We Live Where We Are

It is 5:30 am and my husband is sleeping soundly (with his glasses on) and I am watching the fraction of Tokyo visible from our 29th floor window. The skyline goes on infinitely, and this perspective definately dwarfes Manhatten in comparison. I am loving the crazy little english catch phrases on the advertising that is irrelevant to the product being marketed. I see a sign that says "Young Summer." Another that reads "Glorious Strawberry."
Once we got to the airport we had to pile our luggage on luggage carts and ride them up the escalator. I cannot tell you how many girls I saw loose control of the cart and freak out while the valiant JET staff attempted to prevent the ensuing domino effect. We had to navigate our carts through all these check points to show various paperwork. Every several feet there was either a JET staff member holding an arrow telling us where to go or one just standing there holding a bottle of water and jumping up and down "Good job guys!" "Welcome to Japan!" "I am from South Africa!" "Keep going!" "If you're due for a tinkle you've better get it done now because you've got a few kilometers of airport to go through!" It felt just like Mario Kart, and my cart was right-side-happy which meant I would careen off to the side while the JET staff would chase me down for deviating off the path a few feet. We got to our hotel late last night after being awake for nearly 28 hours to find that they swapped my suitcases. My lovely professional summer clothes are sitting on a bus heading 6 hours north and I was left with a suitcase filled with books, boots and wool sweaters for the long winter ahead. I cried. I threw a mini fit. Casey tried to explain my part in the mishap and then I cried more until he came around. Then I took a long hot shower and decided that I could make this work. Even if I show up in a wierd ensemble and my boss thinks I think August occurs in the winter, I am still in Tokyo.

It is amazing what hot water can do for the human psyche.

I walked into a Starbucks out of curiousity last night and found a team in green aprons engaged in a frantic but professional debate on the arrangement of the pastry case. Everything was immacululate, the staff was intense and some of the drinks had a Japanese twist. Ooh, Casey is stirring and I might convince him to get up.