs* I don't know how I felt about the movie except to say, it served its purpose. I only remembered twice that I was on a plane to Japan by myself! After that was done, I may have watched another action movie... now I don't remember though it was less than 24 hours ago. In any case, I watched the first 8 episodes of season 3 of The Walking Dead (those were all that were available). I finished season 2 about a week ago so it was perfect timing! They had some comedy tv shows available (The Office, HIMYM, The Big Bang Theory), but I'd watched all the episodes they had already. They had Wreck It Ralph and Rise of the Guardians, but for me those were last resorts. What I DID find, and what a find it was!: Astérix et Obélix! (with Gerard Depardieu) It was AWESOME! I saw the first probably half hour and I was laughing almost the entire time. It was very nice to hear some French as well! I know I'm missing at least one other action film in there... but I can't remember which...

On the plane they offered a meal service. I got the Japanese meal rather than the International. I know some would argue "Last time for marginally American food!" But for me it was like, "Starting early into a brave new world!" There was Zensai (it said on the description that it was an assortment of Japanese appetizers so I'm not sure what zensai actually means) and the only thing I recognized was edamame. I smelled everything first but ate it all and it was REALLY good. The main course was yellowtail with rice and broccoli. It was a bit fishy, but very good. The only thing for which I didn't care, but ate it all since that's what I have to do at the schools and figured I might as well start practicing, was cold noodles. They were slippery, wet, tasteless. There were chives and wasabi and I put all I had on those noodles... wet mush in my mouth. I also found a package of seaweed shavings. I'm not sure for what it was intended but when I found it I exclaimed "Oooh! Jackpot yum!" And put them on the rest of the cold noodles. They helped a little bit. The meal also came with a Japanese cracker, which was very good, and a roll. :) Dessert was a little haagen daz vanilla ice cream. I ate a little bit of it, but I'm not a fan of vanilla (though it was from my favorite line of theirs: 5 ingredient) so that's the only thing I didn't finish.

The beverage service was very good and they brought hot towels before the meal and the light meal which was very nice. I had a few cups of water but 7 or 8 glasses (probably) of tomato juice. I must be low on my lycopenes! Once I asked for my third cup, the attendant asked if I wanted the whole can (yes please!). They didn't have cranberry juice though, unfortunately.

For the light meal, I picked the international choice as chicken just sounded good to me. This time I was much more picky. There was a cold shrimp salad. I had one bite of that. I haven't eaten much shrimp (actually the only other time I've had shrimp is when it was flying at my face - at one of those Japanese bbq places where they cook right in front of you. It was good, but unexpected and I haven't gotten used to the look of it yet). It tasted fine but I left the rest of it. I ate all my chicken but only one cooked carrot and pulled out all the mushrooms. The dessert was this mango coconut fluffy thing. It was really good, but I didn't finish it as my stomach said "That's good." That light meal also came with a roll that I ate.

They had other more substantial options and I wanted to take advantage of them but I wasn't that hungry. I've been so stressed lately that my eating has really suffered. Those were the first full meals I had eaten in at least a week.

In any case, the flight was lovely (though a bit lonely). Arriving in Japan was surreal. It was dark out and 19h05 by their standards but my watch said 03h00 (though that was CA time) so for my body clock it was 04h00! It took forever to get through immigration and customs just because I had to do the forms on my own and the people I asked for help didn't speak much English. The immigration guy had no idea what I was trying to ask him. But hey I got here and I have my Residency Card. I actually used it to check into my hotel!

I have the story below about finding the airport shuttle and I was able to do that and then I got on it to go to my hotel. (Oh also luckily the Japanese airport lets you use the luggage carts for free. In the US they charge you! The Salt Lake Airport asked for $5! You might get it back when you return the cart... but still free is better!) The first announcement that was made, I understood the name of the hotel and when she said "Ni juppun" I knew that I SHOULD have known what that meant. That is, there was a time when I would have. Then when the English announcement came on.. 20 minutes. It said we were picking up at another terminal, etc. Then when we started for the hotel, I recognized "Juu gofun" as 15 minutes. Whew. I felt pretty proud of myself for that.

One other nice thing about the shuttle is that I was able to reflect on my feelings. I had struggled with communication (other than that one young man who helped me - he lived in Seattle), and I had wandered around lost a bit, but I felt calm. I didn't feel what my friend Cheri felt (a feeling of "home"), but I felt ok. I felt at peace. And for those of you who saw me in the last week before I left, I was a WRECK of nervousness. I was so terrified I wanted to cancel my flight! But when I got to Japan I felt IMMENSE peace and calm (mmm!).

Hotel check-in was good (though we both struggled with a way to communicate with one another). I had forgotten to ask about the ice machine and internet but found someone in the hall. He directed me to the vending room (that had ice) and it was HOT in there. Crazy! All those machines crammed in this tiny room. In any case, got the ice then I spent 2 HOURS trying to get my internet to work. That was the first time I panicked here in Japan. I kept thinking, how will I talk to my family and let them know I'm ok!?

