We're here!

After a few hiccups like almost missing our connection in Amsterdam and then missing the bus into Tokyo making it another long 4 ½ hours before we got to our hotel- we finally arrived Saturday late afternoon. Sadly one of my bags did not. Hopefully it will come today though.

We didn’t do much yesterday in our jet-lagged state. I had slept about an hour and a half on the flight and passed out around 7pm on Saturday only to wake up at midnight and stay awake until 3am. Considering our “last night in Dublin” shenanigans only allowed me only 3 hours sleep on Friday night I wasn’t too interested in exploring Tokyo yesterday.

We did take a walk around the neighborhood. We’re kinda on the outskirts of everything, but it’s a nice area, close to a train station and there are tons of restaurants/shops. I love the food shops here so much! I couldn’t tell you what half of the items are but they look so interesting. I could stay in them for days just exploring all the colors and textures.

Everyone else arrived last night and it was great catching up over a few drinks in the lounge. I think we’ve got a pretty good group of people and I’m predicting a really nice end to our year here in Japan.

I’ve got a visitor of the French variety coming today on his way to Manila. I’m really looking forward to having someone to keep me awake for most of the afternoon. It is only 9:30am and I’m dying for a nap. I was actually up until midnight last night. I was oh so proud thinking I was totally going to get on schedule staying up so late. Oh so proud until I was awake at 4am this morning. At 5am I decided I should go to the gym instead of wake up Jules anymore. As suspected, this jet lag is going to probably kick my ass for a few days before easing up.

Jules left for her first day at the office and I’m praying her hours aren’t as crazy as they’ve been in Dublin. At least the commute is much shorter.

Oh, oh, oh…and I felt my very first earthquake yesterday. I was lying on the bed and started moving back and forth. I was like “what the what?” It continued for probably 20 seconds. It was weird, very mild and I don’t care to experience another one.

We’re staying this first weekend in Tokyo and I’m so excited I could pee in my pants! Sure I’m looking forward to seeing more of Tokyo, but the real excitement comes from knowing we’ll be living in the same hotel room for 13 whole days.

Amazing! We haven’t stayed in one place for longer than 5 days since early April. I was giddy yesterday unpacking every single little thing. I’m even thinking of maybe painting or changing the carpet. I mean 13 days? That’s like a long term rental right??

2 days in...

I suppose we were lucky to get here Sunday night. The volcanic ash was causing loads of headaches for loads of people Saturday. Many of the people on our flight to Paris had been victims of flight cancellations and had already had very long days. We were delayed a couple of hours and the adjusted flight pattern added almost 2 hours to our already long flight, but it could have been much worse.

For some reason I refused to sleep on the overnight flight. Although tired I just couldn’t do it. Instead I watched 4 movies. It amazes me how many movies I actually catch on planes. I suppose this is really the only way I even see new(ish) movies. I finally saw Invictus and if you haven’t you should. It made me miss being in South Africa, even with all limitations that came with living in the crime ridden Jo’berg, it was still my favorite rotation of last year.

I digress.

When we arrived in Paris we had to wait in an endless line just to be told what we already knew. We had missed our flight and missed the next flight available while standing in line. We’d have to wait another 6 hours before getting on the last flight to Tunisia.

All my concern about the country's conservative and religious views,about how we were dressed and being two lone women were put to rest immediately upon getting to immigration. We stood in line for a couple of minutes before the guys from the transportation service found us. It was about 80% tourists.

Jules says the client is very gracious and she’s enjoying the short commute. Our hotel is only a couple of blocks from the office and although it is sorely in need of a renovation, we have a lovely patio overlooking the lake. There are also quite a few restaurants in walking distance which will be nice and convenient. As long as they can find us a room with carpet that doesn’t look like livestock has been raised on it I think we’ll be okay here.

For some idiotic reason I somehow thought I could sleep without the aid of my jetlag buddy, Ambien, last night. I was so exhausted I thought surely I would be out for the night. Not so much. Goal for today and tomorrow is to get my sleep pattern under control. And hopefully these weird dreams I keep having will cease. This in turn will help my brain accomplish my writing goals and aid my body in accomplishing my gym goals. It is all about the sleep people.

pooped

3 continents in 9 days...hopefully this week my brain will start functioning at full speed and i can get caught up.

of course this will only happen when my body decides it shouldn't be waking up at 4am every single morning. oh jet lag, how i hate thee.