Hello everyone! I arrived safely and made my way to the hotel; I'm headed to the Dojo very shortly, so I'll post a more detailed update later. For now, enjoy these pictures of the area near where I stayed!
The flight from Japan to the UK had one transfer in Beijing. This little initial flight was small enough that I mostly rested (it also didn't have electricity available for me to get work done). I remember that after the uchideshi experience I'd had, the plane seats did feel luxurious (as one friend said they would), and I did greatly enjoy the in-flight food and the general experiences of the flight. In Beijing, I had several hours of layover, so I spent the time walking around the airport, debating whether to buy a Chinese power converter so I could type/get work done, and getting work done on my phone (there were USB chargers). I also did the usual things--refilled my two water bottles, did some stretches, made sure I was at the right gate, etc. Since I didn't have data in China and the airport WiFi wasn't working, I had to wait until I landed in London to communicate with anyone. The airport was nice, and I did get a kick out of a sign by a fountain (...
Ah exile to the coffee shop again--poor me! Coffee, CHAIRS, and a power supply so I can type--it's a tough life. ;) In reality some parts of uchideshi life are tough here, and some are not--the last few days have been drastically more relaxed than any I've spent here so far, and as I round out three weeks here and am letting my knee recover, that is a welcome reprieve. This morning started like all mornings, with cleaning, but it was drastically later than usual at 8AM instead of 5:30AM. We ended up heading out with soshihan, but due to heavy rain we didn't get to hike a mountain with him. Instead, we road a train a little over an hour into the mountains and went into a traditional onsen (hot springs bath). It's a good thing that I've had several cultural experiences like this already, so being naked with a bunch of other guys (including soshihan) wasn't actually that weird. The hot water was also quite excellent for my bo...
I want to see a picture of the hotel. Did you rent a "sleeping pod" of some sort?!?
ReplyDeleteP.S. Glad you made it safely. I was wondering. :)