We landed safely though, and then the real journey began.
I got off of the plan with Eiko, and headed to immigration, where they stamp my passport. I had filled out a slip stating my business and yadda yadda. When I got to the counter, the little Japanese man went through everything so quickly, never smiled and said, "Welcome to Japan" or anything. After "stamping" my passport he threw it back at me, and swooshed me away with his hands, as if to say, "get out of my hair." :( Not the warmest welcome, but ok....as long as I wasn't his enemy and he was trying to detain me longer.
Eiko and I then went to get our luggage. While waiting I opened my passport to see my very first stamp! :D I was so excited....and then so disappointed. :( All it was, was a STICKER!?!? What?! Where's the blank ink? *sniff* Oh well. At least there's something in my passport right!?
Eiko had been transferred to my flight b/c hers was detained the night before due to weather conditions. They tried putting her on a flight from Chicago to France to Japan, but it would waste more time, so she didn't take it. She told them, make sure my luggage is on this flight. Well, after retrieving all of my luggage, and we still didn't see any of hers, we went to the desk to ask. Of course she did all the talking (in Japanese) and I just watched and listened. You guessed it, her luggage was in France at that very moment. I felt bad b/c even though my trip wasn't going as planned, at least I had my luggage....she had nothing.
There was some more talking and then she turns to me and says, if they ask, would you tell them one of my bottles of alcohol is yours so I don't have to pay tax. I said sure, but I asked God not to let that happen b/c I didn't want it on my record that I brought booze with me to Japan.
The lady helping us though we were together, so when we got to the check point she said something to the lady asking the questions, and then she only asked Eiko questions and passed us both through. She never even looked at my passport! :) Thank you Lord! :) No booze went on my record! :P
That took about an hour. We get upstairs to the ticket counter, and the line is just enormous! Not only is there a line from our flight, but there are lines from other flights that had been cancelled due to Mr. Typhoon. We got in line, and while Eiko watched our things, I went and found a phone to call Nathan. It is now about 5 hours later than when I was originally suppose to be through with my entire trip.
"Pay phones" in Japan are much different than the U.S. You get this calling card stick it in the machine, dial the number, and when you're done, the card pops out and it makes a punch mark under the number of minutes you have left. Nathan answered when I called and I filled him in with as much as I could. I told him I'd call after I was done at the ticket counter, but by the looks of the line I had no clue when that was going to be. He told me, after I didn't show up at the airport, the airline wouldn't give them any info, so they went to the church to get Arlene's mom, Seiko, b/c she speaks Japanese, and she could talk to the airline to find out exactly what was going on. The service was slightly interupted b/c Seiko had to get another piano player, and yadda yadda. So the church pretty much knew I wasn't at the airport. Then some of the ladies called Arlene to asked if they had heard anything yet, after some time passed. I told them they could tell everyone I was ok, and that there was a lady who was with me and helping me, and I knew the Lord was with me.
After that I hung up and waited in line for over an hour. An official came over and said, "Shorten line, Shorten line." He started to push my cart of luggage up to the front, I couldn't believe it. All these Japanese people were looking at me in a not so friendly manner. I wanted to ask that man, why did you pick on the American? I didn't mind waiting in the back of the line....I don't want to make these people angry with me.
Shooting to the front of the line (so as to make the story shorter) the man behind the counter told me I could fly out of Hanieda (the "other" airport) at 7:50 the next morning. Fine, Great, Sounds Terrific! Problem, if I were to get a hotel in Tokyo, where I was right then, I would have to pay for it, b/c the airline wouldn't pay for a weather delay. They would only pay if there were mechanical problems. I didn't want to get a hotel anyways. Staying somewhere strange, having to get back to this airport to connect to the other airport, too many things could go wrong. Then Eiko said, there's no transportation that early in the morning. A bus wouldn't be able to get me to Hanieda early enough to make my flight. She said, she would take the train with me to North Tokyo, and then put me in a cab to Hanieda. That sounded better than any other option, and a plus would be that she would be with me. So I jumped at it. We took the ticket from the man behind the counter, and went to get on the express train.
I almost stopped to call Nathan, but then we started seeing people running. So we stopped at the Express Train ticket window and the man was talking hurridly to Eiko, next thing I know he comes flying out of his booth, and shoots down the hallway, and she's yelling at me, come on, come on. I thought, great, we're going to miss this train.
