Jetlag... ><

Eurgh... It's now 5:20 and I've been lying here, wide awake for the last hour or so... Just not sleeping... So yeah, probably jetlagged...

In this time I've been thinking. I've decided to move my furniture around in my room. It's basically just one big square. Looks something like this!


I also have a chair next to the desk and a lamp on the table and a fan next to the heater. The heater is the only thing as far as I can tell that's stuck to the wall... I can't work out how to use it either... All the instructions are in Japanese and the only buttons I could read were "morning" and "night"... But I had no idea what that meant in the grand scheme of things... the most I've got it to do is whirr a bit...

Anyway, I'm thinking of moving my bed up to the top left corner of the room, so the bedside table can actually be at my bedside and still have the lamp plugged in (the cable isn't long enough). Also, my bed is right next to the corridor at the moment, so whenever anyone walks downt the corridor it disturbs my sleep because it's a really echoy corridor. I'll then probably put the desk next to the door or the bottom left, so I can use the plugs without trailing wires across the path of anyone entering my room. I think I'll leave my cupboard where it is.
Once I've made my room all lovely and Faye-ified, I'll upload pictures.

The staff building is kinda like student accomidation. There's a shared kitchen, three showers, shared toilet, a living room of sorts, a laundry room and everyone has their own seperate bedroom both upstairs and downstairs. It has a very studenty feeling about it.

When I first arrived I just locked myself away in my room... Apparently all the staff were down the pub having a haloween party last night. I decided not to go because I was just too tired. I'd made the desicion to get a good nights sleep and meet everyone tomorrow.
So, I went downstairs to brush my teeth before I went to bed. Just as I was leaving I heard someone come in and was like "Dammit! I have to talk to people!" but I was so relieved when this girl said to me "Are you Faye?" and introduced herself... She was really nice. We're going to hang out tomorrow after she's finished work at 4... So, that's a lot of pressure off. Then, just as I was heading back to my room, talking to her... I'm pretty sure I met everyone else who works there all at once. I way can't remember everyone's names... They were all like "where have you been?!"... So... Yeah...
Everyone in the staff building is a teenager, which is good... I think the youngest is 18 and the oldest 25 or something... So I'm sure there will be a lot of fun.

Now I just need to decide whether to go back to bed and TRY to sleep or give up completely and just get on with my day... It's nearly 6am now... That's a perfectly acceptable time to wake up... Hm...

Happy Japanoween!

Ok, so throughout the day I have been typing my thoughts and feelings onto word processer so I can just upload this the moment I have the internet. Well... I've finally arrived at British Hills and have had a brief showing around. Apparently my proper orientation is tomorrow, so I'll wait
until then to talk about it!
Ok, here it is!

I’ve only been in Japan for 3 hours and I’ve already been called a “baka” by a very pretty lady… To be fair… I am stupid…
Ok, I’ve landed safely in Narita, despite major delays back in the UK (why couldn’t it have been delayed yesterday?!). I had about half an hours sleep on the whole plane journey… Although it passed surprisingly quickly. I swear one of the flight attendants was Nino’s older brother or something… Seriously, he looked just like him. I wanted to take a picture, but didn’t get the chance ‘cause he was working and as I was getting off the train he was saying goodbye to people on the other side of the plane… Darn!
Anyway, Narita is darned humid! Pleasantly warm… But humid… Phoar!

You know when you were a child and you first learned to read quite well, you read EVERYTHING on the bus, on buildings, on adverts and stuff…? Well yeah, this is what I’ve been like. I have read absolutely everything I can and tried to translate it! Quite a lot of the message boards say “okaeri nasai” (welcome)

So, once I’d got through all the important airport things I decided to go to the toilet and get changed so I could make myself feel lovely and comfortable. This is when I had my first encounter with a Japanese toilet! I mean, you hear stories about the infamous modernised Japanese toilets… But seriously! My experience of the toilet for the first time was both bewildering and amusing. In fact, I giggled for quite a while… Then did an “I’m in Japan” dance.
I'll upload a picture of the toilet later. I must say I felt rather silly taking a picture of a toilet! But I couldn’t not really!

Once I was ready I headed towards the train ticket area and, with much help from the lovely guy wearing a yellow band saying “information”, I got me a ticket to Tokyo station. So I go through all the gates and stuff, feeling exactly the same level of confusion I get when I go on trains in the UK…

So, I headed downstairs to the platform I kind of half guessed, half worked out that I had to be on (nearly falling down the escalator on my way)! I then found a nice place to sit and just sat down on my suitcase. It amused me greatly that two Japanese women approached me, caught my eye, then both gave me a sympathetic smile before trotting away. WHY?!

