Entries this day: AM_day_zero Boat False_start boat_again late_meeting zzz

AM day zero

10:07am JST Friday 20 May 2005

Took several pictures of me with my bags and Millenium House and a couple of shots while on the train, mostly of Motosumiyoshi station construction. Arrived well on-time to this beautiful port building where the key design point was "no vertical lines" combined with "no visible support system"

I've been here before, but it was quieter, and random strangers didn't say Good Morning to me.

Oh oh oh, coming up to the building, I saw the ship, and it looked different than I thought: older and squatter, maybe. Took some pix and continued, then saw OUR boat, or what I thought must be our boat could I could see CE on the smoke stack which would be the end of "PEACE"...

Walked up alongside the squat boat, and confirmed it was not ours. Got a few shots of The Topaz, my new home for the next three months.

An elderly Japanese guy took a shot of me with the boat.

Waved HI to the guys working busily on the bow; they waved "hello" back, and I said I would see them in an hour.

10:14am

Ah; now I can see the group headed into the building. Genki up!!

This is the boarding ramp in Yokohama. permalink

Boat

1:28pm JST Friday 20 May 2005

The picture here is of most of the female GET Teachers: From left to right: Nicole, Kim, Angie, Kris, Maryann, Carissa, and Natalie (asleep).

We've just chowed lunch out on the short-grass covered hill on what Kim suggests feels like an island. We're on the port overlooking the boat. I'm all snotty nosed cause I think the interior of the boat is dusty. Uh oh.

Met Katrina (from Poland) and Amelia (from Bulgaria), bar staff onboard. I felt an inch of seasick(?) inside the boat; combination of tight space and a bit of rocking. Carissa seems to be quite sensitive to the rocking.

There are 8 levels on the boat (I think), including the upper deck. The lower decks don't always have openings for fresh air, which is why a couple of guys were like, "don't forget to go outside."

It's like living in an enclosed city, protected from the elements outside, trapped with the elements inside.

Gotta go back in soon. Maybe to teach.

At most ports the boat gets touchup paint.

False start

5:17pm JST Friday 20 May 2005

Headed back to the apartment. Elvis called me; I had forgotten to leave him my apartment key. Further, he pointed out that I had left some crap that would not likely be useful to anyone. The four knotboards that I tried to sell on Yahoo Auction. They didn't sell. Now I gotta eaither pay to get rid of them or illicitly discard them somewhere... It would be a shame to just toss them. I could conceivably bring them to Pb in a taxi; they are nautically inclined, but I dunno if they could be sold or useful or what.

I sorta think they could be used. If I can reach Audrey, I'll ask her what she thinks.

6:38pm

Okay; I called Ikumi; she will hold the two bigger knotboards. I will carry the other two to the boat tonight.

Gotta go talk to Elvis now, and then I'm meeting Hitomi near the boat to take some of my stuff on that she bought for me recently. CDs and such. Aight, peace out!

boat again

7:11pm JST Friday 20 May 2005

Okay. Now I'm headed back to the boat. this time not standing at the front, looking eagerly into the future down the tracks. This won't be my last time on this train; I'll be back. Back again. Guess who's going to be back, tell a friend.

Wait.

Okay, so I'll be back and this is not the end of an era so much as the transition from one era to another, putting the first one on hold with the option to come back or not. I'm not-burning bridges in my wake.

I've got things sorted with Elvis. Gave him my extra key as a makeup. I used Warrior techniques, but not the exact language; I used what language I thought he would understand better.

Why such detail? Got to catch the next (faster) train.

late meeting

12:22am JST Saturday 21 May 2005

Met Hitomi; she gave me stuff to carry (which I now suddenly realize I left in a different room (on the boat) (in the GET office)), and it was certainly not too much, especially given that it was all stuff that I requested.

Walked around on the top deck with Kris leading me, Dave, Kim, and Pat; we scoped various rooms and such. Turns out the minimum price for this voyage is 138,0000 yen (zeros are correct; they count in 10,000s here); some people pay like 2 or 3 million. Holy crizap!

There is a netted basketball area where we can play with my frisbees, and the pools are filled daily if we're in clean-ish sea water, so they are empty now.

Ikumi texted me to see if I am on the boat so I got Pat to take a picture of me with a life ring TSS THE TOPAZ. Awesome. I couldn't write back to her response cause we had a meeting at 11pm to 12am. Ugh; I was falling asleep bigtime.

Met Chika who is part of the CIQ (?) team, in charge of passports and stuff. I am bunking with Sean, Shinji and no one else in a four person room. Cool!

zzz

1:34am JST Saturday 21 May 2005

Super steel door with super long screw to close and open. I took pictures of the mechanism; I'm glad that it's right by our room; I like to be friends with a door that is so dramatically important. When this door closes, it closes. Very slowly, and very strongly.

Four girls were in a small room and three boys were in a big room, so they were asked to switch. Three girls went over and Angie, the fourth girl, discovered that her bed was broken. So she's sleeping in the boys' room tonight. David, Pat maybe and I forgot. Gosh I'm tired.

Oh, and though I didn't get any pictures yet, I can pee in the toilet, take a shower, and brush my teeth, all at the same time. While standing in the shower, toilet and bathroom sink are adjacent, just 90 degrees away from each other.

Okay, bedtime. My alarm is set for 7am I think. Hopefully 7:30. AM meeting at 7:50. Eek!

I'm on PB!!!

Oh, super PS: I'm looking for information on outer space: types of stars, galaxies, black holes, light speed, stellar and interstellar distances, and a wormhole or two. I have the information from The Nine Planets, a fantastic website for our solar system, but not for stellar, galactic space. If you have any good links, please email me!