By now I’ve had a few days back at my job, and I’m getting back into the groove over here. I’ve been welcomed back by a few students, and I’ve unpacked at least half of the boxes that had been stored at friends’ houses.
But I’m not going to talk about that. I’m going to briefly summarize my first four days back in Takaoka, where I was still on vacation.
This is a post, probably first of many, where I don’t feel like writing, but I made that once-a-week commitment, so we’re doing it anyway. Ignore my lack of enthusiasm – I’m actually quite happy to be back. When I heard about Omicron, I felt really glad to have returned in time to not have to deal with the repercussions of that. I have two close friends who have already had to cancel Christmas travel plans because of it.
So here’s the timeline of my return to Takaoka.
On Thursday morning, day 10 of my quarantine, I was able to walk to a clinic to take a PCR test. By 5:30PM of the same day, I got my negative results and submitted them to the Japanese government. About an hour later, they told me that my quarantine would end at midnight.
On Friday, I packed my things and started my journey back to Toyama. I walked a few kilometers to the nearest train station with a heavy backpack and a heavier rolling suitcase in tow.
I got on the train at the platform suggested by Google Maps. I waited a few stops before starting to get paranoid that I was on the wrong train. I tried to read the “next stop” chart but didn’t have confidence in my Japanese. I got off at the 6th stop and asked a station attendant. I nodded and said “Hai, wakarimashita. Arigatou gozaimasu” even though I didn’t understand anything he said. I found another station attendant who looked like she would speak slowly, asked again, and was able to ascertain that I had been on the right train after all. I dragged my suitcase back to the platform, hopped on, and continued to Tokyo Station.
That sounds silly, but it’s not the first time I’ve done something, and it certainly won’t be the last. I got my father’s sense of direction.
At Tokyo Station, I bought a shinkansen ticket back to Takaoka. The attendant warned me that the train was very full, and I would have to get a middle seat, rather than a coveted window seat or a convenient aisle seat. However, when I got onto the train, I ended up being in the last row of the car, which means it’s super easy to get to, and there’s no one behind you, so you can lean your seat back as far as you want. Plus, the people to my left and right both hopped on about 30 minutes into the 3-hour train ride and hopped off when we were still 30 minutes from Takaoka. Nice.
From Shin-Takaoka station, I took a 3-minute walk to a local train stop and waited about 3 minutes for a train to come. I saw a rainbow. The final train ride was also 3 minutes. Kazu met me at Takaoka station.
I dropped my bags off at the Manten Hotel, which was about – you guessed it – 3 minutes from the station, and went for ramen. It was great.
Then I went to visit my friend who runs a cafe. I had the Christmas blend.
After that, Kazu had to go back to work, and I was getting sleepy. I made good use of the steam room and massage chair in my hotel spa and then went to sleep early.
The next morning was a Japanese-style hotel breakfast, followed by an online Japanese lesson and then a walk to the nearest shopping center. It has a rooftop garden, but it was raining that day, so there wasn’t much of a view.
At night, I met up with my coworkers, and we ate Chinese food. I walked around town handing out souvenirs (mostly coasters, stickers and shot glasses) to my favorite bartenders and anyone I happened to run into.
We stayed out a little late, so I missed breakfast the next morning, but I made up for it by going to grab sushi. I also got the hotel to give me later checkout time so I could attend my online book club meeting while I waited for my next hotel to be ready. (I moved because I wanted to try staying at both of the top 2 hotels in my city).
The room was much better than the first one. On the left, I had a view of the most famous man-made landmark in the prefecture, which is the Daibutsu, or big Buddha statue. On the right, I had a view of the Tateyama mountain range.
That night, Kazu and I had shabu-shabu, or hot pot, in the hotel’s Japanese restaurant.
It had a variety of different vegetables and mushrooms and the most tender beef you could ever find. It was really excellent.
The next day, a friend from the next city over came into town. We went shopping, and at night we went to an all-you-can-drink karaoke bar. It was fun, but I drank a little too much. I almost missed breakfast again, but it was a buffet, so I made myself get up about 15 minutes before it started.
That afternoon, I got the keys to my apartment from my manager and started moving in. The next day, I was back at work, and now here I am.
Thanks for listening to this brief update 🙂
Alisa
Alisa & a Visa 