Mount Fuji

Oh right. So I forgot to update my blog... that always happens at the end of my travels. I got back from Mt. Fuji at about 2:30 pm on Friday and had to pack, shower, and organize my things before our farewell dinner Friday night. I hobbled to dinner and then went to bed early enough to haul my things to the Intercontinental (a 10-minute walk, but with my aches, took me 30) to catch my flight home.

So.... Mount Fuji... where to begin!?!?!?! It was the hardest thing I have ever done by far. We left for Shinjuku Station at 4:30 to catch a 5:50 bus. We wound up taking the wrong metro so had to hurry to find out where our bus would leave from (which wasn't as straight forward as you might think. The bus was about 2.5 hours, so Paul and I just visited and watched the sights (which soon became hard considering it got dark).

We finally reached the base of Mt. Fuji and drove to the 5th Station, the fog was incredible... you could hardly see two feet in front of you. We got off the bus at the 5th Station, bought gloves and quickly headed on our way... or what we hoped was the right direction. There were no signs and it was pitch black! The headlamp I had on hardly seemed to suffice for the total darkness. It was so dark, I immediately stepped in a puddle a couple of inches deep, so much for staying dry. The trail seemed to be going down, so I was concerned we were going to wind up at the bottom instead of the top. I stopped some hikers coming the opposite direction and they assured us this was "up" (they probably thought we were crazy).

We were relieved when the trail started going up and we could see lights in the distance of the first station. Our relief for going up would soon be replaced... with utter exhaustion. We weren't even to the first station, and already my legs felt like they wanted to give out. The trail was not very forgiving, with few switchbacks which made it very steep. It was also covered in 6-8 inches deep of lava rock/ash... so it was similar to walking up sand dunes. At this point, we were only 45 minutes into our 8 hour journey and I was strongly considering Plan B. I wasn't sure what Plan B would be... but going to the top seemed absolutely impossible. I considered just going back down the trail or spending the night in one of the huts and waiting for Paul.... but somehow, I kept on going.

Luckily my iPod, for once it its life, decided it would last more than a few hours and actually lasted the entire journey, thank goodness! After we hit the first station, we got a map explaining how to get back down from the top and the map also explained the distances between the huts and suggested times to keep you on track. The trail got significantly harder at this point, with climbing over large boulders, into an almost vertical ascent with nothing to protect you... don't look down. At one point there was a chain-link fence of sorts that you could use to pull yourself up.

The air started getting thinner, and it started raining. Luckily we got to the 8th Station earlier than we thought based on where we thought we were on the map, this was a relief and we allowed ourselves a rest. This is also where we first started to use our oxygens bottles, oxygen water, and pure glucose. It was getting VERY cold too. And I had already put on all my layers so I had no more options.

The trail became slipperly, and I slipped twice... the bruises look lovely on my knees as I type this three weeks later. Towards the top we did meet up with some large groups climbing and we decided to keep with their pace, since we had no idea at this point how long it would be until the top, but figured if they were going to make sunrise, we could stay with their pace and make sunrise as well. Finally... after 8 hours of climbing and utter exhaustion... we made it to the top! JUST in time for sunrise... we literally stepped foot at the summit the instant the sun appeared. It was FREEEEEZING at the top and I was exhausted. I enjoyed sunrise and then slipped inside to a hut where there was a small fire going. I tried to warm myself, and then eventually opted for some ramen soup to help warm me up. We didn't stay at the top too long, maybe an hour, to rest, because it was so cold.

We started back down... thinking the way down would be much easier. Think again! The descent took us about 3.5 hours. It became repetitive, because there were only two huts and the entire trail was a bulldozed switchback trail that was covered in inches of the lava/ash that makes it very slippery. You pretty much have to go down on your heels and the sliding just about kills your knees. We frequently rested at the switchbacks to catch our breath and enjoy being on a non-sliding surface for a few moments. It was very steep as well. We finally made it back to the 6th Safety Station where the trails come together... we thought we were close at this point, but failed to remember the previous night in the pitch black, the walk was actually almost 2 miles back to the 5th Station.

We kept trudging on, and made it back to the 5th Station at 9:30. I was so exhausted I couldn't even eat, but I sat and waited for Paul to have some breakfast. I hadn't been sleepy until this point, but my body was ready to completely give up at this point. Unfortunately the first bus back to Tokyo wasn't until 11, so we had quite some time to kill.

We finally boarded the bus, and I fell asleep, but only for about an hour. Then I just sat there restless until we made it back to Shinjuku... then took the metro back to Akasaka.

It was rewarded knowing that I made it to the top of Mt. Fuji. Halfway into the journey, I wouldn't have guessed it. But I did it!!!!!!!!!

Side note: So in the days following Mt. Fuji, I had trouble walking and both of my legs were swollen. Now everything seems back to normal and the only physical momentos I have of my journey are the pieces of lava rock I took :-)

See my pictures!! http://picasaweb.google.com/lbarteld/TokyoMountFujiClimb

Pictures are worth a thousand words... my facial expressions are pretty priceless.

Mt. Fuji: Ready or not... here I come!

