First 2 weeks (cont.)

Right, continuing the tale of me getting to Japan.

From Stockholm we flew to Kastrup (Copenhagen) where we were to change plane. In Copenhagen Tine, our group leader from YFU, left us. She wasn`t coming along to Tokyo, but before she left us she helped us check our bagage in. Of course all three suitcases were a bit too heavy but it was only a few kilo so that was okay. But I had my guitar as well which was 4 more kilo. The lady on the other side of the checkin desk wasn`t looking too happy and she asked us to let her weight our hand bags. Both Simon`s and Kathrine`s handbags were waaaay too heavy and they ended up having to hand a lot of things over to Tine, which she would bring to the YFU office.
After emptying their bags and giving Tine additional 10 kilo to carry, everything was okay and we checked in.
All because of my guitar ...

We said goodbye to Tine and once again stepped onto the escalator and waved and waved and waved...

In Kastrup airport we waited for some 2 hours and got onto the plain. There were almost only Japanese people around us when we were waiting to board, so we already felt like we were a little bit in Japan.

OK! Her fortsaettes eventyret om hvordan jeg kom fra Danmark til Japan.

Fra Stockholm Lufthavn floej vi til Kastrup i Koebenhavn hvor vi skulle skifte fly. I Koebenhavn forlod Tine (vores groupleader fra YFU) os - hun skulle ikke med til Tokyo. Men foer hun forlod os, hjalp hun os med at checke vores baggage ind. Selvfoelgelig var alle tre kufferter for tunge, men det var kun et par kilo, saa det var OK. Men jeg havde min guitar med hvilket var 4 ekstra kilo. Damen bag disken saa ikke for glad ud, og hun bad os veje vores haandbaggage. Baade Simons og Kathrines haandbaggage vejede aaaaalt for meget, og det endte med de blev noedt til at give en masse ting til Tine, som hun ville tage med tilbage til YFU kontoret i Danmark.
Efter at have toemte taskerne og givet Tine 10 kilo mere at slaebe paa, var alt i orden, og vi fik lov at checke ind.
Kun paa grund af min guitar...

Vi sagde farvek til Tine, og endnu engang stod vi paa rulletrappen og vinkede og vinkede og vinkede.

I Kastrup skulle vi vente ca. 2 timer foer vi kunne komme paa flyet. Der var naesten kun japanere omkring os, mens vi ventede paa at kunne komme til at boarde, saa vi foelte os allerede lidt i Japan.


It was a rahter big airplane. 2 rows in the right side, 3 in the middle and another 2 in the left side. On the back of all the chairs, their were a touchscreen with games, movies, music and a 2 cams installed in the outside of the plane.
We took off and were all excited.
Around 5 pm we got dinner on the plane, and afterwards all light was lowered and it was sleeping time. It was really hard to sleep, though. First of all I cant sleep properlly while sitting in a chair. Second, there was a lot of noise of people talking, movies running, the plane flying etc. etc.
Alltogether I got 3 hours of "sleep" - as opposed to Simon`s 1, and Kathrine`s 2.

Finally after 10 hours we could see Japan below us. We got breakfast 1 hour before we landed and after 11 hours of flight we landed in Narita airport, 30 km outside of Tokyo.

Det var et taemmeligt stort fly. 2 raekker i hoejre side, 3 i midten og endnu 2 i venstre side. Paa bagsiden af alle stolene var der smaa touchscreen skaerme med spil, film, musik, og adgang til 2 kameraer, som sad uden paa flyet.
Vi lettede og var alle tre spaendte.
Omkring kl. 17 fik vi aftensmad paa flyet, og bagefter blev alle lys daempet, og det var sovetid. Det var virkelig svaert at sove. For det foerste kan jeg ikke sove i en stol. For det andet var der en masse stoej fra folk, der snakkede, film der koerte, flyet der floej etc. etc.
Alt i alt fik jeg "sovet" tre timer - til sammenligning fik Simon sovet 1　og Kathrine 2.

Endelig efter 10 timers flyvning, kunne vi se Japan under os. Vi fik morgenmad paa flyet omkring en time foer vi landede, og efter 11 timers flyvning landede vi i Narita Airport - 30 km uden for Tokyo.



