Fukuoka1

Dear all,

I'm now using some illegal internet connection in our hotel room (shht! don't tell anyone!) so I'm trying to upload the things I've written so far. No pics yet, those will follow in Nagasaki, first just the tekst!

oWe’re here!

Yeah, Fukuoka! You’ll be reading this when I get my laptop hooked up to the internet, but I wanted to write about what we’ve been up to so far now, not later. That’s why I’m writing it on my laptop now to upload at a later stage.

I’m now sitting in a not so well illuminated little hotel room in Ohori, Fukuoka-city. There is a big light but it’s a huge TL light, so we’ve decided to leave it off. I’m sharing my room with Claudia you see. But I’ll start from the beginning…

I left for the airport Monday morning, round 11:45-ish. I just want to say thank you to all of you who sent me a text message last minute or who called to wish me good luck. It was worthwhile because the flight went all right. There was a tiny hiccup involving Gerrie not having a seat on the plane and us causing a fuss about that so that Gerrie díd have a seat in the end, but other than that things went quite smooth : ) I said good bye to my dad and brother the night before, and the after checking in at Schiphol and having some lunch I said goodbye to my mummy. But she’s coming to visit me soon anyway, so not really a long term goodbye. Then I had to say goodbye to some friends who came to the airport and of course my Luuk. Not my most favourite thing in the world, but we managed to get through customs alright. We pretty much walked straight to the gate where we didn’t even have time for one game of Uno (thanks Chun) before we started boarding. The plane was full so we didn’t get to sit all together unfortunately, but my seat was right in front of Ruben’s, so I was ok. It was really cool, because you could actually choose the movies you wanted to see from a wide selection of new and classic movies and tv shows, and then pause them, rewind and fast forward them as you pleased! This is a new feature since I last flew long distance : )

We arrived safely and about 2 hours earlier than I expected in Osaka, where we took the monorail to the airport where we bought our shinkansen (high-speed train) tickets, a rather painless experience. We then took a regular train to shin-Osaka, as the airport is way out somewhere, and then after getting starbucks coffee, we just about managed to catch the shinkansen. We didn’t quite get in the right wagon, so we had to pass through the greater part of the train to get to our seats (we had reserved seats) which was quite an experience with some people’s suitcases only barely fitting in the isles ;) (not mine! Mine was fine). We continued our game of Uno and sort of dozed the whole way as we didn’t get much sleep on the plane. My excuse is my annoying German neighbour and the fact that if I wasn’t watching a movie or tv, I was thinking, and thinking led to tears…

With relatively no trouble we found our hostel in Fukuoka and we got to freshen up and after calling my mummy and Luuk to let them know we’d arrived safely we went out for a walk to explore the neighbourhood. Part of the reason for doing this was to stay awake long enough for dinner hehe. We found a nice lake / park thing, plenty of little Japanese restaurants, at least 3 or 4 combini’s (convenience stores open 24/7 – véry useful!) and got a general feel of the place.

I remember walking out of the airport and smelling Japan. I’ve always remembered Japan as having a distinct smell, and I still think it does. I can’t explain it. Japan smells different. Not to mention looks different. I’ve seen the style before and yet it always amazes me. This chaotic maze of little authentic looking houses amongst the shiny skyscrapers. Everything is different. The cars for example. Not just the look, but they’re not in the same range of colours as we’re used to seeing them. People walk around in their uniforms and perform their specific tasks, we’re bowed at the whole time and welcomed. This is not so much new for me, as to give you an impression of what it’s like here. Most of all most people are extremely friendly and very willing to help (us poor foreigners).

The thing I love about Japan (besides the fact that they have starbucks!) is the vending machines. They are everywhere, and have everything from booze and cigarettes, juices, hot and cold coffee and tea to weirdest concoctions of soda drinks and chocolates.

Walking around here I feel at home. Well, maybe not at home, but I don’t feel strange. It feels ‘vertrouwd’. Comfortable. Maybe I feel a little more like I know what I’m doing compared to the others. I don’t know. Either way, here I am now, checked in to Heiwadai hotel, a little twin room with private bathroom… well… all half square metres of it ;).

So things are going good right now! It’s about 8 o’clock at night right now, and I’m desperate for some sleep, so that’s what I’m going to do. More tomorrow!

Love, Jenn

Ps: mummy: I got breadsticks, hahahaha