Hoping lightning doesn't strike twice in the same day

It's 11:19am (PST) on Wednesday, January 5th and I'm currently sitting in the Vancouver airport. I was supposed to be on a plane to Tokyo by now but thanks to my colossal bad luck I realized late last night that my direct flight from Toronto to Tokyo was listed as being delayed by FOUR HOURS.

This was a huge problem since it pushed the scheduled arrival time to 19:10 but the last possible Narita Express train (to Tokyo Station) that I could take to catch the last train to Towada was the 18:15. And I already had tickets purchased. (Once a train has left you're pretty much out of luck and just have to buy a new ticket--no sympathy for situations beyond a traveler's control...)

On calling to inquire whether I'd be able to receive any compensation for the new train tickets I'd have to buy after missing the last possible train out to Towada, I learned that since the delay was due to mechanical problems I had a slim chance of being able to make a claim. (If it was a weather delay I'd be out of luck.)

After that call ended, I thought, maybe I can get re-booked onto a flight to Vancouver and then Tokyo! So I called Air Canada yet again and found out that there was space on the flight to Tokyo, but no seats on the flights to Vancouver (from Toronto).

Following a couple of calls to Japan (to see if I was completely out of luck with the train tickets or if I could cancel them from Toronto and get some money back), inspiration hit: could I go on standby to Vancouver?

So I called Air Canada for the third time in less than two hours and confirmed that it was indeed a possibility.

The tricky part was that even if I got the flight from Vancouver, I'd have a very small margin for delays. The Vancouver flight was scheduled for 13:55 and would arrive at 17:25--giving me a mere 50min to get through customs and to the train. (On a good day I can get off the plane and be out of customs in 30min but with my luck recently...)

Anyway, I figured better to take the chance of being able to catch the train rather than waiting for the delayed flight which would give me no chance at all. (My dad also had an experience where a mechanical delay ultimately ended up getting the flight canceled so he had to go back home and try again the NEXT DAY!!)

So I re-packed my bags so I wouldn't have any checked luggage--only carry-on--and then my poor dad had to take me to the airport around 5am!

I managed to get onto the 7am flight to Vancouver on standby. Once I got on that flight they were supposed to try to check me into the 10am flight to Tokyo but since it was a special/added flight (AC2003) I guess they made a mistake and put me on the regular AC003 (13:55) flight instead.

Unfortunately I didn't know that so when the flight arrived in Vancouver at 9:38 I nearly killed myself running to the absolute farthest international gate (for future reference going from a domestic flight to international gate D63 in less than 20min is VERY painful--particularly carrying bags). I made it just before 10am (9:56 or so?) and only found out at the gate that I was actually checked in for the later flight.

Not that I'm complaining because before this morning I hadn't even known about the 10:00 flight and had been planning to take the 13:55 flight originally anyway, but I really wish they had told me that when I got onto the 7am flight to Vancouver so I wouldn't have had to kill myself running through the airport....

But anyway, I'm extremely grateful to Ms. LG who was at the AC ticket sales desk in Toronto this morning. I know it was a lot of hassle to re-route me and I suspect that since it wasn't an emergency (family illness, connecting flight, wedding, etc.) other staff might have just said: "Tough luck, wait it out." But she was really helpful and I'm definitely going to email AC to tell them how thankful I was/am for her help. (I'm pretty quick to complain about poor service, so I figure it's only fair to praise good service as well.)

Now I'm just waiting an hoping that lightning (i.e. delays) won't strike me twice in the same day and that I'll be able to catch trains to get home "tonight" (Thursday) as originally planned.

Must resist...

I first learned about Shinzi Katoh in the spring of my first year in Japan. My parents, Brenda & Ceci were spending a couple of days in Tokyo and there happened to be a mini Shinzi Katoh fair going on in the Ginza Mitsukoshi.

There was so much stuff that I wanted, but I limited myself to a bag, an aluminum water bottle, and two "clear" files:

My friend lives next door. A boy has a black rabbit. A girl has a white rabbit.

 

I went shopping with my neighbor.

We bought black&white rabbits, a big-eared monkey and three pigs.

I got a hairstyle like a mouton when I went to the hair salon today.

I've also seen a variety of Shinzi Katoh mugs, teapots, etc. in various stores but have always managed to resist the temptation to purchase any for myself...

But then recently I had the urge to check out the Shinzi Katoh Collection Online Shop (there's also an English site). Probably not the smartest idea since Christmas is around the corner and I have ZERO presents purchased so far, but now all I can think about is how much I want to get a mug for myself (or two or three or...) !!

