Lost

Forget the "in translation" part - just lost.

Nobody ever said travel would be easy. But it is interesting. This morning I was up and out of the hotel by 7am. At the Singapore airport I wound up having to repack 3 times because my bag was so heavy - all books, I swear. Fine, you got me ... shoes. When I finally checked in I was nailed with a middle seat. Great.

After boarding I realized I was in another kid zone. I think it's just from talking about kids on flights so much with Molly and Kristin.

Once I arrived in Japan, I realized I had no clue what to do. Nil. I went to take money and as I figured the exchange rate at 113:1 I etlt anxious punching in the amount to withdraw.

Then the real adventure - the train. Apparently taxis in Japan are very expensive - ala around $300usd to get to the hotel. Once I had ticket in hand, it hit me ... I ... was about ... to take the train.

Sitting on the train the first thing I did was glance to find English words - anywhere. I looked at the seat numbers for a bit and then my eyes settled on the scrolling red light flashing city names where the train would make stops. A few I recognized vaguely, and then Hiroshima scrolled across the screen. My heart stopped - a moment of sorrow.

Finally reaching the hotel at 8:30pm I called Srini - my Japan safety net. Srini's wife just had a baby and, when he picked up the phone, he proclaimed "OK, they say I've been in the hospital too much. Let's go to dinner." And so it is - 9pm and about to go to dinner. At home I'm usually in bed watching my second Law and Order of the evening about to go to sleep.