This evening, at about 5 pm I am leaving the hostel and heading to Shinjuku Station to catch a bus to the 5th Station of the Kawagachi Trail to start my climb on Mt. Fuji!!

I have packed oxygen bottles, lots of clothing (I don't have warm clothing with me, so I bought some long-johns to wear under capris and I am going with the "layered" look), two bottles of water, protein bars, a headlamp, and a hat. I'll have to buy gloves at the first base when I arrive.

The climb should take from 8-9 hours. We will probably get to the mountain at about 8:15 pm, so we'll try to start right away. We want to catch sunrise, which is around 5 am. Then we turn around and climb back down (on a slightly different trail) which should take about 4 hours.

This will put me back at the hostel around 2:30 pm the next day. Talk about a LONG day! Unfortunately I won't be able to go to sleep though, because I'll have to clean up and do laundry so I can finish packing and then head to our final IMBA Dinner at 6:30. Then it's to bed for a short while before waking up early Saturday morning to catch a shuttle to the airport.

I think I can say I'll sleep realllllly well on the plane. An exhausting and whirlwind of my last 48-hours in Tokyo.

I am DONE!

I just electronically submitted my last academic requirement for my MBA! I had a presentation during class today on two shopping areas in Tokyo we had compared and contrasted and then submitted a case study on an ethical dilemma I had faced.

All that's left: Graduation on September 12th! I'm done!!!

David's Deli

One day for lunch we had some extra time and decided to venture down the street. We came across a deli: David's Deli and while we were looking at the menu and plastic food models (typical outside of most restaurants) we were invited in by the waitress. The food looked good enough (any place with hummous and I'm in) so we decided to order.

The meal was delicious and the service was really good. We noticed the manager appeared to be a Westerner, so we asked him where he was from. He told us he was from Herzalea... which is awesome, because we were able to tell him we had been there and where we had visited. What a small world!

Sony... the big kid's playground!

Monday afternoon we had a corporate visit to Sony. Upon arriving, we learned we would be touring Sony's "The Square" which is their showcase of the latest technology. It was SO neat!

We first walked in and were greeted by four gigantic TV screens (can't remember how big.. maybe 4.2 meters each) using the latest technology that projects at 4 x what the technology can now. We watched a demonstration and then were able to look "backstage" and see the technology. It'll be a while before we can get those in our living rooms I suspect.

Next stop on the tour was the music section, we were able to play around with their music database of all the Sony artists, and see examples of some of their new MP3 models. This was followed by the movie displays. We learned more about HD-DVDs and saw two displays of movie props... one from Spiderman 3 (including the Spiderman suit) and another display from The DaVinci Code (we saw the scroll, whips, the Mickey Mouse watch, etc). It was neat to be so close to the props!

We were then escorted into heaven from the perspective of the guys in our tour... the Sony Playstation 3 demo. They were showcasing one of the latest racing games that had amazing real-life graphics and some interesting features like instant-replay and the ability to see the race from every angle... I'm not up on video games, but according to my classmates, they didn't want to leave that room.

We crossed back over the showroom to the camera area and were able to play around with a large HD video camera used for filming TV/Films... a few of us even became movie stars! We also were able to see the camera that was used for filming Star Wars: Episode 1.

Our next attraction was a showcase of more of the 4k technology (the latest in projector capacity) where we were escorted into a small movie-theater. Once we sat down in the plush seats... I'm not sure they were going to get us to leave! (That's one of the things I always miss when I'm traveling... couches/comfy chairs). We watched a demonstration of the education/data projector, and then watched a clipped of Star Wars: Episode 3 to see how the cinema projector works. Looked impressive to me!

Our last and most fun spot... was the consumer products showcase. This is where we got to play with all the new digital cameras, computers, mp3 players, etc. We even got a demonstration of Rolly, which is apparently out in the U.S. but I haven't seen it, which is a music player that can "dance" to the songs you play.. pretty nifty. We were also able to see the latest on OLED (organic living electronic display... I don't really know what it stands for, something close to that) technology where the screen is only 3 mm thick because it projects itself, it doesn't need a backlight. The screens are only up to 12 inches, but costs $2,500.... I'll wait a few years for that to become a little more affordable.

But well done Sony... you have now convinced me that all my gadgets are boring and I need new toys to play with!!

Daabon... Organic Food and Biodeisel.

Our first lecture of Monday morning was given by a former EMBA at Temple University, Juan Pablo Campos. He was the director of Daabon in Japan. Daabon is an organic food producer based in Santa Marta, Colombia. Early this century, they entered Japan. We learned about the struggles they overcame to enter the market, as well as lessons about the world organic food market. When Daabon first entered Japan, they came with organic bananas. However, at the port, all the bananas were fumigated... which means they lost their organic certification. After three years a solution that was reached that literally involved scrubbing the bananas with water, soap and a brush to make sure they were clean for Japanese inspection! In fact, the Japanese organic governing organization is the hardest audit to pass... this is after numerous food scandals were uncovered in Japan including food producers changing expiration dates for years without anyone knowing!

It was fascinating to learn about organic farming versus traditional farming, and makes me happy that I usually try to buy organic produce... it's worth the extra money!

