Trains, planes, and automobiles

Ni-nichi (Day two)
Densha-tachi (Trains)


I set three alarms before I went to bed. One for 6, one for 6:05, and one for 6:15. I wake up with the 6:00 o'clock one and begin getting ready. I feel rested and alert, if not a little nervous. Then my Dad calls (I thought it was the alarm, so I didn't say anything when I answered the phone. Poor clerk probably got confused). It was nice to hear his voice again. I tell him I'm up and ready to go.

Check-out and have a surcharge on the room of $106 dollars. Oh, yeah. For overseas calls. Luckily, my Dad was super nice and gave me $100 more dollars before I left. So that paid for that. I then head to the train station on the bottom level. The airport is dead again, and my bags are really very heavy. I get my ticket and wait for the train. Only...I hope it's te right train. It's a "local" train, and while it says it's going to Sapporo, I'm nervous. I try to keep my stuff close to me and out of the way, but it's still cumbersome. I see lots of schoolkids. I mean, a bunch. And they look just like the manga. It was kind of amusing at 7:00 in the morning.
Well, I make it to Sapporo, and look for my connection. A train station clerk helps me to find the platform, and I make it over there. I don't get on the first one because it was a little packed, so I wait for the second one. It's pretty much empty, but I decide to not take a seat and kind of sit/stand on/with my stuff instead. It was nice. Read the newspaper. I'm absolutly starving by this point. I don't even know the last time I ate. I did get gatorade-water, but at the Otaru station, I lost my water bottle. Yeah, that sucked.


I get to the Otaru station and work up my nerves to call my hosts. My Japanese sucks, but I think they got the message. I did get surrounded by teenagers on the train, and that made me a little nervous. I was afraid they would start to bother me, but they didn't. When they all get off, I move to the next compartment, where it's practically empty. Met some Austrailian guys on the train as well. He came and told me that I shouldn't put my feet up on the bench. What an idiot I felt like.

Well, I get off, and head to the main station to pay my ticket, and there Anan-san is waiting for me. I think he looked like I expected him to look like. Then again, I think I've seen pictures of him. He helps me carry stuff to his car, and I stumble through "hello"s and "nice to meet you"s. We talk a little in the car, and I can see it's going to be a little rough, but we can communicate alright. This is where my patience knows no bounds.

I get settled, put my stuff down, and he shows me around. Basically explains what to do, but I'm still not quite sure about when to do it. We then go to lunch...This is my first meal in...way too long, and the smell of it doesn't make me feel too good. I try to eat some of it, but not a lot because I started gagging on the pork for some reason.

I go to rest for a little bit, and then Anan-san and I go to the mountain and pick warabi. I'm exhausted, hungry, and now really, really hot. I tell him I don't feel well, and after an hour or so, we leave.

I get back, rest some more, and then dinner time. Oh, that didn't go down well. I started gagging again, and everything felt like mush in my mouth. I try to get up to leave (right after they told me I could have a holiday tomorrow) and I throw up. Just water and a little cucumber thing, but yeah, right there in their sink. Oka-san ushered me to bed and I fell almost instantly asleep.