I've been meaning to write about the flight over. People have been asking me how killer it was.
This trip over was pretty good. Only 18 hours. The last time was a total of about 32.hours. A light stopover in Toronto and a crazy adventure through the Tokyo airport got me to Osaka on Friday night. Since then its been about being jet-lag and cleansing my system. Air Canada defiantly gets my vote over JAL. My seat had a USB plug, touch screen and electrical plug to charge my computer so I had a chance to play on that without fearing the loss of power. My girlfriend however flew with Air China: the seats were tiny, there were no individual TVs and the in-flight movie featured both Robin Williams and John Travolta. If anyone ever tells you to fly with Air China, think again. They may be cheap, but is it really worth it on a 12 hour flight?
On top of everything I spent an extra 150 dollars to not fly through the States, and it was worth every penny! My flight to Canada was horrid. I don't understand why air travel through the US is so painful. It doesn't have to be so bad but they make it really horrible. For instance, I couldn't find any healthy food to eat at the Chicago airport. Everything was Taco Bell Fried Pizza. It was disgusting. 9/10 people were seriously obese. I guess that's what middle America looks like. When my plain was getting ready for take off, I watched them unload the plain beside us. The guy was throwing the luggage onto the ground. I mean tossing it. Plus, with the 7 hour layover it overall made the trip that much longer. I highly recommend not travelling through the States if you can avoid it.
On this trip I really couldn't be bothered to read very much or do anything else. Instead, I watched 5 movies in total. just seemed easier to space out.
Once getting on the first flight in Ottawa I started “Iron Man 2” and finished it on the next flight. I expected to find it mediocre but ended up really liking it. After that I clicked on the Canadian cinema button and found a movie called Chloe with Liam Nelson and Julianne Moore. Cool thriller about paranoia. Then I watched “Hot Tub Time machine” which unlike what people say has little to do with “Back to the Future”. I did like it but it was unnecessarily vulgar and simply silly. It didn’t make much sense either. It could have been much better but it did have John Cusack. Eventually I watching Shrek 4 and I was pleasantly surprised. It’s not as good as the first two but much better than the 3rd. They reference a lot of things from the first two but not the 3rd one. I think they were trying to make up for the fact that the 3rd one was really bad and no one liked it. So they made a new part 3. The last movie was simply to relax to something familiar so I watched “Catch me if you can”. I love that movie. It’s just fun and original. I wish I had a chance to see “Expendables” before leaving Ottawa but whatever.
The first week back was all about paperwork for school and begging people for scholarships. Not sure what the plan is for that but I have a few leads. I also need to figure out what I have to do to apply for a student visa. I hope I haven’t somehow screwed up the process for that. School starts end of September.
Next week, I’m going to try to start up my classes again so that I can afford rent and food for the next month.
I hope to have some time this week to work on the Kanji book I’m writing. I disapprove of all the methods I’ve come across so I decided to write my own book. More on that as I get into it.
Overall it feels really great to be back in Japan. I love the overwhelming hospitality that Japanese people give me. For instance, the airport personnel on the tarmac waved to the plane as it was taking off. Or another situation: I took a cab from the airport and the driver insisted that I wait outside so he could come around and open the door for me. It was exceptional service. I don’t know how to explain it but it just feels really easy here all of a sudden. People are polite, they never cut in line, they let people get off the subway first instead of pushing their way in, and most importantly they bow all the time. I missed the “sorry for making you wait” I get after waiting for an average of 30 seconds in a shop, the shop-assistant bowing to me as I leave, the next customer holding the door open for me on my way out and the overall feeling that I get knowing that each and every person is doing their job to the best of their capabilities and is proud of it too.
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