We also learned about Daabon's efforts to start producing biodeisel (which will start production in September) with the use of palm oil... sounds promising.

Nikko: World Heritage Site

Sunday morning, we left the hostel at 7 am to head over to Asakusa Station to catch the Tobu Rapid Express to Nikko. I was a bit grumpy as the previous day I had torn my contact... so glasses for now on, which is unfortunate given the humidity. The ride took just over two hours, and we pulled in to Tobu-Nikko station to be greeted by dreary, fogging weather. The weather was actually a great addition to the day because it made the shrines eerie and the crowds slightly less bustling.

We decided to walk along the main street to get to the first shrine, rather than take the bus. We walked across a famous bridge and spotted an even prettier bridge, we were going to cross that until we discovered you couldn't get off at the other side and it cost money... we'll take the less pretty bridge, thanks.

After hiking up a bunch of stairs (preparation for Mt. Fuji) we found the first shrine. We traded in our ticket for a "combo-ticket" that would allow us entry into five shrines (we only ever located four). We started touring the area, and I was fascinated by the old-Japanese style architecture. The first shrine was crowded, but beautiful nonetheless.

Paul was stopped by a family that wanted their little girl to take a picture with him. He happily obliged and crouched down next to the little girl who was very scared and kept burrowing into her father's leg. As the girl crept away from Paul the mother encouraged him to get closer to her... poor kid, weird mother. After the picture was taken, and the girl thoroughly scared, the mother asked for Paul's name and email address. She turned around and spotted me (darn, I was trying to keep a low profile) and asked the same of me. Well at this point, the girl is very unsettled and starts sobbing... the mother insists I pose for the picture anyway and as the girl was trying to get away the mother kept motioning me to get closer... talk about awkward. I didn't know what to say in Japanese so I just crouched there like an idiot next to a crying child so they could take a picture. I felt horrible! I never make kids cry... unless they are Japanese apparently. Don't worry... you can see the pictures.

After this traumatizing experience, we walked on to another shrine. Just our luck, we made it there before the massive crowd and pretty much had it to ourselves. At this point it was starting to drizzle and there was a heavy fog laying. It made the shrine a really authentic experience I think.

We walked through a few more sites and three 8 meter high Budhas covered in gold leaf (no photos allowed). I was quite hungry now, so we decided to set off for a nice affordable lunch, which would be harder than you think! Most of the places were very pricey, so as we walked the main road back to the train station we saw this discreet place that advertise pretty affordable meals (a full meal for less than $10). We then popped in. Hippari Tako apparently has quite the reputation for itself. It is a small restaurant run by a mother and daughter team with about three tables. The walls and ceilings are plastered with pictures, business cards, signed dollar bills, student IDs, train tickets, or anything that the patrons had in their pockets that they didn't mind giving up. It was neat to sit at our table and read all the messages and all of the countries represented. The food was quite delicious as well! We were at a large table, so halfway through our meal we were temporarily seated with two Japanese men (who were later moved to an open table) who were quite excited as they wanted a picture of us (my Indian-celebrity returned in Nikko).

Now that my stomach was full, we kept walking back to the train station and realized we had just missed a train, so now had to wait an hour for the next one. I popped my head into a couple of shops and then decided we would see if we could board the train early as it appeared to be on the tracks. I'm glad we got our seats early! The train filled up and it was awkward as the seats sat facing each other, so you were across from two people with limited leg space (especially for 6'2 Paul). This made for an uncomfortable and long ride (2.5 hours) although I did get an entire book read! It was great to read a book, I love reading but often fall out of habit when I get busy or distracted.

We made it back to Asakusa a little after 5:30 and poked around some shops in search of other items we would need for Mt. Fuji. No luck, but I think I will be able to borrow some things from my classmates. It was an early night after a brief team meeting for a presentation I have Wednesday (my last academic requirement for my MBA!).

Shinjuku Station? I'll walk...

You would think I would learn my lesson by now... if it looks further than 6 inches away on the map... don't walk.

Saturday I spent running around to various spots in Tokyo to arrange my final adventures for my time in Japan. First stop: Shinjuku Station to book bus tickets. I was to meet Paul there at 11 am (he was not walking), so I left the hostel a little before 10 am. As I was halfway there, I realized it was going to take longer than expected, so I picked up the pace: mistake. I power-walked the rest of the way and got to the station at about 11:15 (before Paul mind you) and was utterly exhausted! I made the mistake of not having breakfast before I left or drinking anything: a stupid decision of course. I found a little cafe in the station and found a drink and a croissant to much on, but it was too late, I felt very faint and had to sit down and recover for a few minutes.

After getting twisted up in the station, we finally found the ticket booth we had to go to in order to book the bus tickets that would take us to the 5th Station on the Kawagachi Trail of... Mt. Fuji. More on that tomorrow... I am climbing Mt. Fuji on Thursday.

Bus tickets in hand, we caught the metro to go to Asakusa Station (not to be confused with Akasaka, where we reside) and found the Tobu Tourist Center (where we were promptly shown a map in English for where to go to find the English-speaking center). We booked our travel to Nikko, a World Heritage Site about 2 hours North of Tokyo. We purchased the "freepass" (similar to Hakone) so it included round-trip travel and our transporation there, as well as entrance into the main shrines.

