The Quest for APU

A 13 hour time change is no laughing matter. I'm beat. Although that may be due to the wacky sleeping schedule I've had to endure for the last 36 hours while travelling from Calgary. That was my last semi full-night's sleep. I apologize in advance for any ridiculous grammar I may throw at you! The combination of Japanese in my ears mixed with the exhaustion may result in some pretty silly English. Also, this is a really long entry, but I've got a lot to catch up on!

We spent around 12 hours in Calgary on Monday night, eating a heart breakfast at a truck stop and around 3AM local time (5AM Michigan time), then passing out for 5 hours before waking up and heading to the Calgary airport. We made sure to arrive at the airport SUPER early so there was no chance we would have any trouble. We got there around 9:15, even though our plane wasn't set to take off until 12:45. We had no desire for a repeat of the day before! We spent the hours searching for Adam's lost keys (which turned up in my backpack today! yay!), studying, and on my hunt for pizza. You know you're not in America when there isn't a pizza place within 100 yards. Fail: no pizza. Sandwiches instead.

Something that I found really cool while waiting for our Narita flight was the fact that we were the minority. Never before have I been so aware of my American-ness! 90% of our flight was Asian, mostly Japanese, and spoke in only Japanese. The flight itself was pretty uneventful. Air Canada is sweet in that it provides TVs for each passenger, fixed on the back of the seat in front of you. I watched "The Hangover", and Adam and I watched part of "Dorian Gray". I assumed my usual travelling pastime and slept for most of the trip, but it was that uncomfortable sitting-sleep that doesn't allow for REM cycles. Adam and I eventually pulled out his computer and watched some anime.

When we landed, we headed to customs to receive our visa stamps, then proceeded to see what had become of our luggage. Adam's hadn't even made it out of the Chicago airport with our plane, but we eventually found it with the luggage of a plane that had come straight from Chicago. Mine had made it as far as Toronto with us, but because of the quick plane change, had not made it to the Calgary flight. It showed up with a flight that had just come straight from Toronto. You're probably wondering Why didn't you two take either of those direct flights like your luggage? Is your luggage smarter than you? The answer is no. We saved money doing it the long way. I caused us some stress, but we saved a bundle!

Thanks to Dawn, my coworker, who made me some pretty awesome luggage tags! Those were a HUGE help for us as we located our luggage!!!

A quick pass through the second customs inspection where my Yakkan Shomei was only inspected because I mentioned it (after all that effort for that paperwork! sigh.), we headed to the front of the airport. Here, we rented cell phones. Mine's really Asian looking, white, and makes really obnoxious "sparkly" sounds when I open and close it. Adam's is the same, but black. Oh, Japan and your phones. We got tickets for the Nozomi Shinkansen (fastest bullet train), and headed for the connecting line that would take us to the Shinkansen station. This was a local line, not unlike Chicago's subway system, and stops at every stop between Narita Airport and Tokyo. The trip was a little over an hour to Shinagawa, our connecting station, and we had a lot to take in as we zoomed through Japanese towns and cities. Again, I was aware of my obvious American-ness. People stared at us, and I certainly stared back. There were so many interesting people, fashions, and stereotypical Japan things. There was a mom who had just picked up her young sons from school and had wrapped their snacks in handkerchiefs, not ziplock baggies. There were genuine schoolgirls in their short-skirted uniforms, giggling and gossiping, and nearly every man age 20-65 was wearing a full suit with a briefcase. I couldn't help but stare.

Finally, we arrived at Shinagawa station just in time for our Shinkansen and I had 5 minutes to call my parents to let them know I was alive and en route. It was 6:45PM Japan time, 5:45AM Michigan time. The Shinkansen was exactly like I had imagined it would be. It looked like a plane on tracks. The toilet seats were heated. Adam slept almost the entire 5 1/2 hour journey, and I nodded in and out almost the entire time, eventually conceding and just looking out at the dark Japan that was moving by at what seemed the speed of light. We passed through Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, and many other major cities, but it was too dark to make much out. What I saw mostly was the signs: almost everything was in Kanji. I've got some major studying to do. We'll get another chance to see those cities in August.

