Japan!!

So, I've been in Japan for a few days now, sorry I've been MIA with the posts -- Ike and I have been busy going here and there. I'll start from the beginning and try to remember as much as possible...

So I left my home in Korea around 7:50am and caught a cab to the bus stop, where my bus left at 8:40 for Gimhae, the city where the airport is near (even though it's called the Busan airport). I had to take a 25 min taxi ride to the airport. Everything went surprisingly well and smooth -- I had been nervous all morning that my ticket wouldn't be right, or I would have some sort of problem with my passport or visa, but nope! Everything worked out great. At the airport I had my first glimpse of Japanese culture. There was a large group of Japanese high school students on my flight to Japan, no doubt on a school trip of some sort -- must be a rich school! Anyway, I was shocked at the boys' fashion, and said a little prayer of thanksgiving that my boys I teach don't look like these! First off, they must spend more time on their hair each day than I spend in a year! I couldn't believe how styled it was -- blow dried, standing up all spikey/"messy" looking. Also, many of the boys pluck their eyebrows HARDCORE! I mean, they were pencil thin lines -- not masculine at all!! This, to me, made them look like Michael Jackson. I seriously would flip if I had to teach a roomfull of 40 of them everyday! :-P

Anyway, the plane ride was short and easy -- only about 1.5 hours. At the airport I easily found my luggage and found my bus to Ike's town. We got really lucky with the bus schedule (we knew this in advance of course)... my plane got in at 2:30 and the bus to Ike's city left at 3:20, there is only 1 bus a day, so it works out perfect for my flight from Korea. The bus driver was super kind to me -- I showed him the little Japanese blurb Ike had written for me saying where I was going and if he could please be sure to tell me when we got to my stop. It wasn't until about 20 minutes into the bus ride that I got out of my little "OMG I'm going to see Ike in a couple hours!" excited bubble and remembered that in Japan they drive on the left side of the road. All of a sudden I thought, "wow, there are cars over there?" and then thought "oh, right, I'm in Japan now". It was all so surreal!

Japan is beautiful. The mountains here are gorgeous -- they are gorgeous in Korea too, but the mountains in this part of Japan are much bigger than the small mountains in my part of Korea. Also, it looks like Japan has less people per square mile than Korea. Almost all the residential is houses, like America. In Korea, however, you see mainly 15-story apartment buildings everywhere!! (my host family tells me the lack of apartment buildings is because of all the earthquakes) I really enjoyed seeing the architecture here. And the landscaping is beautiful! So many trimmed trees and beautiful flowers.

Anyway, my bus was scheduled tog et in at 6:01pm, but I got in around 5:50. The bus driver just pulled over to a bus stop on the side of the interestate and told me this is Iijima. So.... I got off. It was pitch black by this time... it gets dark here in Japan quite a bit earlier than in Korea. We are in the same time zone, but Japan is on the Eastern side of it. So, it's pitch black, and I'm along the side of the interstate, in the middle of nowhere, and Ike is not around. I waited for a few minutes inside the bus stop, realizing that I was early so I shouldn't freak out. However, my calmness didn't last too long -- after all, it seemed I was at a different bus stop then where Ike and I had discussed. There was NOTHING around me, and I didn't speak the language! GAH! The bus stop was the only thing along the side of the road, and to leave, you had to climb up a big cement stairway. I figured Ike might be waiting for me up there. So, I hauled my suitcase up the stairs and I was in a parking lot with one streetlight. The only other things around me were a small road and farmland! Shit! There was a pay phone, so I got out one of the few Japanese coins I had and called Ike's cell phone number. He didn't answer. DAMNIT! By this time I was trying to stay calm, but really I was starting to hyperventilate and was about on the verge of tears. And then...

...Ike walked around the corner!!! I gave him the BIGGEST hug and said I was so scared. Anyway, so relieved! We walked along the small road into his little town of Iijima. It was reallly too dark to see anything -- there aren't many street lights. It was about a 20 minute walk to his house, and I was so relieved to get there! We made DELICIOUS spaghetti and garlic bread, and Ike had even bought a bottle of red wine... oh, how I miss wine in Korea! We watched Robin Hood Men in Tights, and headed to bed.

Saturday morning we woke up about 45 minutes earlier than our alarm, oh, teacher schedule! I made Ike do yoga with me! He did a great job! :-D After cooking toast, eggs, and bacon we headed to the train station to catch the train to Matsumoto. We had to switch trains on the way there, and the whole trip took about 2.5 hours. At Matsumoto, a city of nearly 100k, we walked around for a bit, snagged lunch at a Chinese restaurant, and made our way to the castle downtown. It was beautiful! The leaves are really changing colors nicely here in Japan. We also hit up the Art Museum. We then headed back to the train station to catch what we thought was the 4:35 train to Ike's co-teacher's house (Kasuga-sensei). Well, turns out the train was the 4:25 train. We were there in time and saw the train at the station, but thought it wasn't our train, so... we missed it. We had to wait until 5:10 for the next train and made it to Kasuga's town of Ina about half an hour late. Kasuga was there to pick us up and drove us to his house, which was quite a ways away.

Anyway, Kasuga's house was awesome! ...to be continued...