London

I wrote the following when I was London this past week (Wed 9/6 - Tues 9/13).
-------------------------

During my brief layover at Paris De Gaulle airport, I realized that French men are very tall and some are quite good-looking. Or maybe it was their accent that made them seem better-looking than they really were. :p A lot of dorks probably get women that way.

I want to visit Paris properly one day, with Vence. I think it'll be very romantic, even of it is cliche.

London has many more immigrants than I had pictured. All those Hollywood movies led me to believe that it was populated with Caucasians, but the ridiculously long line at immigration upon arrival at Heathrow was my first hint that this wasn't the case.

Then the trains between North London and Southwest London were also full of people speaking Arabic, Hindi and other Southeast Asian languages. There are also many tourists (and residents too, probably) from China and Hong Kong.

London has many annoying sounds -- the annoying and insistent beeps of airport-staff driven carts at Heathrow airport; the equally annoying and high-pitched beeps of the subway (The Tube) as the doors close. Why couldn't they play cheerful melodies like Japanese trains do?

London has many beautiful sounds--the British accent, especially from those who are dark-skinned, whom I least expect to have British accents.

London has many beautiful sights, including the posh and well-dressed men and women.

London also has many ugly sights, including strange fashions on the (generally) less-beautiful men and women. I know this probably sounds terrible, but some Brits are really not good-looking by any stretch of the imagination--maybe my expectations were too high.

I didn't expect to see garbage in the subways (I think I have been spoiled by the ultra-clean Japanese environment), the prevalence of newspapers and/or magazines on the train seats, which might have been for the better since there's no free wi-fi on the trains like in Japan. Oh, I can already see that I'm gonna have a hard time living anywhere else after Tokyo.

Some interesting observations: British men are very tall, but the ceilings in The Tube trains are not. The ceilings only reach full height at the middle; the sides (along the length of train) are slanted, like in some top-floor/attic apartments, probably because the tunnels were built so narrowly a hundred years ago.

There's a lot of advertising in the subway: framed posters and prints dot the hallways, staircase and escalator shafts, and portions of tunnels in front of the platforms. Interestingly, there are many more ads for movies, plays, and musicals than in Tokyo. The latter has more advertising from small, local businesses.

Apparently, there's a musical version now of "Ghost," the famous movie that starred Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze in the late '80s. I'm kind of curious.

It's already autumn in London, so everyone is wearing coats and jackets, but sometimes just t-shirts and shorts (on women, with or without tights). A lot fewer women wear heels, especially very high heels, as compared to Tokyo. it's amazing that Tokyo women can still walk by the end of the day, especially given that they have so much more to walk to and at train stations. They even shop in those things. Me, I can barely handle a two-hour party in medium-high heels and 10 minutes in the kind of shoes that I've seen them wear.

In NYC, we have the "If you see something, say something" campaign in the subways and buses. In London, they ask commuters to report anything suspicious to a "member of staff." (I think it's funny that the Brits drop off articles like "the" in cases like this, or treat some words as singular when Americans view them as plural, and vice versa. It's English, but it still sounds funny to me.)

Speaking of suspicious-looking bags, when Wanjin, Chun-Hao and I were at Waterloo Station, there was an unclaimed bookbag on the bench we were sitting on. When a woman asked if the bag belonged to us and we said no, she actually reported it. One of the Tube employees came, unzipped it to peek inside, and removed it.

I was surprised the woman actually reported it, but maybe the bombings had shaken up the people more than New Yorkers were by 9/11. But I guess the difference is that the London bombing was in the subway while 9/11 was in skyscrapers. I know someone who was a journalism intern in NY at the time, and she had to interview people in the aftermath. She has since developed a phobia of flying.

// Now at Carlton Mitre Hotel- I'm a little frightened by the security at this hotel. They gave my room key to my relatives when they checked in. That means anyone claiming to be my relatives could just get my room key and go in my room. There's a reason why most hotels ask to see the credit you used to book the room with, as a means of ID and security. It's a little creepy.

On the upside, the hotel itself is really nice, with plush pillows, thick fluffy towels and slippers, wood furniture, and free minibar! Too bad I don't drink anymore. And the hallway carpet could seriously use updating--it looks black in the center, where guests have walked on for probably the past decade.

