AOTS (Arrival)

Nihon ni  tsukimashita (Arrived in Japan). Local time is now 10:52 PM…a full hour in advance from the Philippines.

I can't believe that I'm finally here. For the longest time there had only been talks about it, discussions, and then came the announcement that I was to go. Several months passed by so quickly and before I knew it, I was already saying goodbye to my friends and workmates, to my family, to beh…everyone familiar, to set on a new adventure in the Land of the Rising Sun. I even remember that this blog was originally created to document this adventure waaaaaaaay back in July. And so we start with the stories…

 Last night, I was trying not to get a good night's sleep on purpose (so unlike me…haha), because I was scared that I would miss my flight. Even after my alarm sounded, I was asking for 5 more minutes of snooze time… ahahaha =)) Forcing myself out of bed at around quarter-to-5 in the morning, I took a cold shower (really cold coz the airconditioner was still on at that time…I was literally shaking my ass off in the shower!) and dressed up. My Mom also got up at the same time to heat up breakfast. Papa and Apuput was also stretching their muscles to warm up. Kuya was the last one to get up because he came from a dinner party the previous night. But still my whole family was wide awake to bid me goodbye and take me to the airport (this was the same scene when I went to China last April…I love my family!). Even my little baby dogs were awake and yawning and knew that I was leaving that day.

 After breakfast, my crew (Papa, Kuya, Apuput, Ate Nanet and Lucky) got into the car and I hugged my Mama many many many times thanking her for arranging everything for me - from buying my winter stuff, my boots, my luggage, my pocket money. She is indeed our Supermom. I told her that I would miss her cooking very much when I get here (I'm scared that I might end up eating Yoshinoya everyday for the next 3 months…=/ No offense behbot). After kissing Mama goodbye, I also kissed my baby girls Charm and Panda goodbye and got into the car. We were off at a little after 5:30 in the morning.

 We got to the airport at 6:30 and thankfully I got passed all the inspections smoothly. No questions asked. My excess baggage was even ignored…ahahaha. People at JAL really are very accommodating. As we walked to the boarding aread, I tried to call up Mayang and Iya. They were leaving for the US and Denmark, respectively, on the 15th and I missed them by a few days. Who knows when I'll see those buangs again. I really hope it won't be long. But I know that they will also try to fulfill their plans there.

Rouie, Geno and I boarded the plane at around 8:30 in the morning and the plane was already moving at 10mins before 9, which was our take-off time. Talk about being on time ey! And so we we're off again in the high heavens. The sky was pretty clear on the way, but when we got to Japan the clouds were getting darker. We prayed for no rain that day coz  we still had a long walk from the train station to the Center.

The flight attendants in the plane were very nice (and pretty too..heheh) and the food was more than enough for my tummy! I wasn't even able to finish up the noodles and the dessert. 

I fell asleep after lunch for I'm not sure how long and after a while, they were announcing that we were going to land soon. Looking over at Rouie's window when we were over Japan, I was actually very surprised to see farms and rice fields. I always imagined Japan to be pure concrete or steel (ahahaha!).

When we finally landed, we picked up our luggages at the arrival area and changed our dulars to yen. Based on our instructions, we were supposed to take the Keisei Line to Takasago then transfer to a local train to Sekiya. Well, that was when my burden began. Unfortunately, the wheels of my big luggage were not cooperating. The whole bag just kept on wobbling on each side whenever I walked a little too fast. And the absence of a sturdy handle made it even worse (we only improvised and tied a leather strap at the handle so I'll be able to pull it). I won't go into the details of how I ended up bringing the old thing but I'm just glad that I won't be bringing it around anymore (or so I hope) from here on until I get back to the Philippines.  

 So as I was saying, we took the Keisei Line to Takasago for about an hour or so and then transferred to a local train on the same platform to Sekiya Station. That trip lasted for about 10mins. When we got out of the train station, our 400-meter walk began. I was dragging my luggage way behind. The rough pebbled sidewalk wasn't doing any good to my wobbly luggage so when it was getting too difficult, Geno was gentleman enough to just pull my smaller trolley, so I could push my big old luggage. 400-meters after (which in time units I don't know how to measure), we arrived at the entrance of the AOTS Tokyo Kenshu Center!

A nice reception (uketsuke) welcomed us and then presented us a video orientation of the Center procedures. A short tour was also given by one of the cute (female) receptionists and then we were off to check out our rooms.

I am now staying in room 531. No cable - all Japanese local channels. Internet connection? Yes, a very good plus. The bathroom is the size of a lavatory (haha). But all in all, the place looks very cozy. There's a radio and alarm clock in one near the headrest of the bed. And the controls for the aircon and the lights are all there in that little component. Neat little room I tell you.

Dinner was new for us. We didn't know how to go around the cafeteria. It's a good thing that some of the NSP Cebu people recognized us and showed how to go about our dinner. We had to swipe our card for registration. Tonight I had chicken - just fried chicken. A safe choice for my first night (hehe). And ofcourse, the traditional Miso soup (yum). The entire meal already got me uber stuffed and it was really delicious. The cafeteria people - eventhough they don't smile so much - are also very nice and polite.

After dinner, we had a small get-together with the other NSP people who are here. They already planned a welcome party for us this Friday at the Karaoke room. A trip to Tokyo Dome was also in the itinerary this weekend, but we're not sure if we can squeeze that in, since we also had plans with the other Manila people who are here. Anyway, I still hope we can visit as many places as we can here in Tokyo.

And so now I end my post and get some sleep. It is a mortal sin to be late in Japan (hehe). I hope you all had fun reading my first post. I'll try to keep this blog updated as much as possible. 

Oyasuminasai Minna-san (Good Night Everyone)! 

NOTE: Posting maybe delayed every now and then for the next 9 days. Because unfortunately, the Internet connection here at the Center keeps timing out for some strange reason…maybe every single person in this building is using the net, so we just get itsy bitsy shares of the bandwidth. =(