We got to Hakata stion, the last stop, at midnight. We went to the ticket counter to find out when the next train to Beppu would leave. Not until 6:30AM. We were stubborn, refusing to get a hotel for 6 hours and decided to spent the night in the train station. We grabbed some eel on rice from a nearby restaurant, walked around for a while, and settled on the floor of the station for the night. We were not the only ones doing this. There were a few people sleeping in sleeping bangs or under boxes, waiting for a morning train. This was, although I couldn't believe it, even worse than sleeping on the plane. I think the longest period of time I spent asleep was about an hour, and the rest was around 20 minutes. Marble floors were not meant to be slept on. In addition, the lights were on all night and there was a jackhammer doing construction work until 4 in the morning. So, apparently the Japanese do their construction work in the middle of the night. And they get a HUGE group together to finish it quickly. You know how in the US, even the simplest construction projects seem to go on for FOREVER and you always see at least two guys sitting there, eating or smoking? Not here. Those guys were all business, didn't take breaks (that I saw) and were in and out of there in four hours. WOW. America, take notes (hem hem I-196...). But yeah, we slept through the jackhammer, we were so tired.

MORNING CAME, and the security guy who had been dutifully watching over us all night came to wake us up at 5 with a "Ohayoo gozaimasu!" and some head-bowing. We got lost trying to find where our train was supposed to leave from. We thought we were looking for a bus, but no- we had gotten tickets for a train. 2 1/2 hours later were were at Beppu station, and got on the first local bus that would take us to APU. It was about a half hour until APU's gates, and I didn't know how to pay the bus fare. Apparently I put my money in the wrong receiver, and the driver didn't speak English, so a teenage boy translated for us. When I had assured the driver that I had definitely paid the required amount, he relaxed. Adam just laughs at me, but hey, he might have done the same if he had tried to pay first :P

We dragged our luggage across campus to the AP House (dorms) and meet our RAs. Adam's RA is Bibi, a guy from the Philippines who speaks five languages (English, Japanese, Philippino, Mandarin,and southern Chinese) and is learning a sixth (Spanish). And I'm not doing so hot one my second.... My RA's name is Chenxi, who is Japanese by race, raised in China, and moved to Japan. She's disorganized. After a quick orientation of my room and the amenities on my floor, I was left to unpack. I have a single room, all to myself, which I'm slightly bummed about. I was looking forward to having a Japanese roommate with whom to practice speaking.

In my room I have: A futon bed (which took me, like, 20 minutes to figure out the sheets for, and I still don't know what to do with the square one because my bed is not square- it's rectangular, so...yeah, I didn't use that one. lol), desk, chair, closet, mini fridge, shelves, phone, desk lamp, tiny room with a toilet, a sink and mirror, and an UNBELIEVABLE view. The floor has a communal kitchen, but everyone has to buy their own pots, pans, utensils, etc. There's no meal plan, we either buy at the cafeteria, convenience store, or cook. The food's pretty inexpensive, at least. Adam's RA, Bibi, gave us a tour of the campus. The campus is beautiful. Soon, I'll post some pictures. We are in the mountains with a gorgeous view of Beppu and the bay.

I meant to study tonight, but ended up falling asleep for about 4 hours then ate some yogurt (my stomach isn't over the time change yet). I'll be up for a while (it's about 11:15PM here, 10:15AM in Michigan) studying for my placement test tomorrow. This whole "get to Beppu from Tokyo" thing has confirmed that my Japanese needs some serious work, and I want to do my best!

In all, travelling is not easy and I certainly couldn't have done it without Adam, but I'm glad to be here. This will take a lot of adjustment, but I can't wait! Pictures coming soon!