------------

All in all, a good trip. I wish I could have seen more, but I thought it would be enough to tag along with whatever itinerary my cousins had planned for their parents. It didn't really pan out that way, so I only saw Big Ben and Westminster Abbey from the outside, and took a trip on the London Eye. The latter was about half an hour long, and a cool experience, but a little boring after about 15 minutes. I mean, how long can you marvel at the same sights, even if they are from different angles and heights? It was £15 or so, so I'm not sure I'd do it again.

There was a group of Irish (I think, or maybe some other part of England) women in the same "pod" of the Eye as me, and I know they were speaking English, but I couldn't understand a freaking thing. Accents are so interesting.

I want to go back to London for a visit. What little I've had of British cuisine was generally unimpressive (the fish of "fish and chips" was great, but the chips were just thick-cut french fries, not particularly well seasoned, nor was it at all crispy.

-----

Have I mentioned how much I hate Resona Bank? Long rant but god dammit, I fucking hate Japanese bureaucracy. It doesn't make any freaking sense.

Off to London I Go!

Didn't shower or sleep last night (should've gotten up to shower since I was awake anyway). Mad rush in and out of the bathroom, to the airport this morning. So many people! Is this what rush hour looks like?

Sorry if I stink, fellow commuters, but it's a bitch to carry the suitcase and big bookbag up and down so many flights.

Since I slept maybe only 3 hours last night, I hope I can catch some zzs on the plane--7 hours to Paris, then one hour layover before flight to London.

Banking in Japan

Sometimes I really hate Japan and all its bureaucratic bullshit.

The school's manager of foreign teachers said I had to open an account with Saitama Resona Bank, in Saitama, "so the school doesn't get charged a fee."

So I had to open an account at Saitama Resona Bank--not to be confused with Resona Bank even though they have the same parent company, colors and logo. And no, this is not something that the manager mentioned. I only know this because it came up in passing during a conversation with a Japanese teacher.

The first time I tried to open an account, I was told I needed a hanko (personal ink seal), even though many banks now accept signatures, especially from foreigners who have never even seen a hanko before in their lives.

Since I was on break at work at Kawaguchi, I only had time to place an order for one, to be picked up the next day.

Second time was after I picked up my hanko the next day (all the way in Kawaguchi). The bank was closed even though I had checked the hours the day before and could have sworn it was going to be open. Then I had to rush to work in Omiya.

The third time, in Ageo, even though the nice lady at the information counter had a chart in English with a list of documents I'd need, the one providing service didn't actually speak English, so she had to get someone else to help. The second person told me I should come in with someone who could read and speak Japanese because all their forms are in Japanese.

I have never asked my (non-teacher) friends to help me because we don't have the same day off. And I wasn't about to ask a colleague to go with me to Saitama on their day off just so I could open a stupid account. And while I'm in Saitama, I'm working, and so are the other teachers and managers, so who could help me, really?

But then, when I went to pick up my paycheck at the main school last time, Mr. Azuma in accounting said I can open the account near my home, and he knows I live in Minato-ku. Why didn't anyone tell me this before?

So today, I decided I'd go to Azabu Juban because it's close to my home and next to Roppongi, which has the highest concentration of foreigners in Tokyo. So they should speak English, right? No. And not only that, they told me to open an account at Mitsubishi Bank next door instead, because they would be able to provide services in English, which would be all well and good for any other person, but my stupid school has to use *this* bank. And this, after I told them I *had* to open an account with their bank, because my school uses it for payroll.

I swear, sometimes I fucking hate Japan.

When I was registering at a cooking school (not even an accredited or degreed program; just an hobbyist program), I had to fill out an application with my employment info, including employer address and phone number, my name and address in English and furigana (and no, my friend couldn't just write it for me; she had to write it separately first for me to copy), and my birth year according to the emperor/era. So much bullshit for an application where the money must be paid in full in three days' time anyway; not like there was credit being issued and a card or account would be charged on a monthly basis, like for a cell phone or Internet account.

Like I said, a lot of bureaucratic bullshit.

Going to London!

I'm going to London for my cousin Wanyu's wedding. She and her sister have been living in London off and on for the past few years, and both want to make it their home.