Anyway, a train arrived on the platform I was told to go to, at the time I was told, but it said it was going to Ikebukero… So I ignored it, not thinking to check where ELSE it was going!!! So, about 15 minutes after I was expecting my train to come (I’d wondered around and bought my first vending machine drink… Some sort of lemony thing), I suddenly thought “oh, that was probably my train…” So I walked back up the escalators of doom and talked to the pretty lady who was making announcements on the platform (yeah, they have someone making the announcements, instead of a recording!) and showed her my ticket whilst asking if I’d missed my train. This is how the conversation went:
“But, I saw you sat on the station when the train left, you were sitting down!”
“Yeah, I was confused…”
“Bakaaaaa!”
Thankfully she was very cheerful and very helpful and didn’t beat me to the ground with a rusty pipe. In fact, she took my ticket, got me a new one and circled the important information (despite the fact that I don’t recognise the kanji telling me what the numbers mean!) But yeah, try again!
Note I didn’t use any times whilst telling this story… This is because time has NO MEANING ANYMORE!!!!

AWWWWWWWW!!! Ok, I’m currently sitting in Narita train station, waiting for my train after my severe stupidity. While I’ve been typing this I’ve noticed a guy on the train about to leave staring at me. Just now he came over and we had this hear warming conversation.
“Hello, are you alright?”
“Hello, yes thank you.”
“I saw you here an hour ago. I just wondered if you were lost.”
Aww, Japanese people are so helpful and nice (so far, at least).

Ok, I just got on my train, sat down and relaxed when a guy came over and started talking to me very quickly in Japanese. I showed him my ticket, feeling like a right idiot for ever claiming, even slightly, that I’m anywhere near good at Japanese. He then said “stand up!” and showed me where to put my bag. He then pressed a button on his machine and all the chairs started DANCING!!!!! Ok, I exaggerate slightly. But seriously, they spin around to face the direction of wherever the train is going next. I stood there, watching with probably the most inane grin on my face… He has NO idea what UK trains are like. By the way, I’ve got this whole carriage to myself… It’s so odd… They even tell you which carriage to get in on your ticket. And there are people constantly walking up and down cleaning the train and the station. God, I’m far too amazed by all of this.

Ok, I’m nearly at Tokyo station now, so more later… Not that this is a live update or anything… Aw, damn, I think I’m sat in someone elses seat!!! ARGH!

So far, the most I’ve said in Japanese is “arigatou” and “sumimasen”, and even then it was an embarrassed mumble… I keep scolding myself! I have to speak it at some point. MUST LEARN JAPANESE!


Ok, when I said nearly at Tokyo station… I was in fact about 2 hours away! I spent those two hours admiring the Japanese scenery before I was suddenly overcome with a wave of “I’ve only had half an hours sleep in the last 22 hours!” and was fighting to keep my eyes open for the rest of the way… So I did very little admiring… I think I actually fought my eyelids so hard that I fell asleep with my eyes open at one point.

And now I’m in Tokyo station. I’ve been here for about 3 hours now… And I’m pretty sure I’m going to die here! SERIOUSLY!!!! TOKYO STATION IS EVIL!!!! I was told that there are a lot of Westerners in Tokyo. Now, you’d think that Tokyo station, being the main station, would also have a lot of Westerners. I was lied to. I am in fact the only Westerner walking around, being stared at, sticking out like a sore thumb. About 3 members of staff speak English, so I’m really struggling to get what I want to say across in Japanese.
I’m now waiting for the Nasuno Shinkansen, which will take me to my final destination where I will be picked up by someone from the hotel! I missed my last one… I don’t know how… A train pulled in, I couldn’t read the kanji written on the board so I went over to some guy and said “Kore wa nasuno desu ka?” (Is this the Nasuno?) To which he replied “20 minutes”… The next Shinkansen to come had Yamabiko written in hiragana… Then I looked on the board and Nasuno wasn’t there anymore!!!! GOOD GOD! This one wasn’t my fault!!! So I went and said “Nasuno wa doko desu ka?” (Where is the Nasuno?)… Although it was far more stuttered than that because I was so worried. I then spoke to some guy in an office in broken Japanese (I forget what I said) and he wrote down the time and platform for me… I was on the right damn platform at the right time!!!
So, here I am… Trapped in Tokyo Station… Which hates me! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the ticket barriers. I put my ticket through, the gates open, I walk forwards, the gates close on me and beep obscenely! I watch other people doing it and they do exactly the same as me… But they actually go through. So I try a different gate and it does exactly the same. I’m going to die here… I am!
I crept off to the toilet to have a little sob earlier because I haven’t slept in so long and I’m emotional and if I don’t cry now I’ll break down whilst talking about the weather or something… God, I want to sleep!!! But anyway, as I was washing my hands, there was a Japanese lady washing her hands next to me. I smiled at her and she smiled back. I turned around and couldn’t find a hand drier (I just put it down to the evil station wanting me to have wet hands forevermore!) and she turned around and offered me a tissue. This was so sweet. It made me really happy before the crushing realisation of the fact that I’m stuck in an evil station came crashing down.
If this is what happens when I’ve got St. Christopher protecting me, I dread to think what would’ve happened to me if I wasn’t wearing this necklace!

