Saturday, October 30, 2004



Today is the funeral, Canada time.

But it is Halloween Japan time. Now if you are superstitious person this could be interesting. Halloween is basically the day that the dead world gates open and the spirits tend to return and visit - not always for the best. If you are one of those deep thinkers this could actually be a good sign as Rick's path will be clear and there will be lots of family to help him on his way. The funeral home will be packed with family and friends both alive and dead. There will be some interesting vibes floating around.

I can see Alisha now ( probably making both grandfathers hang their heads and shake ) with purple hair, probably back combed, with odd coloured tips. Her dress is probably close to her prom dress - white ivory crochet of some sort. Seeing as it is Halloween she would have to arrive in style.
Hehehhe

Ya

So yesterday it POURED rain and after my morning English class I spent the entire day pouring over the visa papers. They are starting to come together. I have to do some more work tonight and a bunch of photocopying at work tomorrow.

On Friday Li and I headed out to Tokyo to do my passport and his medical exam.
Have I ever mentioned that I really do NOT like Tokyo.
Too big ? Too dirty ? Too dry ? Too DAMN big!
And the subways, ugh! The subways are great and a wonderful means of transportation but there are way toooooo many of them. We got to Tokyo station in good time. We actually caught a Hikari Shinkansen train which means we cut 30 minutes off of our time. BUT then we had to find the right train line and find the actually damn train to get to the Canadian Embassy.
An Embassy which was of course only open from 9:30 to 11:00!!!! I was very worried about the time factor. To make it worse there was not a direct train to the stop that we needed, we had to transfer. This meant a 10 odd minute walk to the next train and a different line and more headaches for me as the time was QUICKLY ticking away.
We found the Embassy and I would like to add that I know where my tax dollars were spent.
We didn't get there until 10:30!!
I had to get the lady there to sign as my guarantor which required more papers to fill out. I was thankfully over prepared and had no problems with anything. All papers were signed stamped and expensively paid for. The lady kept looking at me in awe and finally went ? You are the most prepared person to ever come here EVER?. I took this as a complement. We finished at 11:05. phew.

I would also like to say that the Canadian Embassy was probably the strangest design for a building I have ever been in. Artistically it was very nice ? there were water gardens and rock gardens and an overall pleasing design but the office part was, well, odd. You walked up to the front and took a glass covered escalator to the fourth floor. You then took an elevator DOWN to the third floor for passports, DOWN again to the second floor for visa and DOWN again for something else, but had to go back UP to the fourth floor to get out.
VERY ODD!

We then had to head to the doctors office. Li?s appointment was not until 1:30 so we had lots of time but decided it would be safest if we went first to the subway station close to the office and then find somewhere to eat near there.
I found WENDY'S!!!! We don?t have one out my way and I made Li go in for a chicken burger and a baked potato. You have to be away from these little things for a long time to understand why going to Wendy's is such a big deal. Hmmmm Heaven. I didn't?t get a Frost, ? I was real full.
We then went meandering around heading in the general direction of the office. We actually found it no problems and discovered a huge temple in the process called To???????ji something or other temple.
It was free and quiet.
There was an interesting stone thing of Buddha feet and a tall Buddha statue.



It was also seconds away from Tokyo tower, which it turned out the doctors office was directly opposite from.


There was also this ugly scraggly ever green tree with this expensive plaque beside it stating that the tree had been planted by the great George Bush during his visit to the temple a year or two ago. THIS MADE ME LAUGH! I would like to say that this tree is dying. Half the branches had turned a very obvious brown and it was looking pretty sickly. I took this all as a good sign. Heheh
Anyway, there were some very disturbing and add statues on the other side. AND TONS OF THEM!!! Li thinks that these little statues are pray statues that people buy and decorate and pray to when they are wishing for children. Not praying to children but wanting to have them. There were LOTS of them, It was a little weird.



Anyway, we then headed over to the doctors office and Li had an uneventful medical exam that only took 20 minutes in total but the waiting took a bloody two hours!!! I have no idea if he is healthy or not as the results get sent directly to the visa office and we see non of it. Cost us 300 bucks though!!!

We were done and later then we expected so we stayed around Tokyo station for a bit longer to find the huge book store. We did, in a round about way, and Li found some Chinese books and I added to my ESL collection.

The Shinkansen ride home was hellish but only bearable because we again lucked out and got a Hikari train so the ride was short. It was hell though as it was after work time,so busier than shit and there were NO reserved seats left. The train was PACKED. We luckily found two seats but they were of course in the smoking section. I spent the hour with my mouth and nose buried under my sweater and tried not to breath the whole time. The baby was not overly happy about it and was kicking the snot out of my insides. Had no choice in this matter though.

We got home in good time and went for dinner and basically passed out reading our books. I had a long ass shower and a bath after to get all the Tokyo grime off my body.
Still a productive day.
Only problem is now that the medical check is done we really have to finish this visa paper work like NOW and send it off as they are sending off their side real soon. Li has another holiday on Monday to go and get the police paper work we need, and to get some other documents from city office for his mothers overly complicated visitors visa (and that is only because she is Chinese. Grrrr)

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Posted by (Top)Andrea::10/30/2004 :: 0 Comments:

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