Tokyo

Well it was hard to believe that I went from catching the garder at a wedding to a high school visit in the western suburbs of Tokyo all within 24 hours (by the way, I think catching the garder means that I am going to be the next to marry...hmm, we'll have to see about that). Anyway I didn't sleep at all after the wedding and not much on the plane so by the time I arrived in Tokyo I was exhausted!!! I still had a 2 hour bus ride to my hotel. I barely made it to my room before I passed out.

On Tuesday I had two school visits to go to, the thing with Tokyo is that it is really expensive to take a taxi anywhere, rates start out at around 6 dollars, so I decided to take the metro. Tokyo has so many subway lines, the map looks like a jigsaw puzzle. I spent about 30 minutes staring at the map trying to figure out where to go before I even bought my ticket. It ended up taking about 2 hours to get to my first visit but i was able to get there on the first try without getting lost, so in the end I was definitely happy. By Wednesday, I had the metro down, and was able to get to my first visit within 30 minutes.

On Tuesday night I was able to go out with my friends mom for dinner in Tokyo. It was a really good place, kind of like a test kitchen of sorts, we had about 12 different courses of small dishes, maybe a piece of sushi, a bowl of a cold soup, abalone pudding, cooked fish, gingko beans and finally finished with beef. The beef was so good! It was cut up just like sushi into bite size pieces and with a little bit of wasabi on top it tasted phenomenal!

Unfortunately by the time I woke up on Wednesday I was sick. Not from the food or anything that I had eaten in Tokyo, but just because by now I was worn out from travelling and the lack of sleep. I was barely able to get through my visits before I passed out in my hotel room at 3p.m. It is now 5a.m. the next morning and I have finally woken up after a nice 14 hour sleep. I am feeling much better, my throat doesn't hurt nearly as much. My only regret is that I didn't get to have the sushi dinner that I wanted to have last night. I was just too exhausted and sick to get up. I hope next time I come I'll be able to have a good sushi dinner (I hear there is a decently good sushi restaurant in the terminal, if I find it I am going to get some, even if its only 10a.m.)

Well this was one of the shortest trips I have ever taken to the other side of the world and now I am on my way home. I will be back in Boston by Thursday afternoon eastern time. Unfortunately I only have about 2 days before I head back out to Nassau, Bahamas; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago. Keep a look out for more blog postings next week!

P.S. because I got sick I was unable to take any pictures of Tokyo, but it is by far one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been in. I really enjoyed the 10 minute walks from the subway station to the schools through suburban sections of Tokyo. Hopefully next time I will have more time to explore and take some pictures.

The languages of China

Today I finally realized that there are two languages in China, the main language being Mandarin and a new language that has been emerging over the past decade...auto better known as beeping (car horns).

While we may think it is against our better judgement to pull out in front of a tractor trailer, it tends to be a common practice in this society. With the sophisticated system of beeps cars can actually communicate with each other which allows them to use the rules of the road more as guidelines instead of the law, this can even allow them to drive the wrong way on a busy highway and not cause an accident.

The system is based on the one-beep, two-beep, short-beep, long-beep system, for instance if a driver beeps once it means that he is on your right or left and to watch out for him if you decide to switch lanes, two beeps means you are going to run into me back off! When multiple cars are beeping at you it means that you have broken a vital law of the communication system which usually is due to drivers who are not proficient in this very complex language.

The effect on the passenger of any taxi is the equivalent of a 45 minute workout or a loss of 10 years on your lifespan. Some people who are thrill seekers may like to bungee-jump or skydive, however for many a trip in a Chinese taxi far exceeds any thrill of skydiving. Add to it the inability to understand the second language in China (Mandarin) and you have one hell of an adventure, you truly put your life in the hands of the driver and in many cases you do not know if you will live to see your destination.

Beijing

Well Beijing is completely different from the last time I was here 2 years ago. On Sunday I was able to go see the Olympic Green which is massive! I spent over an hour and a half walking around and seeing the National Stadium (the Birds nest), National Aquatics Center, and the National Indoor Stadium. It was really cool to see the place that just held the olympics. Afterwards I was able to have my favorite Chinese dish Gong Bao Ji Ding.

Today it was pretty cold out but otherwise a beautiful day. I was able to visit a couple of schools and meet with a couple of students in the hotel. In the evening I went to dinner with the representative for Kaplan in Beijing. The food was really good, we had fish in a spicy sauce, sharks fin and sausage. All of it tasted so good and the amazing thing...IT WAS ALL TOFU!!!! Yep everything was made from tofu and it tasted so realistic, the fish by far was the best dish, but the sausage actually tasted like real sausage, not bad for tofu!

Tomorrow I am off to Tianjin for the day which should be fun, another ride on a bullet train. I'll update everyone before I leave Beijing.