When the internet came up I was able to post to fb and to sent messages from my email to Nadia's, my mom's, and my dad's phones. It was very calming to be able to let them know I was safe. (Another miracle - as I had spent 2 hours trying to get it up with several calls to the front desk and then some calls from their internet service center.) I said many prayers and asked my angels to help me out! And my Father in Heaven and angels guardians came through. :,)

The hotel bathroom (mentioned more below) had some cool extras. I wondered what their freebies would be. Get this: a toothbrush with a tiny tube of toothpastes, a BRUSH, a little packet that in katakana says "cotton" and I could see a scrunchy and what looked like gauze (maybe it's little socks) and a cotton swab, shaving gel, and a razor. It came with two of each and I thought I'd only take the brush as I couldn't find mine in a quick search through my luggage but then I ended up just taking one of each for the novelty! I just can't decide if I'll open them or not (that is, save them to show my family or give them a try!) 

Funny moments:

Maybe the reason those 2 Japanese boys didn't say much to me because I kept talking to myself aloud in French. That is, every time I would start to panic, I would just reassure myself that everything was going to be ok, God loves me, etc. I didn't see any sideways glances, but it's possible they happened and I missed them.

Everyone reassured me, the people at the airport/hotel/information desk speak English! Don't worry. Well, everyone, and I mean 100% of the Japanese people to whom I've spoken thus far, speak as much English as I speak Japanese. But hey, I've gotten to trot out my acting skills! LOL - This one poor woman in particular worked at the bus ticket counter in the Narita Airport. I approached her and said "Shitsumon ga arimasu" (I have a question, more literal: a question exists) and she looked so relieved but then I had to use my pidgin Japanese/English and she got all stressed again. *laughs* - I was doing my best though! I said, "Eerupoto (airport) shuttle ha Narita Excel Hotel Tokyo ni doko desu ka?" And as far as I know "ni" is directional and "doko" means where. So I think I asked it well enough so it could be understood and we stumbled a bit but she asked me if I meant the airport shuttle and I answered with "Si" and quickly changed that to "Hai!" Then I realized it sounded like I'd just said "Sieg heil!" *facepalm*

The poor customs guy was the same. I speak little to no Japanese (at least it seems I speak little to no USEFUL Japanese thus far, lol) and he spoke little to no English. He was very kind though. I had marked (and this is my first, for me, experience of culture shock/limited brain capacity) that I had 7 oz of perfume. When I was filling out my custom form there was a young Japanese man who, mmm, spoke English. One of the things it listed was 2 oz of perfume. I told him I had two little things of perfume and did that mean I needed to mark yes since I thought I was over. The limit for carry-on liquids is 3.4 as regulated by the TSA so I said 7 to be safe. It was only once I was on the shuttle to the hotel that I realized it's 3.4 mL! Ya... 7 oz is practically half a pound of perfume! (Assuming I'm remembering correctly that there are 16 oz in a lb.) This poor customs guy was so sweet to me. I pulled out the little things of perfume and he made a show of checking the weight on them (I'm sure once he saw them he was like, "Really? Really?" However, as I said, he made a show of checking them) and handed them back politely and said I was fine. mmm He could have said, "Ye great dolt!" But he didn't (and I'd like to think it wasn't just the language barrier that prevented that, he was genuinely very nice).

On the shuttle to the hotel, I purposely took a window seat so that I could see Tokyo. I had one weird momentary panic moment when I looked down at a car driving next to us and there was no driver! My eyes went very wide, I'm sure, then I remembered that in Japan the driver side is on the right. There was someone THERE. So sorry no ghost sitings yet!

When I opened my hotel room, I could NOT find the light switch. I finally got out my phone (an old one I brought for the purpose of using it as an alarm clock) and searched the room for a couple minutes. All that time, this little receptor on the wall was blinking for the room key. So I pulled the key out of my pocket and put it in there... BING! Let there be light! It was crazy! :) Then they have this mini command center on the nightstand. I'll put up a picture later. But that allowed me to control the lights afterwards from my bed. :)

The bathroom in my hotel room was like a bigger version of the airplane bathroom. That is, it has the same feeling to it... it's weird. You step up into it and it's like a little capsule. (I have a picture of it.) In any case, I thought, "when in Japan" and decided to give their water feature on the toilet a go. I turned to the pressure WAY down as I wasn't looking for a water enema and pressed the button. It made me jump at first because the water was cold but it quickly switched to warm. I then waited and waited for it to shut off (thought I might just have to walk away) when I saw the English instructions at the bottom of this page on the wall. I had to hit the off switch. DOH. Go figure, eh? (The picture is on the following post. ... The picture of the instructions. :D)

AARGH! It JUST occurs to me. There were these towels off on the counter, under the other towels that were hung up. I wondered for what they were meant and were they any wash cloths (didn't find any) and it occurs to me now that THOSE towels are probably for post watering. *stricken face* I used the bum towel to dry my face after I washed it last night! AHAHAHAHA!

There was a little robe sitting on my bed (YAY! I don't have to dig for pjs!) - It took me about 30 seconds to figure out how to put it on! That is, I folded one side in and couldn't find the tie for it on the inside. I kept searching up and down the seam then I thought, perhaps the other side goes under? Doh. Yep! I've got a picture of me in the robe that I will post later. :)

I love you all and hope life and God are treating you as well as they are treating me. I am SO blessed. I testify of that.

XOXO, A

Me on the plane (Singapore Airlines)