Back to the hostel to rest for the afternoon, we would have an early morning Sunday.

Doing Laundry... Following the Rules

The rules posted in the laundry room... allow me to interpret.







1. Don't crush your cup and throw it in the air



2. Don't take your aggression out on the washing machine lid. Or create comic-worthy kabooms when closing the lid.



3. No singing while doing laundry if the samurai in the other room looks on the verge of exploding with anger.










4. Don't have your dog help you with the laundry. Even if he insists you wash his little shirt... just say no.




5. Run away from small washing machins chasing after you!




6. Most importantly. Gaze in wonder at the moon and large neon khanji characters.

The Japanese Lunchable

You would be astounded by the number of convenience stores that can be found on the streets of Tokyo... AmPm, Monomart, 7-Eleven, Sunkus, and on and on. Because of space restrictions, convenience stores serve as local grocery stores that stock fresh products (unlike our image of the American convenience store). Another unique note is that they offer fresh packaged lunches. Every morning you can see crates of lunches delivered that are well picked-over by the time we have our lunch break at 1 pm every day. These lunches are pretty good (and very fresh) and very reasonably priced... if you can figure out what's in them! I fondly call them the Japanese Lunchable... but have only chosen to dine on them a few days, because of the element of surprise I'm not always willing to face.

My lunchable:

But surprise! Your rice has eyes.

Class... class.... class

Thursday and Friday we had class all day. Nothing too remarkable to report!

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Pictures are up-to-date!

http://picasaweb.google.com/lbarteld

Enjoy

Earthquake

I want to reiterate... I am fine. The earthquake's epicenter was much further North. All I felt was shaking for about 30 seconds which woke me up. To read more:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25816753/

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2008uva4.php

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/24003100353.html

Pacific Culture Club

On Tuesday, we had a full day of class (six hours of lecture) which was laborious to say the least! It makes for a long time, and by the time I walk back to the hostel it's almost dinner time. At least it makes the days go by quickly (in retrospect, not in reality).

Wednesday morning we met up in the morning to go to JETRO. Japanese External Trade Organization. We had a debriefing with them on some activities to promote FDI in Japan and the success stories of companies they have helped bring to Japan. After our corporate visit, we had a few minutes to change before heading to the Pacific Culture Club.

Thanks to my aptitude for public transportation systems, I was able to find a quicker route to get to the Pacific Culture Club and was able to direct our guide there. We arrived and met with our Sensei (teacher) for the afternoon. We walked to her home and was welcomed with open arms. We spent the afternoon listening to the koto (a Japanese harp), practicing caligraphy, partaking in a tea ceremony, and wearing kimonos. They were very hospitable and it was fascinating to have some further insight into traditional Japanese culture! I even got to keep one of my caligraphy attempts for "flower" as well as Sensei's much better caligraphy representation of beauty... "snow" "moon" and "flower." I'll be getting that framed!

We managed to weave our way back to the metro station afterwards (she lead us through twists and turns to get to her home) and I had a quiet evening in, I made up some fried noodles (with brocolli!) for dinner and watched "The Pianist" (very touching).

After another sleepless night... including being woken up by an EARTHQUAKE (I'm okay)... I woke up this morning and made the trek to campus, although it was extra strenuous this morning, I think my body is shuting down from being overworked (but no fears, I will, hopefully, climb Mt.Fuji next week... yep, you heard me right, more to come on that).

Odaiba

On Monday, I finally headed out to Odaiba, which is across the bay from Tokyo, part of the reclamation. To get there, I had to the metro to Shimbashi station and transfer to Japan's newest form of trasporation: the monorail. The monorail out to Odaiba cost about 370 yen each way and took 20 minutes, with a couple of stops along the way.

Odaiba is Japan's response to the California boardwalk. It has two prominent malls, with a lot of shopping, dining, and attractions (like "Muscleworld" and "Segaworld"... don't forget "Little Hong Kong" or "Estee World" (with spas from around the country). We even got to see the Statue of Liberty (didn't realize France was so liberal in giving out large statues). We walked around for a while taking in the sites and views of Tokyo and then decided to go to Fuji TV (a very famous building with a large titanium ball set in the middle of it).

We got our tickets for the Fuji TV tour (which included an opportunity to go up in the ball and see a panoramic of Tokyo). We walked through the studios but only one studio was live, and the curtain were drawn. This was slightly anticlimatic as all the information was in Japanese and we weren't familiar with any of the shows or characters to get excited over posing on sets or seeing costumes. After this, we waited in line for 35 minutes to take a packed elevator up to the walkway to the ball. I was very antsy in line... if you know me, you know I hate "standing" and it bothers my back... not to mention the heat.

The view was pretty great though! But they have filled the ball with attractions, etc, so it was pretty crowded up there. Everything was based on the upcoming olympics, and they had a displayed of all the previous olympic torches.

After shuffling through massive crowds all day, I was exhausted. We grabbed a snack and took the monorail back to the city to weave our way back to the hostel in time for a light dinner and bed!!

Shinjuku-Gyeon Park!

