February 15 & 16, 2000 -Tuesday and Wednesday
The thing I remember most about these two days is not getting enough sleep. I went
to bed early on Monday night, before midnight, and got up early (4:45 am) on Tuesday.
I showered, dressed, etc. and took out some garbage. It was a day to celebrate.
Hitomi met me in a taxi around 5:50 and we went off to the station. The train journey
to Akita was fine, just a bit boring. The weather wasn't so great, so it was very
grey out. It was quite beautiful, almost like a black and white photo with a touch
of colour here and there.
At Akita we found the bus stop and met up with Kirsty and some of the other teachers
going to the meeting. The bus ride to the airport was neat. It was very like the
airport was on top of a mountain. At the airport we checked in and then Hitomi and
I went to get some food. It was pretty delicious. Mind you, anything would have been
at that stage! I was so hungry. I was a bit taken aback when I saw the type of plane
we were flying in. It was an MD- something and I was worried that it might be the
same kind they were inspecting in The States because of the Alaskan Airlines crash. However
the flight was fine, but it was rather bumpy. I almost regretted the meal I had!
We got into Chitose Airport, then took a train to Sapporo. In Sapporo we got lost
coming out of the train station and didn't know which way to go. It was cold and
we were a bit late. We took a taxi there and Hitomi and I changed and went into
the meeting.
I'm not going to say anything about the meeting except to say that it was long. Some
good things came up, some things were retreads for me. But, there are always new
teachers who haven't heard the message before so I guess that its okay.
After the meeting Hitomi and I went over to our hotel. We were staying in different
rooms. I met my roommate and she said she was going off to the party. I told her
that I'd be back by midnight and not to worry about waking me up. I left just after
her. Hitomi, Taeko and I went to an izakaya and had a real gab session. It was great.
The food was pretty good too. We had cheese nabe (like a hearty stew made with
cheese), jagabutta (baked potato with butter), seafood salad (complete with crab,
a food for which Hokkaido is famous), fried chicken and I had chazuke. I figured I should
try a different places version.
Around midnight we decided we had better head back to the hotel and get some sleep.
So, we took another cab back! At the hotel I was dismayed to find that my room
was roasting. I ended up opening the window to let some of the cold in. My roommate
wasn't there. I wasn't sure where she was or what to do. I decided to go to sleep anyway.
She returned around 3:30! She was funny. She was so apologetic and nice. I really
wasn't upset by her.
In the morning, which came too darn early, I got up, tried to rouse my roommate, (finally
succeeding about 10 minutes later) and then after she left I got ready.
I met Hitomi and my manager and we headed off for the airport. Of course we had to
go to the train station first. The train was crowded but I was lucky enough to get
a seat. At the airport we didn't have much time so we just checked in and then boarded.
This time the flight was remarkably calm. We caught the bus back to Akita and discovered
that we had enough time for some breakfast and some shopping! Fortunately (unfortunately
for my wallet) there was a Body Shop and a Tower Records near the station. I bought some hand cream and some lip gloss. Its the shimmery type that is so popular
right now. I also bought a few cds. Six to be exact. I don't know what it is about
Akita Tower Records, but they always have a big selection of country music. I got
an Alan Jackson, a Reba McEntire, and even a Dean Martin Country album, plus another
Dean one. It's a compilation of love songs. I'm looking forward to checking them
out.
We caught our train after a delay of about 20 minutes. Then when we were on the train,
Hitomi noticed that there was water dropping on her. For some reason there was a
lot of water condensing on the roof above us and it would drop off every now and
then. She told the conductor and he moved us to another part of the train. Now in dry
seats we got down to important stuff like naps, books, and magazines. However, the
weather was so bad that we were greatly delayed. I think originally we were due
back at 3:00 pm, we actually returned to the school at 4:25 pm.
I was starving by this time so I changed and got my lunch. I ate it quickly and then
taught my classes. They went really well, especially the high school group. We
did counting money and it was fun.
Tonight after work I took a taxi home as my bag was heavy and there was a ton of snow.
It was pretty cold too. When I got home my apartment was only 4 degrees. It took
2 hours to get it to a decent temperature.
In a few minutes I'm going to go to bed, and hopefully get some decent sleep! Don't
anybody wake me up...please!
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