A heated toilet seat?!

After almost 24 hours from the time I left my house Wed morning I made it safe and sound to my hotel in Osaka, only to find that a day and a half had passed :o) My flights were great, connections flawless and the ticketing guy hooked me up with an exit row seat so my legs weren`t dead by the time I landed. Another bonus that I didn`t anticipate was that I didnt have to climb over any sleeping people to go to the bathroom, MAJOR plus. I flew on Japan Airlines (Note to FWCM boys: it was Japan Airlines flight 069...i thought of you :o)) and it was seriously the Avalon of airservice. The stewardess was ridiculously friendly and helpful, she　gave us warm towels when we were seated, the food was awesome and the free alcohol wasnt a bad perk either :o) Each seat had its own video monitor with 10 different movies and the disney channel playing at any given time, so I relaxed and watched Harry Potter and Matthew McConahey for 12 hours. No complaints　here!

The next part of my journey was to make my way from the airport arrival gate to my hotel in Osaka. In order to do so I needed to make it through immigration, catch a train and walk `three minutes` to my hotel...After explaining and reassuring the immigration guy 17 times that I was BY MYSELF, as in not with the caucasian man behind me, he let me through, and, as I exited the land of Japanese with English translations and entered the land of ALL JAPANESE, I found myself completely at the hands of luck and intuition. Staying alert was key seeing as how even when I made it to the train, when they announced my stop I decided that I wouldnt have recognized it anyways! But, I made it. En route groups of women giggled and stared and I saw the cutest of cute kids (of course, and beware, Im sure youll be hearing that one a lot :o)) and I also got lost.　I have been reassured since by other people at the hotel that the internet directions suck, but regardless I found myself in Osaka wandering the streets with my backpack not having a clue if Id just missed the hotel sign, gone too far, not got far enough, gone the wrong direction..so I stopped into a `business hotel` and showed the guy at the front desk my printout map in hopes that he could guide me in the right direction. After trying to point and explain things to me in Japanese he finally figured out that it was not getting us anywhere, but instead of pushing me out the door with my crappy map he slipped off his house slippers into his street shoes and walked me the block and a half to my hotel. THANK YOU THANK YOU little man!

I checked into the Raizan South and headed to the elevator. En route I met a group of other people staying at the hotel and, despite my super cute `ive been traveling for 24 hours and didnt sleep the night before` look they invited me to go out to a salsa dance club with them. Of course I couldnt pass that one up, new friends and salsa dancing in Japan, priceless. Apparently its the new rage here, who knew?! So, an hour later two aussies (Saneel and Alvin), a canadian (dan) and a michigonian (jordan) and I headed off to the club to meet up with Alli (canadian) and Gordon (Bostonian who graduated from Tufts in 2003, small world much??). We hung out, danced a bit and swapped stories and they introduced me to the wonder of late night FamilyMart runs and `hot soft pork buns` that are yummy and a great snack for a cold night.

We got `home` and I settled into my Japanese-style bed (essentially a futon pad on the floor) for some much needed sleep. Thanks to a bit of jet-lag I had some confusing moments when I woke up CERTAIN that i had slept for like 10 hours only to find out that I had only been asleep for 2, then 3 and 4.　Finally I gave up and succombed to the much needed shower that was calling my name, and oh what a BRILLIANT thing that was. Never better, let me tell you. There`s nothing like washing off 2 days worth of airport and city grime. yummy. Then, I went to the bathroom and much to my surprise found that the toilet seat was heated??!! yep, warm warm warm. I was surprised to say the least and, after I got used to it, actually enjoyed it :o)

The plan for today is to check out Osaka. Saneel and Alvin (we decided to just call them Harold and Kumar after the movie came into conversation last night and Saneel happens to be middle-eastern and Alvin is Asian...they fit the profile :o)) and I are going to head out at some point this morning to explore. It will be nice to see Osaka during the day! Hasta manana! :o)

P.S. STOKED to hear from people who are going to be galavanting around. Im excited to at least try to meet up along the way, SO FUN!

Mom - Hair Update: curly, but a little less ringlet-y than usual, its flatter, more wavy than curly :o)