January 2007 Archives

Since our return from Nagoya, Jerry has been on a radically different clock. To make matters worse, Eriko is on a slightly different clock. The net result is that Jerry wakes up several times during the night and Eriko is often too tired to take care of him without my support.

The net net is that I'm averaging less than 6 hours of sleep (probably more like 4). I've done my best not to take any naps so that my schedule stays on Seattle time. I'll probably have to throw that goal out the window, although I'm not very good at taking naps. Right now, there's a lump in my throat the size of a marble and I have aches and pains all over. Oh no!

We returned from Nagoya on Wednesday. The flight was long - we woke up in Nagoya about 7 AM, arrived at the airport about 10:20, and boarded our first flight about 11:30. We went first to Narita, where we changed planes and had about 30 minutes before boarding our next flight. Narita is a real pain to travel through these days - you have to go through an additional security checkpoint whenever you transfer between flights and it is always crowded. The flight from Narita lasted about 9 hours. We had expected Jerry to have a poor flight (as the way over he had some trouble) but he actually did quite wonderful. He fell asleep right after take-off and slept for a few hours. Then he woke up and we had to dedicate some attention to him, but he didn't get upset and we were able to keep him happy. The airline baby food meal was actually quite good and Jerry ate a lot. He fell asleep again for a few hours, although this sleep was a little more restless as he was getting quite hot.

We landed in Portland and had about two hours to go through customs and transfer planes. This time we were on a tiny little Dash turbo-prop. Jerry again did wonderful and he and Eriko slept for the 45 minute flight to Seattle. We landed in Seattle about 9:30, quickly collected our bags, and boarded our Super Shuttle. Ultimately, we arrived at our condo about 10:20. Eriko made a quick meal of ramen and after eating, I took a shower. Jerry was quite upset by all the turmoil and he didn't seem to recognize the house at all. I was sorely needed at work and so I went into work about noon and ended up working the rest of the day, eventually staying up 36 hours straight. Whew - we are home.

I am sitting in the hotel room, which I will soon leave. My ride to the airport doesn't happen until 4 PM and I have to check out of the hotel at noon. I'll ask the staff if they'll keep my luggage so I can walk around downtown, but failing that I'll just wait in the hotel lounge.

This was the best trip to Moscow I've had so far. There were several factors:

1. Eriko was in Nagoya, where she had the full support of her family.
2. I was able to see Eriko & Jerry every day using video Skype.
3. I came here alone. That gave me lots of personal time (mainly spent working on my own computer projects in the hotel room - I facilitated a dramatic increase in the amount of spam the family receives.) I typically went to bed on a relatively light stomach (instead of being stuffed) and not drunk. Riding the metro by myself was a nice feeling of accomplishment.
4. Dmitry dedicated lots of time to me. He picked me up at the airport, we spent the Monday touring, we had lunch together every day, he gave me rides to the hotel several times, and we went out to dinner on Thursday.

Nontheless, I wasn't very brave on this trip. I typically ate breakfast in the hotel, except one day when I ventured across the street - although I enjoyed feeling more independent, the restaraunt was a poor choice. I went to the supermarket on the first day and only that day; I certainly could have saved the company a little money by purchasing a few items. Finally, with the exception of the time I spent with Dmitry, I went directly to work and came directly back - my free time was almost exclusively spent in my hotel room.

Granted, the weather in Moscow is cold, windy, wet, and grey - so it wasn't like there was a real incentive to go outside. In addition, the streets of Moscow are very dirty and there is very little English written or spoken - so being a tourist alone isn't a trivial under-taking. Those excuses aside, on my next visit I will certainly be more compelled to get out and discover this city of 10 million.

