Back in Japan

Hello hello
So, I'm back from New Zealand. It was pretty busy, but really good to be back. Things have been busy since I've been back in Japan, too. Not helped by the fact that I had some problems getting here...

So, I the plane left at 6:00am on Sunday, so we had to be at the airport by 4:00. I ended up staying up all night working on a DVD to use in class on Monday. Chie managed to get a few hours sleep. We got to the airport and checked in, but were told that we would have to check in again at Sydney. Our baggage was given a sticker that said it went all the way to Osaka, which I didn't think much of at the time. So, we got to Sydney and had an hour before the Cairns flight left. We checked out and then tried tried to check in again. As the flight was from Sydney to Cairns, we went to try to find the domestic terminal. After a lot of searching, we found the bus that went to the domestic terminal. We got on and paid the $5 each. We waited a couple of minutes and then I asked the bus driver when he left. He said he'd leave in 20 minutes. That meant that he would leave 10 minutes before our flight did. So, we got off the bus and ran to the taxi stand. The taxi driver was really angry that we wanted to go to the domestic terminal, but I'm not quite sure why. That ended up costing us $30 and it took about 10 minutes. We got there with 5 minutes to spare, before out flight left. We asked someone if it was still possible to check in for out flight, which it wasn't. We then talked to the Jetstar information desk for about 30 minutes, eventually arriving at the conclusion that we had a choice between trying to buy new tickets from another company, although there was no guarantee that there would be available, or be switched to the next available flights to Osaka. We chose that option, which meant that we would have to get the flight to Cairns the following morning, approximately 18 hours later. Also, we were told that our baggage would not have gone to Japan and that although our sticker said contrary, there was no way that our bags could be sent from Wellington to Osaka. She advised that we try to find out bags back at the international airport. She also said that the flight to Cairns didn't leave from the domestic terminal, but the international terminal from which we had just left. On our booking forms they didn't seem to think it necessary to write which terminal things were leaving from.

So, we got another bus back to the international airport. First things first, I bought at international calling card and we called the necessary people. I called my Board of Education and Chie called her parents, who were coming to pick us up. I then emailed a speaking test to one of my teachers, as she needed it on Monday.

From there, we went to the Quantas baggage place, as our first flight was Quantas, to see if they had our baggage. They didn't, but the guy was really nice. He said to go check with Jetstar and told us where to find them. We went to the Jetstar offices and found that they were closed. We went back, told him that hey were closed and he went searching. He couldn't find them but he said that if we came back at the end of his shift, he'd have another look. In the meantime, if Jetstar opened, we should ask them. If they had our stuff, then we should come back and tell him so he wouldn't go hunting. Anyways, we waited a few hours and then found the Jetstar place open. We asked there and they said that they definitely did not have them. Quantas were the ones that definitely had our baggage.

So, we went back to Quantas and at the end of his shift, the guy went back to the Jetstar office to check himself. After about 30 minutes or so, he came back with both of our bags. Apparently he found them in the Jetstar basement.

After 5 hours of searching, we had our luggage. We also had another 11 hours to go before we could check in to our next flight. We wandered about, got some food and tried to get some sleep. Between 12 and 3 we were moved from the airport to a crowded room between the train station and airport.

When the time came, we went back up to international departures to check in. We had spent all of that time in international departures because the that was where our Sydney to Cairns flight had left the previous day. It wasn't written on the screen things. So, I looked it up on the internet and the flight definitely existed. Apparently it left from terminal 2. I tried searching around the airport and the internet to find out what terminal 2 meant or someone to ask. There were no Jetstar people around, so I called them. Terminal 2 meant the domestic terminal. None of this was written anywhere around the airport or on our booking forms.

after seeing that there were no buses at 4:00am, we got another taxi to the domestic terminal. This time it was $18, as opposed to the $30 the day before. We got there on time and checked in. The clearly disinterested girl behind the counter said that we would have to checkout, collect our baggage and then check back in again at Cairns. This time we had 5 hours, so that was alright. She then went and stuck a sticker on our bags that said they'd be going to Osaka. I asked her about it and she said that it was a mistake. I'm glad I noticed her mistake, because it was the same mistake that almost lost us our baggage at Sydney. She didn't really seem to care though.

Anyways, so we checked in and got to Cairns fine. The staff at Cairns were way nicer, but when we were checking in, the lady there picked up on something. She noticed that my passport would expire in three months. She then informed me that I needed to have at least 6 months left on my passport in order to get into Japan. That was pretty scary. She said that I could potentially get in but there would be a $5000 fine. However, she was nice and checked it on the internet. That particular page is updated daily and to her surprise, the 6 months thing had been taken down. Thankfully, she let me through but told me to get onto the passport thing pronto.

We got into Osaka fine and Chie's parents picked us up at 7 in the evening. We went out for dinner and when we finally got home, I saw that I had an email from my teacher saying that there would be some Chinese students coming to school in two weeks, so could I make a different speaking test by tomorrow morning that included an introduction to Hirogawa. She also told me that I would have a full day of 6 classes.

It was Monday night and I hadn't had a proper sleep since Friday night, but I did it. I slept on the plane and at the airport a little bit, but I was pretty stressed and the seats were quite uncomfortable. I finished making the rest of the DVD I'd been working on and got half of the speaking test done before I fell asleep.

The next day, I went to school early to do the speaking test. There was a pile of stuff on my desk and a note from another English teacher asking me to make a card game. I finished the speaking test and then finished making most of the game before my first class. My first class was with the two slightly handicap students. In it we watched the DVD. The teacher thought it was pretty good and that it might be nice to do it in two of the other classes, seeing as I had just come back. So, instead of the card game, she asked me to make a word sheet to go with the DVD.I did this during the lunch break and everything went okay.

I'm still feeling pretty shattered today. I'll go into the rest of the New Zealand stuff later.

Bye for now
J