Mom has Arrived!

Today I went to Shakey's for a year end party thrown by my Resident Director. I thought it was really interesting that only the guys showed up. The only girl there was his daughter. We had all-you-can eat pizza paid for by the man himself, Don.

I left early to head to the airport. I took the Kosei line all the way there from Nippori. It only costs 1000 yen and takes exactly an hour (if you take the express.) I arrived and went to the waiting area. Mom arrived about 20 minutes after I did. It was timed surprisingly well. The first thing we did was get her train pass. The JR Rail Pass allows transportation on all JR trains (except the Nozomi) at no extra charge. The reason we did it starting today was to take the Narita Express back to Tokyo. It brought back a lot of memories about the first time I visited Japan... The JR Pass seems really outdated though. You have to physically show it to the guy at the window to be let though. This means that you cannot use the sweet gates which take half a second to register your card and let you through. Come on Japan, I thought you were the technology capital of the world.

Of course when we get to Shinjuku it is 6pm aka rush hour. The trains were all packed so getting on the Yamanote with all mom's luggage was quite a feat. We managed it though and got to her hotel room. Check-in was relatively painless as was the walk with the luggage.

I took mom to a place called Watami on Waseda-dori. I had her try out some Sashimi along with some other Japanese dishes. She seemed to like everything. The idea was to keep her awake as long as possible as to cure the jet lag. Dinner got over earlier than I expected (because she did not want to drink) so we walked all the way to campus and back. Waseda was gated up and closed, but we still got to see it. There's one thing marked off the list.

Having someone who knows no Japanese really makes me see how long I have come in my language training. Just the ability to get around, ask directions, and even order food really makes me appreciate all the work I have put into studying.

Back at the hotel room I was given gifts from home. I would especially like to thank Pam and Dave Plummer for the freeze-vacuumed cookies. I would also like to thank everyone for the cards. I know you guys couldn't really get me anything, but that is alright. I will send some gifts home for everyone to enjoy (you could also give me some *hints* as to what you want ^_^). I also really liked all the pictures from the Christmas party. It looked like so much fun compared to what I did for Christmas. I had to make a photo in response to the one from Ed, Alysa, Logan, and Amira.



Merry Christmas!