Well, we didn't, but the guy said, you don't have time to purchase a ticket, just get on! :O So that's what we did. I was able to experience getting pushed on to a train. We were the last ones on, and since the train was packed, my luggage was hanging out. The little Japanese man was pushing me and my luggage....which I didn't mind since I knew he was trying to help. All got on, and once the doors were shut people were re-situating themselves, so there was more room....things were just congested at first.
This express train kept stopping for like 20 minutes at a time. If there was another train on the rails we'd stop and wait for it to pass. Then I started thinking. It's one in the morning here. If I get off, I have to stay awake until 7:50 when my flight takes off b/c Eiko won't be with me anymore. You see, once we got off, she was going to put me in a cab to the airport and then she was going to take a cab to her sister's. So I told the Lord, I didn't mind stopping, each stop was a little relief to me, b/c it helped me stall a little longer for time.
The train ride was finally over with at 2. When we got off, I said, "Eiko...I gotta go!!" She said, "where?" Then I kind of bounced a little like, "NO! I REALLY GOTTA....GOOOOOOOOO!" So she said,....ohhhhh! We found the nearest restroom.......and yeah! WELCOME TO JAPAN JESSICA!! It was a toilet that I did not take a picture of, but one that I had never seen before. It flushed, but it was a rectangular porcelain comode that you stood over. I ran back out to Eiko. I said, "They have no hooks on the door!" So I gave her everything except my passport purse, and went back. Wow! I don't suggest not going to the bathroom for 13 hours and then standing over a commode. Your legs feel like they're ready to collapse, and it's just not a good thing.
Another thing that's different are little hooks by the sink. I thought it was the soap dispenser at first. (Remember it's 2 a.m.) I pushed on it a little, and when nothing happened I looked more carefully. Ohhhhh, and Umbrella holder! Maybe that's why they had a picture of an umbrella above the hook Jessica!! ;P ha ha
Now that I felt much better, it was on for more adventure.
We asked a man behind a counter about a taxi, and he showed us were to wait. We then paid for our train ticket there. I think it was a little over $13. I didn't think that was bad. He didn't charge us for the "express." I was glad, b/c it really wasn't express at all!
We walked outside to wait for a cab, and I'm serious, I almost lost my eyeballs, and my jaw! A line stretched on for I don't know how far! All I know is, we were at the end! There were close to a hundred people in front of us. Possibly more. And they were getting into cabs one at a time for the most part. What else was there to do than to wait. We talked to the people around us...and waited. Talked and waited...moved an inch....talked and waited....moved another inch and so on!
When my turn finally came, I told Eiko, now I only have a little over $37 in Yen. The cab driver will only take Yen she had told me earlier. I said what if it's more. She told me she'd talk to him, and pay the difference! What an angel. I told her I'd reimburse her in dollars. When she talked to the cab driver he said 10,000....translated....$100! :O :O A HUNDRED DOLLARS!!! This airport was only like 15 mintues away....maybe! I don't even think it was that long! I said, that's a bit high don't you think? Eiko wasn't talking she was thinking, and all of a sudden, guys are yelling from the line, and the cab driver is yelling, and I'm thinking, either I'm going to lose this cab I've been waiting for....or I'm paying $100! Eiko looked at me and said, "You need this cab!" So I nodded in aggreement, and she said, do you have $100. Which I did. So I gave her $100 and she handed me a 10,000 Yen bill. We hugged, I thanked her, and then I was off in the cab. The driver starts to ask me.....where do you want to go? I'm thinking....Weren't you just listening to Eiko...she told you everything you need to know! DON'T ASK ME!!!! So I start motioning, "I need to go to Airport" Fly.....in Sky....This man was really rough, and harsh and I could not remember the name of the airport. I was saying Nahita, Naheda. I was mixing the names of the two airports together. I just let him talk groughly for a few moments while I rummaged through my intenoraries, until (in the dark) I saw the name Hanieda. When I said that, he said, "Oh, ohhh, One or Two?" One or two? One or two? What does this man mean? I didn't know. Come to find out. One is for departures, and two is for pick ups or something like that. So once I saw those signs, I was able to tell him. But later I thought...I got into your cab with 4 pieces of luggage...I am obviously not going to pick someone up!
At first he was driving around in circles, through tiny streets that were ally like. I was praying the WHOLE time. I was so scared. And then I thought....he is going to make me go over my 10,000 yen limit here....and who knows what's going to happen. Praying harder at this point.
