Meeting new friends.

June, 12th cont.

Getting on the bus was sad for me but I was also ready to get out of the heat of Shinjuku and onto an air conditioned bus. As the bus was pulling out I noticed that Natsuko san stayed to see me off which I thought was really nice. She took a few pictures of me on the bus as we were leaving. Natsuko san and the rest of her family made me feel so at home. On the bus from Shinjuku to Chino I thought about a few different things like how much I'll miss living with Kosuke's family like I had the last few days and whether I was going to enjoy my two month stay at Canadian farms as much as I might enjoy Jiyugaoka. I wasn't looking forward to having to work in Japan for two months.

I was glad to have those Meiji chocolates that Hatsuko san gave me during that bus ride since I had little other food excluding the 8 pounds of almonds and cranberries I was transporting. About an hour before reaching Chino we took a 15 min. break at a rest spot which was basically a small super market. When I came to Japan 4 years ago we stopped at this same spot and it was pretty cool to be there again 4 years later. Everyone got back on the bus after collecting all the snacks they needed and relieving themselves in the highly advanced Japanese restrooms otherwise known as "toire" pronounced, tou-ee-ray. It turned out that the bus got to Chuoda-Chino, where I need to go, about 25 min. early. Very cool. Now I just needed to foot-it to Hotel Chino which I was told was 5 mins. away if walking. I had no idea where this place was but I saw this tall building with the katakana, "Ho", "Te" and "Ru" which means Hotel (hoteru) on it and figured that was a good start. As I rounded the building I saw a sign in English saying "Hotel Chino". I had to wait about 25-30 mins. before Hossan got there but I got to just chill which is something I didn't really have time for before. Hossan arrived right when I was told he would, with a few mins. to spare. He speaks English pretty well. (June, 25th, I've realized that Hossan has a Canadian accent when he speaks English which is kind of interesting. One of the common phrases he says is, "Cool, ey?".) Hossan and I had quite a few different conversations on the way to Kaedenoki (the second of Haseyan's restaurant). I found out that he cycled across Australia which is pretty crazy. Apparently he had a few bad experiences in the US like walking out the door only to hear gunshots and getting harassed by some sort of gang or something. We finally got to Kaedenoki, I could tell it was Haseyan's immediately from the woodsy feel and contrast to everything "normal". After a few calls to Haseyan, rice crackers and sips of Aquarius later Haseyan and Sohei got here. It was awesome meeting Sohei for the first time and seeing Haseyan again. I'm a lot taller then I used to be. Haseyan used to look like a giant to me but now I'm the tallest one here.

I think that's it for tonight but I hope you enjoyed it =) , June, 25th.