What to do on a humid Sunday after an exhausting week? Walk to Shinjuku-Gyeon Park of course! This was the park we were attempting to locate a while back... but we were sure we had the right green blob on the map. I always insist on attempting to walk anywhere in Tokyo (but that usually turns out to be a bad, sweaty idea (Imperial Palace anyone), so we usually walk there and take the metro back (but that's so expensive!).

Anywho. We set off to the park and it only took an hour or so to get there. The gate we were attempting to enter was closed, so we had to walk around the whole park to find the right gate. The entrance fee was 200 yen (less than two dollars) and it was a beautiful park! There was a French Formal Garden, English Landscape Garden (aka large green field with trees), and a Japanese Garden. It was pleasant to walk through and would be a great spot to bring a book!

After walking through, I decided I was hungry. We were close to Shinjuku Station (a major hub in Tokyo) so we decided to walk around to find something to eat. It was extremely crowded, however, because it was a Sunday and most of the places only had brunch available, so our walking was fruitless and we decided to give up and head back to the hostel to grab a bite to eat there.

Once we got back to the hostel, I decided I was going through major meat withdrawl (I mostly eat pasta or soup) so Paul and I decided to bite the bullet and go to Outback (which would be a major expense for the week). We went to Outback and pigged out! We each ordered an appetizer (I had to have Aussie Cheese Fries, he had to have the Blooming Onion) and then split an entree. It was great to feel full again as well as get some juicy meat! I'm not going to even say what the meal set us back... but it was well worth it.

Because of the guilt we took the very long way home and walked around Tokyo for an hour or so burning off calories. Mmmmm. Meat.

Hakone! Just a subway, three train rides, a cable car, three ropeways, and a cruise boat away!

I went to visit Hakone today, about 100 km outside of Tokyo. The place is known for hot springs and as having lush forests/greenery. I planned my trip out and left for the train station via the subway at about 6 am this morning. I arrived in Odawara for my first transfer at a little after 8. I grabbed another train which took me to Hakone Yumote station (that was the luxury train we opted not to take, which we later booked for our return!), I then grabbed yet another train which took me to Gora Station. From here, we took a cable car up the mountain to transfer to the first of three ropeways. From the first ropeway I could see "Hell Valley" with all of its sulfurous fumes.

If it weren't a cloudly/overcast day, we probably could've seen Mt. Fuji from here, alas, luck was not on our side. After a few more transfers we arrived to the dock for our cruise boat to take us across Lake Ashi... and to my delight, it was a replica pirate ship! What a fun opportunity for goofy pictures (which will be posted Tuesday), in fact there was even a pirate on board, but I didn't feel he was authentic enough to merit ~$10 fee for a photo with him. The time on the water was relaxing, as always. We landed at Hakone-Michi-ko and began to walk around. At this point I was starved so I stopped for an ice cream cone (I didn't opt for the lavendar flavor, although that would've been adventurous). We then walked through the old time Hakone Check Point which served as a border from Kyoto to Edo (old Tokyo). They did a nice job refurbishing, but we were a little limited by the all Japanese guide.

We kept on walking and walked through Old Cedar Path... the name kind of gives it away. It was peaceful and quiet, a nice break from the bustle of Tokyo. Thanks to my pleading, we finally stopped for lunch at this great little "pub" called Madhatters. It was a very small cafe (a far cry from a pub) but it was probably the best lunch I've ever had because the owners (a couple) were so incredibly hospitable!!! The service was great and they were so nice, that we kept ordering more just because they were so happy we had lunch there. The food was good too. After we were stuffed, we kept on walking to Motohakone-ko. We looked up the timing for a bus back to Gora Station to continue exploring and killed time by exploring some nearby pathways and shrines. We then boarded a bus which took about 35 minutes (it was like a roller coaster, I've never seen a bus handle hills that fast!!). Back at Gora Station, we decided there was nothing left to do and we were exhausted, so we changed our tickets back to Tokyo for an earlier time.

We boarded a train in Gora heading to Hakone-Yumuto, which took longer than expected because of a number of switchbacks required to get down the mountain, and the ascending train running behind schedule. We made it to the station in the nick of time to hope our "Romancecar Limited Express" back to Tokyo. The ride back was much nicer than the ride in, as it has assigned seats (the train in the morning was essentially a local subway with standing room only that took half an hour longer because of all the stops) and a cafe car. The ride went quickly thanks to some cat napping.

Got back to Shinjuku at about 5 pm and headed back to the hostel, with some quick errands on the way back. Once again, I am utterly exhausted, so will be an early evening and no alarm clocks tomorrow! Not entirely sure what's on the agenda tomorrow, but probably walking to a famous garden in Tokyo!

The Imperial Palace... oh that looks walkable

I made reservations to go see the Imperial Palace (no one is allowed inside, but you can walk the grounds). You have to "apply" online, but this is for crowd-control rather than any kind of background checking. The tour time was 10 am on Friday morning. I looked at the map and thought for sure it was walkable, the grounds of the Palace looked to be only about 20 minutes away. To be safe, I left the hostel around 9 am.