He finally gets onto a freeway. So let me paint a picture here. I am in the back of a cab, with lace on the seats, Japanese music playing, a driver on the "wrong side" of the car, driving on the "wrong side" of the road going very fast. It was a mixture of my dad's driving and my pastor's driving. It is 3 in the morning, the windows are all steamed up, and I cannot communicate clearly with the driver. Can we say I was, "OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE!!!!!"
I watched his little meter, and I calculated I was being charged $0.82 every 10 seconds no matter the speed! :O High-way robbery! If Wal-mart doesn't work out....maybe I'll be a cab driver! Ha ha!! I get lost all the time...can you imagine the bucks I'd make!! ;P ha ha
We finally made it safely to the airport. My bill was a little over $80. He helped me get my luggage out. I thanked him, and he did seem to warm up a little bit. When I went to go in the airport, the door didn't open. So I tried the one beside, and that one didn't open either. In broken English the cab driver asked if I was ok. I looked at on the door, written in all Japanese except one little portion in the middle. Open 4:30 am. Oh my word! It was 3:45! I told the cab driver I was ok. I thanked him. Then he left, and I thought I cannot believe this. I am going to be out in these dark streets for 45 minutes. I was scared....but trying to think. There were a whole row of doors, and a phone. I thought, I am going to walk to each of these doors. If none of them open, I'm going to call Nathan and say, "I don't care how far away you are, you drive down here and get me!"
I passed the phone to go to the next set of doors, and there was a security man letting a lady out, so when the doors opened I asked him if I could come in, he motioned for me to come in. Ohhhh! Praise the Lord! I was so relieved! I went straight away to a phone. I called Nathan to update him. Arlene answered. I apologized for the hour, but I had promised to call after being at the ticket counter, and through all these events the opportunity never came up. So I filled her in. Told her I was save, and where I needed to be.
I "rested" with one eye open for 30 minutes, and then got up. I checked in my luggage and then waited by my gate.
Right before 7 the airline attendant came up to me, and in very broken English told me, the plane may not be able to land in Misawa due to the Typhoon still in the area.
..................................................................................................................................................................
Total defeat. That's what I felt at that moment. She's telling me about trains, buses, yadda yadda yadda that I could take there. I expressed not wanting to do that. And she said they could take off, but if the pilot does not feel he can safely land, he will turn around and come back here. I said, Fine as long as I do not end up back at Narita. I asked if I was the only one on the flight b/c there was no one else around. She said with a chuckle, No, there are others, you are just very early. They are probably shopping and eating brunch.....maybe you should try that. ha ha That was funny....I must have looked stressed.
Was I the only one on the flight. HA! Three bus loads of people to shuttle to the plane later we were on our way to Misawa! ;) I_________ go ahead and fill in the blank....slept! Half way through the take off I think I fell asleep. I woke up when they were preparing to land, and there was a note on the seat in front of me, saying if I needed anything to ask b/c they didn't want to disturb me. Ahhh, I thought that was very nice.
As I saw, "Misawa" I started to cry, and got a huge lump in my throat. Finally, it may possibly be over. The weather did not look bad, but a few drops of rain on my window scared me b/c I thought, what if it's worse than what I think.
We started to descend, and then I felt it, the plane went up again. I prayed, Lord please, I can't do this anymore, please land this plane. I have no strength left in me!
It began to descend again. I still had a lump in my throat but my eyes were dry, until I felt the wheels hit the runway, then I began to cry for real. I was just completely spent. I'm getting choked up just thinking about it. When the plane finally rested by the ramp we were going to walk onto, and I saw "MISAWA" I just felt the Lord beside me say,"See, I told you I would never leave thee nor forsake thee. You knew I would help you get here, you just needed to rest in me."
After getting off, I got my luggage, which took close to no time at all. I called Nathan to tell him I had landed. He answered the phone in Japanese, but I recognized his voice. I said, "I don't know what you just said, but Mooshy Mooshy, get your Tooshy Tooshy down here and GET ME!" :D :) :)
He did, and I'm living out the rest of my time here, one encredibly enjoyable day after another! This trip showed God's grace in such a real way.
What an Amazing Race!
1 comment:
I just read the whole thing and I'm sorry but I laughed OUT LOUD several times. At least, you have an interesting story to tell for the rest of your life. The first part that made me LOL was when you suggested not going to the bathroom after 13 hours standing up! Oh my word. Too funny!!!!!! I like what you said to Nathan, too, Mooshy/Tooshy - Hahaha!
Glad you made it there safe and sound. Now you have to continue to blog about what's been happening since then. See you in a week 1/2.
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