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Dear Diary,
Today is January 27, 2014. The date of my Trip to Japan. I was so busy last night for the last minute preparation and luggage checking. My mother kept on nagging me about the things that I might forget to bring with me. Before sleeping, I chatted with my cousin April who slept with me. We talked about the things that might happen during my trip. I was so happy and amazed with her positivity in life... especially her positivity when it comes to my life. She kept on encouraging me to believe and have hope because I still don't know what would happen in the future. She knew the reason for this trip... but you know what? Deep in my heart, I know that the main reason for this trip is not valid anymore. However, I told to myself that no matter what... I will smile and have fun with my aunt.
I woke up at exactly 3:00 am because we needed to avoid the heavy traffic brought by Monday Rush. We didn't want to be late with our flight. We still wanted to have time to relax at the airport.
At the airport, some security guard thought that I was a foreigner. I could hear them arguing about my nationality so I looked at them and smiled. I saw a lot of Japanese, Chinese, Korean at our terminal and since I was so bored I listened to their conversation... surprisingly, I could actually understand what they were talking about.
My aunt noticed that every time we walked around to buy snacks or go to comfort room people will always stare at me. I didn't know the reason but I could feel their eyes on me. So, I walked while looking down because of my shyness towards these people. I am not even pretty or beautiful and I am just wearing a very casual clothing, so why?
Our departure time was jeopardized when one of the passengers suddenly had to cancelled his/her flight due to health reasons. We were almost 2 hours behind our flight. I was so irritated and the heat inside the plane was killing me. My aunt told me to relax and just breathe because we couldn't do anything about the situation. I tried to focus on the music that was playing on my i-pod.
I have a thing for sky. Which means I love looking at the sky because it makes me believe that everything is possible and everything is reachable if you work hard for your dreams and goals in life. I couldn't help myself from taking pictures of it. I think it was May or June of 2013 when I posted on my Private Facebook account that I wanted to fly and my friends told me to use my wings. I already did... I'm very thankful for their encouragements.
We arrived at Narita Airport at exactly 4:00 pm and it was very hot inside. I wanted to take off my cardigan because I was sweating. After getting our luggage, we bought tickets for Airport Limousine bounded to Shinagawa Prince Hotel where we would catch a taxi to New Otani Inn Tokyo.
(This was inside the Airport Limousine. I know that using a cellphone is strictly prohibited but I am a stubborn person. Sorry about that.)
Okay, this is the part wherein I used my knowledge in Nihongo. We told the driver that we needed to go to New Otani Inn but he thought that New Otani Inn and New Otani Hotel were just the same. When I looked at the map the distance between the two place was a little far. I felt sorry for the taxi driver but we were very impressed by the decency and honesty of Japanese Taxi drivers. I am not saying that I hate Filipino taxi drivers... but let's face it... most Filipino taxi drivers would ask for an increase in taxi fares and would blame his passengers for the mistake. But this Japanese Taxi driver accepted the fact that it was his mistake and asked us for only half the price of the taxi fare. At first, I couldn't believe what he said and I thought I misheard him but he repeated his words slowly "Hanbun"/"半分". I translated to my aunt what he said and she too was surprised.
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I had a terrible headache after that. I was very sorry to my aunt because I wasted her money for the food she bought me. I couldn't swallow it, I wanted to vomit everything inside my stomach and I thought I was going to passed out in the restaurant. She wanted to take some pictures of me but I felt so dizzy and I couldn't concentrate. When I saw the face of the waiter after seeing the food that I didn't eat, I got embarrassed because I know that it's bad manner not to eat the food served to you... I'm very sorry.
After resting for a while, my aunt and I did an epic failure pillow fight. I have here a video. I know, we looked so crazy in here but this is very USUAL for us.
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(My friends told me that this is my signature pose. I always do this everytime I take a "selfie". Haha)
And then, we went outside to checked the nearby places. I love the weather. I love the cold wind and the quietness of the surroundings. I feel like living here... haha! But Summer is a no-no for me.
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I also received emails from my students asking me to go out with them but five days are not enough to meet all of them. I feel so sad about this... Next time...
It's shower time. Tomorrow is another day. :) So far, I'm falling in love with this country.
Things that made me happy:
- Decent and Honest Japanese Taxi Driver.
- Cold weather and the cold wind.
- Hot Rose Tea.
- Relaxing shower time.
- Pillow fight with my aunt.
- Receiving emails from my former students.
- Quiet surroundings.
- Courteous people.
- Writing my diary.