Boy am I glad I did! The beginning of the grounds may be close, but to get to the appropriate gate took 55 minutes!!! By the time I arrived I was dripping wet and thoroughly exhausted... only to walk another 2 miles within the grounds to see the sights. It was slightly anticlimatic and I felt like I was being "herded" through by the guards, who were insistent we stand in a proper line and keep the pace up. I had a headset with english instruction, but the live Japanese tour was clearly more comprehensive and humorous. It was slow moving through the grounds, and they weren't very ostentatious, in fact, quite the opposite! The palace was understated to say the least.

The tour took about 90 minutes from start to finish, and I, of course, opted to take the subway back to the hostel rather than risk any further loss of water (if my body had any left to lose).

Because of my exhaustion and probable heat stroke, I laid low for the remainder of the day. I took a nap, watched a movie, and did some laundry. That evening, I trucked on over to one of Temple's buildings to attend a lecture on Dubai.

It was both nostalgic and interesting to see the developments that have gone on in Dubai of late. I will be anxious to see whether Dubai can sustain its current growth considering how rapid the infrastructure/construction is growing. Also will be critical to see the longterm impact on the ecosystem... although they claim they are taking measures to overcome any damage, including transplanting sea grasses into the area. I was able to spot my old neighborhood on some arial shots, but hardly recognized the place! The lecture was interesting, but not terribly illuminating. I was surprised the gentleman wasn't able to shed more light on the market in Dubai considering he recently lived there for a year.

An early night though (or at least attempted to be, I'm not sleeping well here) because I had an early train to catch the next morning for my adventure outside of Tokyo.

There's more to Tokyo than humidity and walking...

This week was a relatively low key week (until Thursday night). I began work on a group project that includes comparing and contrasting two shopping areas: Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown. I went with my group to visit on Tuesday (a guy from Poland, a guy from India, a guy from Romania, and me... can't get much more diversified than that!). After we walked through both centers and took some notes, we went on with our free day. Paul and I traveled to Shinjuku to book travel for the weekend at an english speaking travel center. On the way back, we walked through Shinjuku and ate at this nice little pasta house.

The rest of the week filled out with the start of our second 3-credit class (the first consists of attending guest lectures/cultural events/corporate visits) called Doing Business Globally. It's a combination of ethics, law, and globalization. It's taught by a visiting professor from China. Unfortunately it's extremely China-centric, so I am not sure how applicable the material will be in my life. Also, the Chinese style of teaching tends to be straight lecture, no structure for classroom discussion. This makes the 6-hours of lecture time a day go by very slowly to the say the least!

That catches you up to date up to my looooong weekend!

Third Eye Blind Rocks Tokyo! (Thanks to Samantha Shervin!!!)

So tonight I made it to my first Third Eye Blind concert... in Tokyo of all places!

I was flipping through Metropolis, the only English Japanese magazine and noticed and ad for a Third Eye Blind concert. Seeing as my friend Sam was a big fan, I told her they were coming. She immediately offered to try and get me tickets (she's tight with the band ;-)) and I said, sure! Sam worked her magic... and Paul and I headed off to the Unit Theater. We weren't sure we would have tickets though, or how we would manage explaining the situation to a non-English speaking ticket window.

It took about 30 minutes to get there and we headed to the ticket counter. The guy didn't understand anything we were saying... but somehow felt moved to give us two backstage passes/tickets. Amazing!! So then we went to grab a quick bite to ea.

We left the restaurant and noticed the huge, long line, but walked right to the front and met up with (what we found out later) the band's lawyer, and just sort of followed him in. We got into the performance space first and took up camp in the very front.

So now I know what it's like to be in the front of a Japanese mosh pit! What fun though! The band played for about 1.5 hrs or so? They were great and it was fun to hear some songs that I loved back in middle school (like "How's It Gonna Be," "Semi-Charmed Life," "Deep Inside of You," and "Jumper"). We were crushed the entire time but it was still fun, as we were about 4-5 feet away from the band and got to shake all their hands.

Better yet. After the show, they cleared the arena out until there was Paul, myself, and about 5 anxious Japanese girls. We got to meet the entire band, get autographs and pictures. We also made small talk about Tokyo in general. It was really cool, we felt very VIP. You weren't supposed to take pictures, but Paul had a camera phone and they didn't tell us you couldn't take pictures until more than half-way through the show, so we got some cool (albeit very fuzzy) shots.

Thanks Sam!!

Up hill... both ways!

As I had suspected... the hike to school, is well, quite the hike.

I was playing around on www.mapmywalk.com and discovered my walk to school is roughly 1.86 miles (so a roundtrip of about 3.72 miles). Now this is the bare minimum I walk a day. But, it's really the hills that kill you... so I looked at the elevation, and the path of my walk has a elevation range of 30-141 feet!!! There are three significant hills. Check out my route below:

Mama said there'll be days like this...

I'm feeling "hot hot hot."

Don't let the weather forecast given each morning in Tokyo confuse you. Never in my life have I been in a more humid and hot place! The 45-minute walk to school means my arrival at school is less than glamorous. In fact, this morning I was rather alarmed that I looked so incredibly gross and sweaty when I arrived to the classroom... only to relieved by 26 other students looking equally soaked.