The only thing saving me from spending a ridiculous amount of money ironically is that there's such a huge selection available that I can't decide what to buy! =P I know that I want a cafe mug (it has a small dish for candy, etc. that stacks on top), but there are three different types to choose from--"upside down" "ボミ(bomi)" and "ワイド(wide)"--not to mention the "ダンダンマグ(Dan Dan Mug)" which is pretty much the same thing except the dish stacks on the bottom rather than the top. And of course within each category of mug there's a variety of designs to choose from as well.

The "upside down" mug seems the most practical, since it has a small cup that can be used as either a cup or a candy, etc. dish.

 

In particular, I like the "murmur" design.

But the "bomi" style has a really cute set of  bunny characters - "Oui."

 

But the "wide" style has some fairy tale themed mugs which of course call to the book lover in me. I particularly like the "Snow White(白雪姫) - poison apple" one.

In terms of overall cuteness, though, the Dan Dan mugs really call to me with their bright colours and super cute animals. I love the giraffe and monkey and pig and...

Apart from the cafe mugs, there are also a bunch of different mugs with lids. It'd be perfect to use during the summer at Kirita when tons of flies are around... There's the basic "ノンラップ(non-wrap)" type with the plastic(?) snap on lid, and the slightly funkier "Facile" style.

Then too there's the Paint Club Mug Set which is just a regular set of mugs, but has really cute characters and gives you 5 mugs for the price of ~3 of any of the other ones I've mentioned so far...

And finally there's the "Tea for Two" series which is a stackable set of two mugs plus a teapot! Again, super super cute!! I like the "ソラベア (Sora Bear)" one--and I also happen to have ordered the picture book (illustrated by Shinzi Katoh, of course!) recently, so...

Wah! Too many choices and not enough money!! Oh well. I'm definitely not going to order anything (for myself at any rate) until the new year because, as I said earlier, Christmas is coming up and I need to "save" my money for buying presents!

Maybe it's time...?

Recently I've been wondering if I should finally learn how to use make-up properly.

For one thing it's rather embarrassing that at my age I still have to ask someone to do my make-up for me for Nihonbuyo performances.

But really the main reason is that I'm starting to think that it would be the best way to make myself look older...

At the Kaminari Daiko nijikai (the after party--lit. second party--following the wedding of one of the group members) a member who hasn't really been around since I joined the group was shocked when I answered his question re: my age. He told me that he thought I looked like a high school student! @_@ (A step up from being mistaken for a junior high school student--which happened in October--I suppose, but still...)

And earlier this month, a regular taiko member made a comment about how he would leave re-tying the taiko strings to us "young people"--even though I'm actually 6 years older than him! (Since he's only 21 he must have thought I was 20 or younger?)

It's flattering if people think I still look like I'm in my early rather than late 20s, but somehow it doesn't really make me happy to be mistaken for a teenager...

I was used to people getting my age wrong back in Canada because Chinese/Japanese/Korean people generally look a lot younger than their actual age. But I rather figured that in Japan people would be able to guess my age fairly accurately... So I'm thinking it's the fact that I don't use any make-up that throws people off.

But the thing with make-up is that it's expensive and it takes time to apply. Since I'm really not a morning person, finding even an extra two minutes in the morning is really really difficult for me. Plus I get the impression that make-up is one of those things that you have to keep using once you start using it routinely--meaning it'll become a regular expense. And quite frankly I'd rather spend the money on books/manga/eating out, etc.

Guess I'll just have to put up with being mistaken for a student until I (naturally) start looking more like my actual age.

More "fun" with English

Here are some other recent gems from English class:

From a third year dialogue activity. There are two pictures: 1) Ken is reading a comic book with his notebook open in front of him and his English textbook on the desk; 2) his mother comes in with cake; the comic book is peeking out from his now closed notebook and Ken is holding his English textbook upside down.

Students had to choose from a selection of responses to fill in [correct answers here]. Then students had to write original sentences to finish the skit:

Ken: Just a minute.
Mother: Here's some cake. Are you studying hard?
Ken: [Yes, of course.]
Mother: Really? What subject are you studying?
Ken: [I'm studying Japanese... I mean, English.]
Mother: What's that in your notebook?

Ken: Oh my god!
Mother: You are [a] bad boy and fool!

Ken: This is my friend.
Mother: I'm sad to hear that.

=D I was particularly impressed with the originality of the latter ("I'm sad to hear that").

Then, today the second grade students got their Unit 5 tests back. For one of the questions they had to write original sentences using the pattern: "I think that [friend's name] likes [something]." I'm not sure if these answers (emphases are mine) are so much funny as mildly disturbing....

I think that [friend's name] likes little boys.
I think that [friend's name] likes little girls.

@_@;;