Marroad International Narita

November 17, 2009<br><br><br><br>Good evening all!<br><br>Today was another rained out day. We sat in the break room reading, talking and laughing. Mel said on Saturday that he had emailed a friend that we were "three fat guys sitting around eating Japanese snakes!" (what he meant was Japanese snacks &#8211; we all got a kick out of that but I guess you had to be there) So ...

November 13, 2009<br><br><br><br>The past two days have been perfect Santa weather! Cloudy, cool with just a little breeze. Perfect! Yesterday was so fun. I spent the day seeing all sorts of people. It has always been fascinating to watch people and see what they do when they don't know they are being watched! Young couples who are just getting to know each other. Older couples who have love and laughed (or cried) together for many years. Families with kids, and maybe one on the ...

... But. I can&#8217;t meet you meny time on this year.<br><br>I try to find my dream now.<br><br> Everything is Study, Study, Study&#8230;<br><br>I don&#8217;t easy. But I try hard.<br><br>Everybody loves you .<br><br>It think about this greet is very hard.<br><br>Hope you sometimes need a rest and be careful ...

November 10, 2009<br><br><br><br>Today is my first day in the chair, visiting with children and others as Santa. I'm anxious to get to work and put on the costume and hair &#8211; I just hope it&#8217;s not too warm! Tomorrow we are supposed to have lots of rain so who knows what will happen then!<br><br>I went to lunch on Sunday with my friend, Yoshi Hanabusa who I have known since the first year. He took me to a great buffet with lots of ...

... padding is only used when the young boys (face-characters) play Santa in the parade. They took the pads out and, WOW, it was so much better.<br><br>The exciting part came after work! We we to the 100 Yen store (like our 99 cent store but better stuff!). I love the store and love to find things to decorate my apartment and stuff to fill my kitchen drawers and cupboards. Today I&#8217;m going back!<br><br>More later . . .

This year our fall trip to Japan is going to prove to be something a bit different. Instead of going to all of the usual spots that we've been to in all of our six other trips to this great country, we have chosen to take a tour of the deep south -- four days on the island of Okinawa.<br><br>First though, it is always an arduous plane trip from Regina. Usually we travel via Vancouver (and sometimes Calgary). This year was to be no different but our travel ...

... to get to the airport to fly to Tokyo via Shanghai. However, there was a storm in Shanghai so our plane was late, and yes, I arrived in Tokyo only to realize that all the buses and trains are gone and taxi is far too expensive, so I didn&#8217;t have any other options but to spend the night here in the corner of the airport with 12 Filipinos, leaving my already paid expensive hostel bed empty. Anyway, even if I haven ...

... is sore and its so cold its snowing). I ended up walking ahead of him because I just wanted to get to the top so I could go back down, but found that once I was by myself I was much calmer. I was able to appreciate the beauty of the snow covered rocks, the sound of the (albeit scary) monkeys in the bush, the noise of the deer trampling on the leaves, and even the steam coming out of my mouth (I still insist though that when you start breathing "smoke" while inside it is FAR too ...

... We nearly fell of the edge of the road (well its sure seemed like it) because it was narrow and had to make way for a truck beside a bridge underpass. We saw a 7-Eleven and squealed silently. lol. we later found out they DON'T have slurpee machines. :( i nearly bawled my eyes out. lol On the streets there were random drink vending machines everywhere. If they were in Australia - they wud all be smashed in and broken into. its a real shame. Arrived at ...

Northwest just re-opened the evening direct flight from Narita to Saipan. It avoids that annoying unloading and re-loading that happened in Nagoya on the other route and the plane is an A330, which has more comfortable seats and the individual entertainment systems throughout coach. Not that the entertainment system mattered since I slept through the whole flight after dinner.