Most of the people I run into all ask me, "Eh, I heard you went to Japan by yourself. You wasn't scared?" Granted there were times when I was really worried because I thought I was lost & had no way to get ahold of anyone, but other than that, no. Granted it's not like traveling between the islands or even to the continent, which I've done by myself countless times, but it isn't that bad. Your butt hurts after sitting for 8+ hours sometimes, but at least you have the opportunity to catch up on sleep. I normally go when it's the end of Fall season & turning into Winter, so it's a bit chilly. That's fun, especially since I like the cold. The foods super good & it's a lot of fun going shopping cause they have awesome electronics (I'm sure you've seen some of it on tv).
I guess it helps that I'm stupid gutsy. I figure things out by myself, or ask questions when I'm not 100% sure, especially considering I'm in another country where I don't speak a lick of the language. Plus, I knew I would be with people I've already met before, who, by the way, eventually taught me a few words & phrases. This last time, though, I had to stay at a hotel by myself, which wasn't so bad if you don't mind sleeping in a closet. At least I had my own bathroom & it was quiet, plus they have crazy funny commercials & tv shows, so I can't complain. The part where the stupid gutsy comes into play now.. I told the girls (the ones who were supposed to be taking care of me) they didn't need to pick me up from my hotel anymore, I'd go to my classes by myself. They were shocked & worried, but I told them no.
Whenever I emailed my mom, I'd tell her I was traveling around by myself, & she'd just laugh cause she knows I'm like that. I crave independance after a while. But she did commend me for being so "gung ho" cause she wouldn't do that if she were me. Not in no foreign country. It was nice being able to come & go as I please, not be bound by having to be at a certain place at a certain time (other than for class times) & making sure I got off at this station, wait for so-&-so to get me, blah blah blah. This last trip, however, was a bit more special since my mom & some others were coming up. I'd been there for over 3 weeks, so it was nice to see some Polynesian faces. It was also really nice to hear pidgin. Ah, so comforting. Plus it was just plain nice to have my mom.
Then the next day, boom, I get sick. Ugh. I caught the flu from one of the girls I had been staying with. Some of the others were sick too, so I'm sure that added to it. I think it was made worse from jumping back & forth between the cold (outside) & super heated (the trains, the subway, inside stores & restaurants, etc). Luckily my mom had brought some meds, so at least I had semi relief in the form of codeine. Lovely. Knocked out for two days straight. I was already tired, so it didn't even phase me that I was sleeping for 2-3-4 hours at a time. And thank you Japan for having a 7-11 or Sunkus on every block cause I always had halls & juice in my room or in hand. Plus they have vending machine everywhere! Including in my hotel (even though that one sucked cause it didn't have much variety). But I still had fun. Why?
Cause we went to "the happiest place on earth"! Yeah, okay, so I was hella grouchy & nauseated, but at least I rode everything! Plus I got to buy some Winnie the Pooh stuff (That made me happy). The rest of the trip went on with me dragging my butt around, hanky & cough drops in tow, minus all the hugging & kissing on the cheek from the hundreds of screaming Japanese girls who were hanging on every word & movement I made, who were now asking, "Mahine-chan oh-k?", but there still was work that needed to be done before the trip was through. Then we had 2 parties to go to. One is pretty much just a blur cause I was still hazy. The other one went off with me not knowing there was alcohol in my juice until I had tanked 5 or 6 glasses. My sister was already drunk by the time we figured it out. Drunk, Under-age, & in another country.. How fun!
The next morning it was off to Thailand! Who knew I'd go to Bangkok? One of the lady's from Japan came with us, & she'd been there tons of times before, so she knew what it was like. Yikes. Besides the slums, filth, stench, traffic, & crazy tourists hitting on Thai girls (whom, *uh hem*, it was obvious were not all "girl"), it was actually pretty fun. Before my mom them came to Japan, the lady was asking me questions, like if I'd researched about Thailand & if I knew what I wanted to do. She told me think about one thing I wanted to do, & she'd tell everyone else to do the same, then we'd all go & do these things together. Ha!, sure! I decide I wanna ride an elephant. Come to find out, the elephants are in the North, we were in the South, & getting there would be a 3 hour flight. BOO.
What's my next choice? Snakes. I wanna see one & I definitely wanted to hold one, or at least touch one. The lady practically faints cause she hates snakes. So of course she didn't wanna go to that. Aunty didn't really wanna do anything but just hang out. "Warden" was infatuated with getting a real Thai massage & checking out the different types (they had some kind of milk one that set him off), so he wasn't into it. "Meary" was infatuated with meeting all these dudes he met online (let's not even go there with that one). & my mom was like, "My crazy daughter wants to play with snakes, ohhh-kay, let's go find some snakes then." I guess she thought it would kill my fascination with wanting to own one. Nope. I think it made it worse. Heh. I got to hold one big bugger, so that made my trip. Plus the heat helped me get over the flu.
I feel blessed that I was able to travel so much, but I did, however, semi recently make some drastic changes in my life & did decide to cut ties with something & someone who was very important to me. It's because of that, I thought I wouldn't be going back to Japan for a while, except if I paid for it myself. But recently my super close friend told me he'll be sending me back to teach his classes for him. He's gonna get super busy soon, so he wants to send someone he trusts & knows can cover. Plus it helps I kindda know my way around & I do know people there incase I need help. I already know he trusts me, but to trust me enough to let me cover these classes for him is beyond belief right now. & to know he believes in me so much that he's sending me with no restrictions & he's literally telling me to do whatever comes up, now that's something else.
I'm used to being told, "Do this. Do that. Don't do this. Don't do that. You have to, You have to, You have." There's literally a light that's been turned on & I'm realizing things didn't need to be the way they were. The grass really is greener! I don't regret anything that happened, but now knowing that things can be so much better, so much simpler, so much happier, I can never see myself going back to the way things were. I cherish the memories I have, appreciative the opportunities I was given, but I'm a hundred times more excited about the future. I thank my Kupunas for bringing me to my senses.
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