January 7, 2002 - Monday
January 5-7, 2002
Tired.
Well, I made it back, but it was a really long day.
On Saturday we got up early and drove to Yamagata. About 10 minutes out of Tsuruoka
I asked Fumihiko if he had the airplane tickets. He wasn't sure, so we stopped the
car and searched for them. He couldn't find them. So, we drove back to his house,
just to find out that they were in his bag after all.
We set off again. There had been a lot of snow and the snowploughs were out in force.
It wasn't too bad until we left the highway and stopped for lunch. When we got
back on the road the snow was blowing and it was coming down. Visibility was almost
nothing. I was quite scared. The traffic lights were covered in snow too, it was impossible
in some places to see if the light was green or red. I said to Fumihiko that I didn't
think the planes would be able to fly. Prophetic words those!
We got to Yamagata Airport finally and as we were getting our stuff out of the car,
we heard an announcement that our plane had been cancelled. We left our stuff and
walked into the airport to find out the story. The airplane from Sapporo couldn't
land, so there would be no flight that day to Sapporo. However, if we wanted to drive to
Sendai Airport there was a plane in 2 3/4 hours. I honestly didn't expect that Fumihiko
would want to drive to Sendai, but he did. He changed our tickets and we went back to the car.
It was amazing what 25 minutes can do for weather in this country. When we came out
of the airport the wind had stopped blowing. We could see.
We got back onto the highway quite easily and drove towards Sendai. I took a couple
of short naps and I woke up at one point in time to see that Fumihiko had taken the
turn off to Fukushima and not Sendai. Oh no! And there was no place to turn around
or get off and get back on the highway.
We drove around, ending up in the middle of nowhere. There were no gas stations or
even convenience stores to stop and ask at. Sigh. Finally, he decided to head back
and then we found a gas station. We had been on the right road for part of the way,
but then got a bit lost.
Righted, we headed off towards Sendai again. We didn't really know where we were
going and didn't really expect to make our flight. However, all of a sudden we saw
a sign with Airport on it. Hurray. We made it to the airport and parked the car.
We got into the airport as they were announcing that our flight was closing soon. Talk
about catching it by the skin of our teeth!
The flight was uneventful, I called Shiho my old teacher from Chitose airport to tell
her that we were late and we made arrangements to talk later to see if we could meet.
We caught a train to Otaru and ate a really nice but small bento lunch on the train.
In Otaru we checked into our hotel, and dumped our bags in our room. The room was
really nice. It had a great view of the city of Otaru, not the ocean unfortunately,
but at night it was very pretty. The bed was huge, and the bathroom was really nice.
There was a mini bar too, but everything was incredibly expensive.
I phoned Shiho from the lobby to tell her that we were on our way,but she asked me
not to come yet as she was eating supper. So, Fumihiko and I went to McDonalds for
hamburgers.
We visited with Shiho and it was very nice. I'd never met her Mum before, so it
was nice. Fumihiko had never met Shiho either so the party was quite lively. We
left a bit after 9 and went back to the hotel via a 7-11 to get something to drink.
The next day, Sunday, we got up early and had breakfast at the hotel. It was very
good, although Fumihiko said the coffee was terrible! I had tea, so I wouldn't know.
( I say that quite smugly!) Then I went and bought some hair stuff and Fumihiko bought
himself a new white shirt as he'd forgotten to bring one. We spent a bit of time
getting ready and we looked darn spiffy, if I say so myself!
At the meeting place I saw a lot of my old coworkers and students. It was really
nice. The wedding chapel was beautiful. It was facing the sea and the walls on 3
sides were made from glass. I really wish that mine had looked more like that. And,
the minister was a foreigner and the wedding ceremony was bilingual. It was really nice.
David and Noriko looked great. David wore a creamy coloured morning suit....I think
that's what it's called, and Noriko wore a sleeveless white wedding dress with a
lot of lacework or crochet. It was beautiful.
The reception which followed was quite nice too. I was surprised to see that I was
given a job on the program...giving flowers to the bride and groom. Plus, I had
to make a tiny speech. Gee, thanks for the warning! Still, it went over quite well.
After the reception was over we went to karaoke. That was fun, although we didn't
stay until the end. I wanted to do some shopping. I tried to find some shoes, but
the sporting goods store had closed, so I couldn't. Sigh.
It was getting late and we were hungry again, so we went to Caprichoza's for supper.
We had hot vegetable salad in butter which was wonderful and carbonara. For dessert
we had apple tart with fresh cream and caramel sauce. We could hardly move after
all of that!
This morning we got up and had breakfast, then checked out of the hotel and took a
train into Sapporo. I wanted to do a bit of shopping, so we did. I went to Maruzen
books and finally redeemed my card's points....I got a 3000 discount on my books.
I bought some books for work and some for me. I also got a new calendar for myself...an
arty one. Yay! I also bought a couple of things at the Body Shop and we stopped
at Starbucks for coffee. Then, as I was out of money and things to buy we walked
to the station. It was an hour before we had to leave but for some reason Fumihiko made us
go to the airport.
When we were there we checked our bags and then just hung around. I was quite angry
as I don't like just standing around in an airport.
The plane ride back was a bit bumpy, but not as bad as some that I've been on. We
drove back to Tsuruoka, stopping a couple of times to eat and take a break from driving.
For the last bit of the trip I popped in the soundtrack from Priscilla, Queen of
the Desert. I'd forgotten how good that soundtrack is.
And that's about it. My weekend in 4 pages. Are you still with me? Didn't think
so!
Night night.
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