Osu~
It
has been quite a while since I have done anything on this blog. It is
not that I had forgotten its existence, but rather there was nothing
to write about. But that is going change.
The
reason I started this blog last year was to share my experience
whilst living in Japan for the foreseeable future. I plan on updating
this blog once a week, but once school starts and my free time
dimishes over time, I will most likely update it less than before.
For
starters, the first entrees after my arrival in Japan will be posted
right after each other. This is because I was idiotic enough to
forget my laptop in my hotel in Osaka after traveling to Tokyo. Yes,
of all the things that you can forgot, I managed to forgot my laptop.
Good job Brains.
-------------------
So
here I am, on Schiphol airport around 23:30, (Yes, I use European
time format) minding my own business. Walking around, exploring the
vast and awfully quite airport. The reason for this is because my
flight was in the early morning so I spent the night wandering the
airport with my two large suitcases and large shoulder bag. Luckily
there were trolleys available for use which made it so much easier to
move around. Since I had roughly 7 hours to kill before I could
check-in, or at least pass border control, I just sat down somewhere
after a few hours and played a few games on my laptop. Before I knew
it, morning had come and it was time to go. After waiting for a
couple of hours I could finally board the plane and take off... and
land about 450 kilometers East. The flight was not so bad, but city
hoppers just feel a little too shabby for flight. Transfering planes
at Frankfurt my journey resumed.
Now
I am going to stop here for a second and explain a few things. I have
been on several flight before, and all of them were great, at least I
had no complaints, but this one... I would like to dub it: "Hell".
Mind you, at this point in time I have been awake for, give and take,
55 hours, as I had about 2 hours of "sleep" before going to
Schiphol. I do not know why I could not fall asleep. I was not
nervous, anxious, or anything. I was just being myself. I did not get
any sleep nor did I eat proper, so I was hangry. Knowing this was
going to be a long flight and knowing myself, I cannot sit still for
a long period of time, I was looking forward to finally being able to
fall asleep after a few days and at the same time it would "lessen"
the duration of the flight. Sleeping is like time-travel. One second
you are in the present, the next second you wake up and several hours
has passed.
1
day before leaving I was allowed to change seats in the plane. Seeing
as my seat was a rather unfortnate one because I like to gaze through
the window, I changed my seat from one right next to the wing to a
seat in the back of the plane, about 10 meters back from where I was
originally suppose to sit. I confirmed it, printed the documents and
went on my way. I got on board, looked at my seat number and... then
I noticed it was the same seat as before. Double checking it... Yup,
the same seat. Since I could not change it anymore and complaining to
the flight attendents would not help me at all I gave up because I
was too tired to even start a conversation. Sat down, looked through
the window... Oh wow, 1/4 of a view, nice~! Well, whatever. I was
hoping to sleep most of the time anyways. The keyword is 'hoped'
because the Law of Murphy was applied on this flight.
As
I said I had not slept for quite a while, I was hangry (hungry and
irritated) and not in the mood for anything but sleep. As more and
more people started to board and find their seats, two people locked
eyes with me and sat next to me. The person next to me was smelling
like he had not taken a shower for a few days and his breath could
use a few mints. We exchanged short introductions, and quickly did
our thing. He probably noticed I was not in the mood to talk. During
his introduction he, for some reason, mentioned he loves alcohol and
that we was going to get drunk so he could sleep... Once the plane
was full I noticed there were a total of 5 babies on the area were I
was seated, and after the plane took off, I saw 3 more babies in the
area behind me...
After
a few hours I still did not feel tired and the guy next to me started
to drink his first alcoholic drink... his second, then his third. As
for me, I was watching a movie but I could hardly concentrate due to
the lack of sleep and there were no interesting movies available. So
I took my laptop and continue a game I was playing in Frankfurt.
However, after a few minutes the person in front of me set his
backseat all the way down so I hardly had any room for a laptop. So
that was out of the question. So I took my phone and played Triple
Triad.
Around
3 hours in the flight I started to feel tired from just staring at
the screen whilst “watching” a movie. Finally, I thought this was
it. I could finally get some sleep. I shut down the screen, put my
noise cancelling ear pieces in and closed my eyes. 5 minutes... 10
minutes... 15 minutes... 30 minutes...
Me:
“Brain! What are you doing?”