Oh well… At least I got to use some Japanese…

I missed the next Shinkansen… Well, actually, they moved the platform and never said so I had lots of fun practicing my Japanese as I ran from one guy to the other asking where the Nasuno was and where track 20 was and then, when I realised that this one was going the wrong way I asked some guy to tell me the fastest way of getting to… Wherever it is I’m going… I forget! And I had to wait ANOTHER hour!

I’M FREE!!!! I’M FREEEEEEEEEEE!!! I’m finally on the damn Shinkansen! Seriously! It’s now 7:20pm… I arrived at Tokyo Station at 1:30pm (ish)!!! This last hour has been so depressing. I’ve felt nauseous with worry that I won’t ever get there. I’ve only got 3000 yen left (about 15 pounds!) and it’s been getting darker and cold and quieter… I actually started making plans for what to do if I had to stay overnight… I’m done being in Japan…. I wanna go home now!
Yeah… I’m lying… Oh, and I got to try out some more Japanese, which is good! OH MY GOD! I’VE JUST SEEN SOME MORE WESTERNERS! They’re French… But… Whatever… They just stole my seat… Well… Technically, I stole their seat and they claimed it back. I had reserved seats for my train ride back at 3:20...

Currently going past Japan in the pitch black… It’s really pretty… All the neon lights and colourful things going on. I can imagine I’d be blown away by it if I wasn’t so tired. I don’t think I’m jet lagged… Which is good… I just think I’m tired… Have I already talked about this? I’m doing this blog in sections…. In case you can’t tell!
The desperate feeling of needing to cry has passed now I’m actually heading to where I’m supposed to be… I just feel on edge and nauseous… I’ll probably carry on reading the mindless magazine I was reading when I was waiting for this Shinkansen…. I can’t think of anything else to say right now…

Ohhh… I’ve suddenly realised why my stomach hurts so much… The last time I ate was at about 7/8am… Yeah… Not eating all day will do that to a stomach… ><


Also, today I have seen:
Japanese kindergarten children.
High school children
A sweet Lolita (I nearly chased her down for a photo, but I was on the edge of tears when I saw her… In fact, she’s the only reason I didn’t cry!)
A gothic Lolita
A VK guy
A few Gyaru (not Ganguro… Just unnatural hair and deep tan.)

Ten minutes!

Ok, so I woke up at 5am this morning and we left the house at 6:20am to get to Heathrow for my 1pm flight. The plan was to get there 4 hours before my plane actually took off so I'd have plenty of time to check in and make sure everything was sorted with time to spare.
Note - I needed to check in at 12 at the latest!

Then, at about 9:00am, we were making really good time... When we hit the A40! Have you heard about what happened? (I didn't know about this until a few hours ago)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/oxfordshire/7696833.stm
Basically, two lorries had a big crash at about 4am, sadly, one man died at the scene... But it also spread lard all over the motorway, so the M40 was absoultely still with all the traffic... It was about 11am that we were suddenly turned around by a guy standing in front of a sign saying "incident"... We went the wrong way up one of those junction things to join the motorway... (We were told to, we didn't just decide to go up... o.0)
At the top of this we were directed by the police into some village near London... Bix Village I think it was called... We then used the TomTom to work out a route that avoided the M40... It said that we should get there at about 11:30... Cutting it fine, but we should make it...