After getting our luggage we went to the exit and was met by a woman from YFU Japan. She asked if any of us needed to exchange money, and both and Simon had some US$, so off we went. When we were in Sweden this woman from YFU Sweden, Marlin, told us that if we had any Swedish or Danish money which we would like to exchange to Japanese Yen, then we should exchange them to american dollars in Stockholm and again to Japanese yen when we arrived in Tokyo - that way we would get the most out of our money. So that`s what we did.

After getting some Yen the YFU woman showed us a place to wait with all our baggage. Apparently we were gonna wait for some of the Swedish students to arrive.

--- I forgot to tell. Us Danes, the Norwegian and Swedish students weren`t gonna fly together. Danes seperately, Norwegian seperately, and the Swedish were divided up into several groups. Some were gonna fly from Stockholm to London and then to Tokyo. Some was gonna fly to Wien and 1 to Paris.
It was really really stupid - why couln`t we all just fly together?

Anyway, finally some of the Swedes arrived together with the 2 from Norway and we had some Lunch.
We three Danes landed around 10 am in the morning and we had to wait in the airport till 2 pm ... It was a long time to wait, indeed.



Here is Me and Kathrine (and some Swedes in the background) waiting... I`m drinking Japanese coffee - tastes of nuts. Oh yeah! I totally forgot: On that picture im still wearing my scarff, that`s because I through the entire course in Sweden had had problems with my throat and it was getting worse and worse and one minute wouldn`t pass without me coughing at least once. It was awfull (and with the -12 degrees in Sweden it wasnt getting any better). When we arrived in Tokyo I felt so bad that I just had to get something hot to drink, so that`s why I ended up buying that Japanese Coffee...


Efter at have fundet vores baggage gik vi mod udgangen, hvor vi moedte en kvinde fra YFU Japan. Hun spurgte om nogen af os havde brug for at veksle nogle penge, og baade mig og Simon havde nogle amerikanske dollars. Da vi var I sverige, fortalte den her kvinde fra YFU Sverige (Marlin) os, at hvis vi havdee nogle svenske eller danske penge, som vi ville veksle til japanske yen, skulle vi foerst veksle dem til amerikanske dollars i Sverige, og igen til japanske yen, naar vi ankom i Tokyo - paa den maade ville vi faa mest ud af vores penge. Saa saadan gjorde vi.

Efter vi havde faaet vores japanske yen, viste YFU damen os et sted, hvor vi kunne vente med alt vores baggage. Vi skulle aabenbart vente paa at nogle af de svenske studenter ankom.

--- Naa ja, jeg har helt glemt at fortaelle: Vi danskere, nordmaendene og svenskerne skulle ikke flyve sammen. Danskere for sig, nordmaend for sig, og svenskerne var delt op i en masse grupper. Nogle skulle flyve fra Stockholm via London til Tokyo. Andre skulle til Wien og en enkelt til Paris.
Det var virkelig aandsvagt, hvorfor kunne vi ikke bare flyve sammen allesammen?

Naa, endelig ankom nogle af svenskerne sammen med de to fra Norge, og vi fik os noget frokost.
Os tre danskere landede i lufthavnen omkring klokken 10 om morgenen, og vi skulle vente i lufghavnen til kl. 14 ... Det var en lang dag i lufthavnen.

Paa billedet ovenover er mig og Kathrine (og nogle svenskere i baggrunden) der venter... Jeg drikker japansk kaffe - det smager af noedder. Naa ja! Jeg har fuldstaendig glemt at fortaelle: Paa det billeder har jeg stadig mig halstoerklaede paa. Det er fordi jeg under hele kurset i Sverige havde problemer med min hals, og det blev bare vaerre og vaerre. Der gik ikke 1 minut, uden jeg hostede mindst 1 gang. Det var forfaerdeligt (og med -12 grader i Sverige blev det ikke bedre). Da vi ankom i Tokyo, havde jeg det saa daarligt, at jeg bare maatte have noget varmt at drikke, saa det var derfor jeg endte med at koebe japansk kaffe...



Right, that`s basically the way I came to Japan. Next I`m gonna tell about the orientation course at the Olympic Centre (Orisen) in Tokyo which lasted 4 days. But that`s gonna be in another post, cheers.

Okay, det var i grove traek saadan, jeg kom til Japan. Det naeste, jeg vil fortaelle om, er orienterings kurset paa "Olympic Centre" (Orisen) I tokyo, som varede 4 dage, men det bliver i en anden post, cheers.