Brain:
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Me:
“Hook me up with some melatonin! I want to sleep!”
Brain:
“Tsk, who died and made you king?”
“Whateva, I do wut I wan'”
Me:
“. . .”
After
failing to fall asleep, with hardly any room to move, I had to get
away so I just started to walk around and do some stretches in the
back of the plane. I tried to converse with some of the Japanese that
were also standing there but alas, they did not feel like it. The
flight attendences too were not in the mood for it as they were to
busy with serving people. After about an hour I went back to my seat
and played Triple Triad again. After about an hour I started feeling
drowsy again. Closed my phone, put in my earpieces, made a small
pillow and tried to get some sleep...5, 10, 15 minutes later.
Brain:
“. . .” *giggle*
Me:
“Are you serious?!”
Brain:
“Hahahaha psych!”
Me:
“M!@#%&*(^%#$”
I
took my laptop and watched Gaki no Tsukai until the battery died.
Legs:
“Could you at least give me some attention. I am hurt all over! Go
walk around a bit, would you!”
Me:
“Alright., alright”
Eyes:
“Yo! Food's here!”
Stomach:
“Wait your turn Legs! It is my turn now!”
After
eating and walking around a bit, I was 6 hours or so in flight and
changed my clothes to something more comfortable, sat down, closed my
eyes and hoped for the better. Luckily I was able to sleep for about
2 hours. After waking up I still had roughly 2 hours left to fly. The
guy and the Japanese in my row were sleeping like a baby. During the
flight the babies too made quite the noise with their crying.
I
know it sounds selfish as I was neither the only person on the plane
and it was even tougher on the parents with their babies. I feel
sorry for them, truly.
After
a long and tedious flight, I finally landed in Kansai Airport.
This
is my third time coming to Japan and as I remember the first time I
came here, I remembered the intense euphoria. Unfortunately, it was
not as intensive but still present. It felt rather more profound. Or
maybe it was because I had only slept 6 hours in a time span of 72
hours. My scumbag brain did not create any serotonin, dopamine and
melatonin... Thanks a lot, Brain!
Everything
was more or less the same as I remembered. Took the special rapid
services to Namba and from there the underground metro to
Doubutsuenmae. I was staying in the same hotel from 7 years ago. If
you happen to go to Osaka, try to arrange a room in Hotel Raizan
South. They have private rooms quite cheap. The rooms and hotel are
very clean, the staff are friendly and speak English too, plus they
have a male and female onsen! The exterior did not change but the
lobby did. They removed the wall between the South and North so it
was one big lobby and the receptionist were young(er) people rather
then the old couple. I did not make the same mistake as last time by
sleeping on a futon. As a Western a bed is so much better.
Regretabbly, I could not go to my room straight away. I had to wait
another 2 hours but I could at least drop my luggage off. Carrying
two large suitcases and a large shoulder bag on my bag is quite
challenging with my exhausted body.
Tara
and I were suppose to do lunch at 12:00 but unfortunately I could not
make it and had to re-schedule it. So I just started walking around
the area, trying to see what has changed over the past 7 years but no
major changes were found. After a few hours of walking around I went
back and could check-in. The first thing was a long shower to freshen
up. Because I arrived around 8:30 in the morning in Osaka I had no
choice but to be active the entire day in order to lessen the jetlag.
Unfortunately, my body thought differently.
Brain:
“Hey guys! What's up?”
Me:
“... Hmm, nothing much. Just going to get something to eat. Right,
Legs”
Legs:
“Yeah, we are just going to the konbini because Stomach is hungry”
Stomach:
“That's right.”
Brain:
“Oh terrific! Well if Stomach is hungry then I have got something
for him!”
“Here
you go best buddy!”
Stomach&Legs&Arms&Me:
“Heart, stop!”
Heart:
“Sorry guys, I am just doing my job.”
Brain:
“Here is the melatonin you asked for!”
Me:
“No! Not now you unproductive piece of shit!”
Brain:
“Sorry, I cannot hear you over the sound of dopamine”
Stomach&Legs&Arms&Me:
“No~!!!!”
Brain:
“KAPOW! Here, take my serotonin attack”
Me:
“Legs, move your slow ass!”
“Arms,
hurry up and change clothes!”
Arms:”Shut
up! I am working magic already!”
Brain:
“Cheers guys”
Me:
“Aww cr...a...p”!
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