It started at 5 AM. All my items were downstairs in the entrance, so Eriko and I spent some quiet time together before heading down. The "airport limousine" (shuttle van) was right on time - 5:30. It picked up three other passengers, although I wasn't awake for the last one. We arrived at Japan's Central Airport about 6:30 - plenty of time to make my 8 AM flight. I waited for about 15 minutes in the check-in line for ANA. After I arrived at the counter, I found out my flight had been cancelled! The airline refunded the ticket and gave me instructions for taking the shinkansen to Narita. Of course, those instructions had me boarding a train that left in 10 minutes! I hurried to find the train station and bought myself a ticket to Nagoya Station. That was no problem. The instructions, however, said that I should take the shinkansen which left at 7:58 - but the first train didn't arrive at Nagoya until 7:49. Alas, I could have purchased the entire trip at the CentralAir station but did not - so despite rushing through Nagoya Station at high speed (with my luggage), I missed the desired shinkansen since I had to wait in line to buy tickets.

The next one came a mere 15 minutes later, but it forced me to take the next Narita Express train (which only runs once an hour.) I called Eriko and let her know that I was boarding the shinkansen and I would call her again if I made the plane. I settled down for a smooth 2 hr shinkansen ride. The nice thing about the delay between the shinkansen and the Narita Express was that it took about 15 minutes to find the platform - Tokyo Station is very big and I had to walk quite a ways. Once there, I had 30 minutes to kill. On the Narita Express, I was starting to get pretty nervous. The anticipated arrival time at Narita Terminal 2 was 11:56 and my plane departed at 13:00. However, for the first time in my experience, the train was late! It didn't arrive at the terminal until about 12:10. I was rushing... I had to go through a passport check and up 3 escalators, around some curves ... I made my way to the Aeroflot check-in counter and saw a line of people with bags! Luckily, they weren't waiting for Aeroflot and I was checked-in in just a matter of minutes.

I had about 10 minutes until the plane started boarding (at 12:30) so I didn't lolly-gag; I went through immigration very quickly (they were very efficient) and was soon at the gate. As the plane started boarding I bought a few souvenirs for my friends in Moscow and gave Eriko a call.

On the plane, a Boeing 767-300, I sat in an aisle seat in the center - and there was nobody in the middle seat! How nice. Aeroflot was interesting; the seats, cushions, cups, etc. all share the blue and orange color scheme - I didn't expect that. The service was nice, the food was decent, and the flight wasn't too bumpy. I watched several episodes of Star Trek and took a nap. We arrived in Moscow after about 10 hours of flying time, at approximately 5:30 PM. I made my way through immigration without much delay and collected my bags.

Dmitry was waiting for me outside customs and we walked to his car. He didn't want to pay the parking fee so he parked outside of the lot; I had to wait a few minutes for him to retrieve his car. We caught each other up on the holidays and work on the way to Tverskaya Hotel. He dropped me off, made sure that I was checked in OK, and arranged to meet me tomorrow at 10.

I settled into my room, unpacked, had a beer, and then realized I didn't have any toothpaste. I needed to pick up my passport from the front desk anyway (the Russian government requires registration) and I decided to check out the fitness center on my way down to the lobby. The fitness center was nice -- too bad I didn't bring any workout clothes. I picked up my passport and headed outside. I tried to enter an ATM (the machines are enclosed and the card opens the outer door) but it didn't work. A Russian asked me for directions before realizing I couldn't understand him. I wandered down the street to the "most-expensive supermarket in Moscow" (according to Dmitry.) I figured they would take plastic - and I was correct. I just wanted toothpaste, but I didn't know if they had some minimum purchase limit on credit cards and didn't want to have to deal with the communication barrier - so I also purchased instant coffee and milk.

I didn't know where to check-out... the kind security guard (they have them everywhere) gave me some curt instructions in Russian and with some hand movements, I found my way to the cashier... and then I didn't know how to leave. Again, my friend (the security guard) directed me back to where I was and I located the exit sign. On the way back to the hotel, I tried another ATM machine and it worked - not only that, but they had a menu in English! (The last time I was in Moscow, we guessed at the menus.) I retrieved 3000 rbls (about $110) and soon I was back in my hotel room. I spent some time on the computer and now it is time for bed.

This year's resolutions are focused on health - emotion, mental, and physical. Hopefully these resolutions are all measured and attainable.

• JLPT: Level 3 (1409 words, 284 kanji)
• Smaller waist (awaiting initial measurement)
• Running and/or swimming at least twice per week
• At least two hours of exercise per week
• One diary entry per week.