Just Beginning to Reflect on Japan and the Philippines

I am writing for the first time in a while on February 8, 2009 -- China time. What an incredible adventure, cultural submersion, time of connecting with friends on a deeper level, spiritual experience, etc., this past two weeks has been.

I will be processing things over time, it isn't going to happen all in this one blog. The journey began in Tokyo. I missed the women's conference that I was planning to attend because I had been so engrossed in President Barack Obama's inaugeration stateside that I forgot to turn my inner clocks back to China time and I missed my plane -- literally. Fortunately I missed only the week-end and was able to get into Tokyo on Sunday the 25th of January.

Tokyo was a culture shock. Everything was orderly. I had no problem claiming my baggage, getting a ticket on an airport shuttle and reaching my destination of the ANA Continental Hotel. From there a Japanese man helped me flag a taxi. The next shock was the taxi and the traffic. The taxi had a Global Positioning System. The driver was able to precisely locate where I was going and once we arrived he was kind enough to make sure I got to the correct gate -- I kind of felt like his daughter for a few seconds. Traffic was amazing -- people stopped at the red lights and did not create lanes. It was not traumatic -- I knew that I would survive. When I arrived at the guest house and my room for the next few days I was so excited -- it was clean, there was no peeling paint -- the bathroom was a pre-fab unit and was very nicely put together. Not fancy, but clean and inviting. There was a heating unit on the wall and that had me really worried (my heating units in China don't do much heating) -- but this little tiger had the apartment warmed up in no time. It was very cozy -- I even had a little kitchen with burner and frig.

More to come....