Travel Diary 4 - Always full of surprises

The latest adventure has been the trip from Portland to Japan a few days ago.

Initially scheduled to fly out on June 23rd, we arrived at Portland International Airport with 3 check-in suitcases and three bags of carry-ons. Fortunately, since we have been flying a lot for the last two years, we are silver and gold members with the airline and we get to line up at the priority section!!

Soon we find out that out flight was delayed for 3 hours. Grandma who gave us a ride to the airport had to leave right away for work, so three of us killed the 2 hours + 3 hours (delayed) at the airport. It is not a good thing to spend so much time at the airport with two little bored kids. We ended up buying ridiculous toys that we would normally purchase. Good for airport economy and bad for my wallet. Still they created a couple of happy kids.

At near 5 pm when we were scheduled to finally fly out, we boarded the plane and waited and waited. Finally announcement came explaining that the delay was caused by a mechanical problem and them trying to fix it. She kept on explaining that they thought they fix that with a new part, but the part turned out to be faulty; thus, the flight was canceled and no one was flying out today.

We deplaned, went to check-in counter to rebook. They created another flight to carry all of the passengers to Tokyo the following morning, since there was no way they could rebook all the full flight passengers to an existing flight. We were told to come back no later than 7 am next day with the original boarding passes. Those who don't have places to stay got hotels overnight.

We went home for another night. Slept and got up early to make it to the airport by 7 am. Thanks to grandma who gave us a ride to the airport again, we made it in time to only find out that the new flight was delayed again to 10:30 am...

We killed more time at the airport, this time mostly at the play structure. I was not about to spend more money on ridiculous toys at concourse. We boarded the plane and finally around 11:10 am we took off to Narita!

We, some of the passengers, got to know each other well since we saw each other two days straight. When we landed at Narita, cheering and clapping could be heard. We were happy to be finally arriving in Tokyo.

Then another road bump for me; 7 hour layover at Narita. We normally have 2 hour layover which is perfect with bathroom visit with two kids and getting to the next gate. Since our new flight from Portland arrived way too early and only flight to my home town is in the evening, we had to spend so much time at Narita.

We were in good spirits, checking out stores in the concourse, eating at Japanese McDonald, and play at the kids' area.
My oldest befriended with young couple who thought she was cute. When they walked away saying bye to her to catch their flight, she told me, "mommy, I think they are boyfriend and girlfriend..." So, I asked her, "Do you want to go on a trip with M (her favorite boy from her class) when you are older?" She answered, "Yes."

But, they only had so much energy to last. When we had only minutes to wait there, they fell asleep on the chairs.
Well, I want to give them A+ for being such good travelers.

So, about 24 hours later than originally planned, we made it to my parents' house. Totally exhausted, but the kids were happy to see grandpa and grandma.

Travel Diary 3 - Night Terror on Board

My youngest has had night terrors several times. Not frequent enough to bother us on daily basis or even weekly basis, but when it occurs, it seems to happen in the most inconvenient places.

Two of the times were on the plane.

The first time was on the plane coming back from Japan. Though most of the recent long distance travels have been just three of us (the girls and I), the first time of her night terror on board was when we were flying with my husband. She was 18 months old.

We took turns to console her toward the back of the aircraft where it seemed less bothersome to have a crying baby. A lot of people threw us sympathetic look as if it must be a typical thing to fly with a baby. It was unusual for her to have a night terror since she only had maybe 10 total in her short life time so far. This was about the time when we began to see the tendency of her night terror: it happens when she is extremely tired.

The second time was more difficult yet shorter. I was flying with the girls from Atlanta to Portland, and when the plane started to decent and prepare for landing, she started having a night terror. We had figured by then that her favorite tune/dvd sound seemed to break her free from night terror, however, all the electronics had to be put away for landing. We all had to be strapped in our seat, no electronics allowed, and a screaming 3-year-old. One young guy sitting in front of me kept turning as if he was checking to see if I was torturing her!!

So, she kept screaming and crying with her eyes shut for the rest of the flight about 20 minutes, and then as soon as the lights were turned back on after landing, she was broken free from the spell like nothing happened. The passengers looked pretty relieved to arrive the destination safely, but more relieved to have relief from the screaming child.

When I went through this, I felt like I can get through any incident on board. Once, I was vomited on by my oldest daughter when she was a little over a year old. Well, traveling with kids can be very eventful, but later in life, we can always tell those stories as a fond memory.

(Positive thinking in effect!!!)

New Avid Reader

I was not much of a book reader in high school though I remember I went to library weekly with my mom and borrowed a few books at a time.

When I finished college here in US and I no longer had to read textbooks which took a lot longer than most native speakers would, I started reading books mostly on my commute in the bus. I love fiction mostly, but also tried biography, history etc.

Another break from reading after having babies. Just too tired to read something long enough to remember story and characters. Now the youngest is 3, I started reading again about a year ago when I realized that I had more time to myself.

My Japanese friends who come and visit our place are surprised to see my books because those are in English. Most of my Japanese friends still read books in Japanese though they live here in US. For some reasons, I feel more comfortable reading in English though I still pick some books and read them in Japanese occasionally. I would say 95% of my books are in English.

I even read English books translated in English. One of my favorite authors is Haruki Murakami, but I have not yet read his book in Japanese!

So, I realized this is something I should try: Read my favorite Japanese authors in Japanese and see how I feel different about them.

The first to try is a book called "Out" by Natsuo Kirino. I recently got hooked on another book of hers called "Grotesque", wanted to read another one, and bought "Out" in English at Powell's. Then, my friend who saw "Grotesque" in English at my place lend me "Out" in Japanese thinking I might be interested.

Now I have two "Out", US version and Japanese version. I will be curious to see what I feel about the books when I read them.
Soon, I will try Murakami, too.