Since I couldn’t sleep much last night I was up early already. I surfed the internet, did some stretches, took a long shower, and went across the street to a convenience store for some breakfast.
They had a free shuttle to the airport, so I caught that with a Japanese family, and enjoyed the ability to eavesdrop on a little bit of their conversation. After being around Korean people, it was a joy to be able to figure out just a bit of what people were saying.
The airport was slammed. I put my luggage on a big cart and trucked it in there, and joined the lineup for my airline. While in line the lady behind me didn’t pay attention and ran into the back of my sandalled foot. Ouch! I gave her a big smile and she just smiled back – there’s not a lot to say when you can’t speak each other’s language.
In the gift shop I picked up some metal chopsticks for Kuniko, and then I boarded my flight. I sat next to a Korean guy who watched a bootleg DVD of The Chronicles of Riddick the whole time. The flight was pretty short – just 90 minutes, so I was still fresh and happy when I arrived in Osaka.
I ran through the lines at immigration without a problem, and chatted with the customs guy for a little bit. He decided not to search me, and so I took my bags out the door and Kuniko was right there. After a big hug we both walked over to see Yuri, who Kuniko drove to the airport for her flight to America. We caught up and had lunch at a Chinese place on the third floor.
We sent Yuri on her way, and then we made the long drive back to my hometown. It was nice to have the ride – I’d hate to deal with all the heavy luggage on the train. Some of those stations don’t have elevators!
Back at my place I gave Kuniko the presents that she had received from my mom and Nancy and Lynn. She was so happy to get lots of cool stuff! It was like Christmas in August.
Kuniko was around for dinner, so since my fridge was empty we decided to go to the yakitori. I brought a bottle of wine that my mom had given me to give to the master for omiyage. He was thrilled! We asked me all kinds of questions, and with Kuniko there we were able to figure out everything.
To drink Kuniko had ordered ramune, and I ordered the same thing. It was amazing! The bottle is sealed only with a marble. The master pushed the marble into the bottle, and then we could pour our own soda. The marble just rolls around in there. It was so cool – on the second round the master let me try to open one – it was fizzy and messy, but it worked. I had never seen anything like that before. Another first!
After dinner Kuniko had to go home, so I spent an hour or so making up my omiyage for the teachers at school, and then I went to bed. Right when I went to bed a typhoon blew in, so I opened the window and let the cool air blow in and listened to the pounding rain outside. I felt bad that Kuniko was out in storm taking a train home – but I sent her a message and she was just fine. The good news was that I slept great – I guess the jet lag is over!