I haven't mentioned them much to my friends because these cousins were born and raised in Taiwan, so I was never close with them.

I'd see them for a day or two whenever I visited Taiwan, but that was six times in my entire life. I got to see them this past May, when I went to see my grandma, who was really sick. My grandma got better, and I got to see my cousins, some of whom I hadn't seen in 15 years.

I'm honored that WanYu even invited me to her wedding because we were never close, and maybe she did so only because of family obligation. But we've been messaging each other on Facebook a few times a week to plan to accommodations and other details of my stay in London. She's so helpful and patient. I think I'd be really annoyed if someone had a million questions when it was so near my wedding; I'd be super stressed out.

I'm grateful for this opportunity to become close to her. I hope our friendship grows even more, and that I'll be able to do the same with her sister, brother, and my other cousins.

I'd always envied those people who had big family reunions and got to see each other at least once or twice a year, for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I'd had a big family in the form of the SGI members in NYC, but since I've been moving around so much these past few years and some of my closest SGI friends had moved back to their native countries.

Or things had changed between my NY-SGI friends and me because I had been away for so long, and was no longer in that routine of going to activities with them, eating with them afterward, and hanging out together.

I don't usually handle change well, especially when it comes to my relationships. But I guess that's life.

I'm very appreciative of the fact that I could see my cousin Shirley and our very good friend Amy when I was in NY, even if it required me to drive two hours to NJ or Philly to do so. I kind of got used to the drive.

Anyway, I'm excited about going to London. I'd never been there before, and this will be the first time I'm seeing my relatives outside of Taiwan and the US.

I was a little worried about the flight, though, since he only ones that the travel agency and I could find were either a direct flight with Virgin Atlantic for ¥195,000 (just take off the last two zeros for USD equivalent), or the cheapest indirect flight for ¥30,000 less with Singapore Air, but which would more than double the travel time, from 12 to 26 hours *each way.* (There were some other flights, but the prices and times weren't much better).

I'd seriously considered the latter, because Koko said that when he'd had a long layover at Singapore airport a few years ago, they had all these free amenities like video games, massage chairs, etc. They even have a special bus tour for transit passengers (is that the right word?), where they drive you around the city but don't let you off because you don't have a visa. I hope they have bathrooms on those buses.

But then I remembered having to sit on a 12-hour flight for a week-long trip (NY-Hawaii in 2005), and it was really torture.

I decided I was going to bite the bullet and take the Virgin Atlantic flight, but when I called to the travel agency today, they said that flight was gone. I was kind of pissed because they told me I could wait until two days before departure to book it.

I went to the travel agency's office later and got a better option: an indirect flight with Air France with a 45-min layover going and 50-min returning for almost ¥20,000 less than Virgin's direct flight. And it's only ¥16,000 more than the Singapore Air flight with the 6- and 2-hr layovers. The flight times are better too. I'd avoid rush hour when I arrive and leave London. I'd probably be squished on the trains when I arrive back in Tokyo, though, because my flight arrives around 9 am. But that's ok. At least I'm not hurrying to catch a flight at that point.

Whew! What a load off my back. There was a Travelex near the travel agency so I even exchanged some yen for pounds. I hope I have enough.

Sigh. I feel exhausted already, and my workday hasn't even begun yet. I'm starting work in a little less than 20 minutes, so I hope this local train gets me there on time. I'm starting to work at the Fujimino school on Fridays, taking over the classes of a teacher who left recently.

I hope I can teach at schools closer to me. I want to get home early enough to make and eat dinner, instead of skipping it altogether, as I have been doing for most of the past four months that I've been working. But I've been trying to eat dinner more regularly, and packing fruit in my lunch bag to munch on a few hours after lunch. I feel a lot better mentally and physically after that. I wish there were more fruit smoothie places; I'm sick of eating bananas and don't have time to blend this and that every morning. I need to find a better way.

Well, I guess these are things I can chant about--especially about being assigned to closer schools. I'm so envious of my colleague, Cynthia. She lives within walking distance from a school where she teaches twice a week, and she only spends ¥3,000/month on transportation. Remember that in Japan, the amount of money you spend is a factor of distance (generally), so the father it is, the more money you'll spend. I usually spend ¥23,000/month on the train.

Anyway...London!