My Mom used to joke about days in Dubai being so hot it was a "3-underwear day"... but I get it now. And today, was at least a 4!

Japanese Cultural Insights

After a week here, I have gained tremendous insight into the Japanese culture, and it still fascinates me. Having walked through countless neighborhoods and now listened to a handful of lectures, I have a greater understanding of why I see the things I see.

In a land where Hello Kitty reigns as Queen, Japan is a "Culture of Cute." The word for "cute" is "kawaii" and you hear it everywhere! Everything has cute cuddly cartoon characters on it. Looking for a moving company? Why, I would only use the one who has Hello Kitty as their logo (in fact, there is also an S&M hotel called "The Hello Kitty Love Hotel" and a "Hello Kitty" gun... apparently the license agency have refused some proposals for use of the Hello Kitty logo... I would have to wonder what they said "no" to!). The logo of the police? Is "Pipo" (see pictured, that would never fly in the U.S.!). Even signs warning of danger deliver the message via a cute creature. The sign on a construction site contains a cute cuddly lion (in the U.S. it would have menacing teeth to scare children away from the site rather than attracting to it) to deliver the message. This is believed to translate back to another characteristic of Japanese culture: politeness. It would be rude to say "Stop! Don't come in! Danger".. so the message is softened with the use of "cute."

Everyone is extremely polite here. They take pride in their job, and never have I had so many cashiers chatter away to me (granted, it's in Japanese, so I have no idea what they are saying, but I just smile and they chatter on!). They strive to do their job perfectly, almost as if they are playing a part. This, however, makes them inflexible as far as service is concerned... they won't deliver anything to you except as it reads precisely on the menu, as they have practiced that preparation and if they would deviate, it might not be perfect. So if you want a hamburger, hold the mayo... you're out of luck in Japan.

In a city as dense as Tokyo, the local residents are seeking their identity. It is a rather homogeneous culture, both in looks and actions, but every one strives to make themselves unique. This is mostly achieved by having high-end designer accessories (the irony being, they are attempting to be unique by conforming to high fashion). This translates to people watching being a fascinating past time! I still haven't managed to decipher the fashion, but it sure is eclectic!

Harajuku... Shopping, Girls, and Rock Bands

This morning I woke up at about 10 am, and managed to wake Paul up at 11 am (oops) so that we could head out on today's adventure.

We walked to Harajuku, about a 45 minute walk (with a pitstop for vitamin water to replenish all the liquid we had sweated out in the scorching heat!). We wanted to go to Kiddy Land (a famous, 5-story Toy Store) and Oriental Express (for some souvenir shopping). We made it to Omote Sando Dori, which is a very famous street in Tokyo. It is a street filled with every high end designer imaginable and I have never in my life seen a more crowded street! (Pictures will be up on Monday). We walked first to Kiddy Land and looked through the floors of toys... wish I were still a little girl! Then Oriental Express, where I got a nice wall hanging for myself. Every where I travel, I like to get some piece of art... I think I may soon run out of wall space in my non-existent home.

We ironically ran into some classmates there who pointed the way to see the Harajuku girls. The Harajuku girls are a sort of punk/eccentric/underground culture. They dress up in outlandish outfits and hang around the bridge in Harajuku and have somehow managed to become a tourist attraction. It was slightly anticlimactic, so I don't understand the hype. We then walked through the neighboring park which is also famous because it's sidewalk is lined with at least 20 rock bands. The row of bands started with Elvis impersonators, 60s girls dancing, rock bands, reggae bands, pop bands. It was quite the sight and sound!

Leah started getting cranky at this point. We had been walking for 4 hours straight with no lunch yet. So, we grabbed some lunch and hopped the subway home, managing to make it back around 5 pm. After a quick shower, I don't feel so gross and sweaty anymore... but I'm afraid my legs won't move again this evening!

Walking Adventures

Well the first full week in Tokyo is officially over... and what a week it was.

My week finished off with lectures and a ton of walking and exploring. Tokyo is a safe city, so it is nice to be able to walk around at night (on Friday night I finally saw Tokyo Midtown, quite by accident after exploring the neighborhood... I knew there should be a shortcut!... Tokyo Midtown is an upscale shopping area (and also houses the Ritz Carlton),I felt entirely under-dressed in my shorts and t-shirt. We went into a "Premium Grocery Store... and premium it was, grapes for $100!!).

Paul and I had lots of exploring planned for the weekend. Saturday morning we got up and went to Denny's (after two weeks in Asia, I was craving a good American breakfast). The Denny's here though is very upscale (although very affordable). Classical music was played and complemented by a sophisticated decor (are you sure we're in Denny's?).

Fueled up for the day, we started walking towards Hama-Rikyu Gardens. I was the navigator (since I take after my Dad's sense of direction) so I was able to get us there... although it required about 45 minutes of walking in the heat and humidity. The gardens were beautiful in an overgrown/secret garden sort of fashion. We did manage to spot some Geishas being photographed which was pretty neat. There was also a long bridge that crossed a pond filled with hundreds of jumping fish!