So, in high spirits, we started travelling along, commenting on how pretty the scenery was when we passed Bix manor and suddenly came across... MORE TRAFFIC!!! Up until now I'd been quite cheerful and optomistic, thinking we'd left plenty of time for any traffic and everything would be fine. When we hit this traffic... I suddenly started to feel nervous... I only had one hour left before cut off time.

When it got to about 11:20, I realised that we were still half an hour away and STILL stuck in traffic... I asked Katherine to phone Rhiannon to try and sort out some sort of arrangement where they'd let me board, even if I was a bit late... Apparently there was very little chance of them letting me board, but there was still hope. At about 11:40 we FINALLY got past this pile of traffic, my dad sped along, trying desperately to get there before 12... It actually looked like we were going to make it... It was about 10 minutes to and we could see signs to Heathrow! THEN! THEN, we hit traffic again! >< We kept going on the off chance that we would make it in time... Oh god, I felt so stressed that I actually felt physically sick... ><>£100) because I missed the flight through no fault of my own... And, on top of that!! He got me a discount room at a hotel overnight... The hotel is beautiful! It's got to have a few stars under it's belt... Though I haven't checked...

So, despite how awfully this day had gone, it's actually ended quite well... I'm here, sitting my huge, wonderfully comfortable room... Leaning back in a big, comfy chair, watching the news (I can't believe this Ross/Brand thing is TOP NEWS! o,O), using my free internet connection... (Even though I keep losing it... ><) Dad's paid for my room and new flight... 'Cause he's awesome.. He's also given me a limit of 50 pounds for services... Although, I have no intention of using it all... I'm looking at the room service foods avaliable, I may then have a bath, then I'll watch the resteraunt and maybe have some sort of alcohol to numb the pain from all the stress... So yes! I'll be getting my plane to Japan TOMORROW! I'll be in Japan... on FRIDAY!! >< At least I don't have to get up stupidly early tomorrow.

Ok, blog over... HOPEFULLY, my next blog will be posted from Japan...

D=

I've been pulling this face pretty frequently throughout the day! D=

Seriously! Katherine made me a cup of tea for 8am, to which I then went back to sleep... Then at quarter to 9 I finally woke up and took a large gulp of my tea, thinking it was closer to 8... Eurgh! ><

So anyway, in 11 and a half hours I'll be boarding my plane! o,o Today has been quite epic in the amount of things I've had to do. I've been rushing everywhere trying to get everything done last minute... Oh god, I should've sorted EVERYTHING sooner!! ><

So, yeah... I've spent all day feeling horrified... It's finally real... Really, really real!

Oh god, I'm too tired to type... I have spent all day coming up with stuff to put in this blog so that people can know how I'm feeling the day before before I leave... But it's nearly 2am and I'm too scared to go to bed because then I'll have to wake up and I'll actually be leaving the country on my own! o,o So I'm staying up with Katherine, watching Coupling and doing this...

Yeah... I'm sure there will be an exciting blog posted on Thursday morning, UK time... When I actually arrive...

Yeah... Oyasumi nasai!

Three days to go...

Ok, well... Mom and Rhiannon have told me that I have to start my blog now... So, here it is... Three days before I go...

For the last few weeks I haven't really felt anything about going... It's sort of been a case of "it's happening at some point in the future..." Well... I just spent today packing my suitcase with Rhiannon's help. 0___0 I'm packed... My hand luggage and suitcase are fully packed, ready to go. My suitcase is in fact currently sat to the left of me.... Laughing... I wanted to take a picture of it, but my webcam is evil and won't save any pictures!!!! GRR!! ¬¬

Anyway... Now that I'm finally packed and it's only three days to go... I'm starting to feel quite excited and nervous... I mean... It still doesn't seem realistic that I'm going to Japan for 10 months... But I'm beginning to accept the fact that I'm going at all...

Owain and Leyla stopped by earlier to say goodbye... They bought me this gorgous necklace with Saint Christopher on with my name engraved on the other side... It's really nice. Oh, and before I started packing, Rhiannon handed me a bag with goodies in. I've got two lovely padded bags, for accessories and electrical stuff, a passport holder, a useful wallet for useful stuff, a pretty suitcase strap and a padlock which I very quickly broke... =/ So now I'm using Rhiannons padlocks... But anyway, awesome useful stuff! Yay!

So... Yeah... I think that's it for now... Three days!