Because of the humidity, we decided to take the metro back to the Roppongi area rather than walking the hour (it's okay to cheat every once in a while, I walk an average of 3 hours a day!). We arrived back to Roppongi and wanted to go to the Observation Deck. We learned that to do that, you have to pay for the visiting exhibit of the Mori Modern Art Musuem, oh well, we'll visit that too. The exhibit was a Retrospective on the Last 20 Years of the Turner Prize. The Turner Prize originated in London and is given every year to a contemporary artist. It's very prestigious, but also, naturally, controversial. The last 20 years of artists were on display so it was a fascinating exhibit. Highlights include films, sculptures, a room with lights that go on and off (that is the art piece), and the strangest: a calf and cow cut in half and preserved so that you could walk between the pieces and see the inside of a cow. Umm... no beef for me for the next few days, thanks.

Having made our round through the museum, we went up to the observation deck which was actually the helipad of the Mori Roppingi Hills Building (which is at least 53 floors high!). The view was gorgeous (even better than the shorter Tokyo Tower's view) and we were able to spot our hostel as well as the garden we had visited in the morning.

At this point, my feet were screaming mercy so we decided to go for lunch and head back to the hostel. No wonder my feet were tired, we had been walking for about 4 hours straight with no sitting!! We ate at Subway (I know, a totally western-eating day) and then looked outside in time to see the monsoon beginning, so we wound up killing time in Starbucks waiting for the rain to pass. In a break from the weather, we dashed the 15 minute walk back to the hostel and I finally rested my feet, at this point it's about 4:30.

But no rest for the weary! Paul decided he wanted to go out to Carrefour(still in search for his Pop-Tarts). So we organized to leave at about 5:15 to go to a Tokyo Suburb. It was about a total of 50 minutes travel time, with one transfer. We at first got on the local train, but quickly figured that out and switched to a express train (thank goodness! the difference in the two times would have been twenty minutes). We were able to pick up some goodies at Carrefour and I made it back to Tokyo in time to talk with my parents via Skype, before watching "The Nanny Diaries" and "Waitress" and falling fast asleep.

School starts!

This morning I had my first in a series of lectures that will comprise one of my classes here in Tokyo. The first speaker was fascinating, a woman with a background in architecture explained the history of business in Japan. It was riveting.

Side note: Japan has 1/2 the population of the U.S., but in about 1/4 of the size of California! No wonder things seemed a bit crowded here.

We also had a lecture on Sino-Japanese relations, and then the impact on Japan if they were to host the 2016 Olympics. All in all an interesting day, if not a little long (three 1.5 hour lectures in a row, with a brief break in between each).

After the lectures, we set off again in search of the Japan National Store (a larger super market). Well after two days, and four hours of walking, we finally found it!! Thanks to the Sheraton who provided us with a map (The Sheraton is about 2.5 miles from here, whoops).

After the supermarket and cramped legs, we took the subway back to the hostel. What a neat experience. For now though, I'm wiped and off to bed.

Tokyo Swallows v. Bay Stars!

I went to my first baseball game of the season: In Tokyo!!!

We had a day of orientation where we heard from some of the faculty at TU Japan's campus and got our schedule for the semester (we have one long holiday weekend so I may try to go see Mt. Fuji, I'm not trying to be a hero and climb it, but would like to see it). The campus is about a 40 minute walk away, located two neighborhoods away. I love all the walking I'm doing though, I'm averaging about 2 hours a day and Tokyo is very hilly (so I'm getting ready for beach week!).

That evening we had a baseball game planned. I walked to the stadium with a couple of classmates (about a 40 minute walk) and we met up with a scout from the Cleveland Indians who gave us free Swallow jersies (score!) and we were escorted to our seats (right behind first plate).

The game was very similar to minor league games in the U.S., with a lot of "beer girls" roaming the almost empty stadium, including ones with mini-kegs on their back. Our big group of caucasian tourists seemed to be a bull's eye of sorts. I had a burger and fries at the ballpark and stayed until the 8th inning, when it was clear the Swallows were going to win (5-0) and decided to start the long trek back to the hostel.

One unique aspect of the game is that both fan-stands had pieced together marching bands of just random fans. Also they all had small umbrellas that were used to hoist in the air every time a run was scored... kind of like a Mummer's Day Parade/Mary Poppins re-enactment.

The walk back was lovely, Tokyo is so pretty to walk around at night. I got back and dropped into bed and finished up my book I started in Shanghai. For some reason here I get sleepy early, but I don't mind catching up on all the sleep I lost this past semester!

Pictures

Pictures will be posted as soon as I have a faster internet connection (hopefully on campus tomorrow). Most of the Shanghai pictures are up, but the albums are incomplete so check back later.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lbarteld

Enjoy!

Toyko Adventures!

Sunday morning I managed to get myself out of bed at about 10... I was tired! And I went back out with Paul in search of cheaper groceries and the 100 Yen shop (essentially a dollar a store) for some necessities to stock the hostel room with. We toured more of the neighborhood (which I am really enjoying) and then made it back to the hostel in time to do some laundry. I was so happy to do laundry because it was so hot and sweaty in Shanghai, that I felt like my clothes were gross sitting in my suitcase.

There was a sign in the Laundry Room warning against stolen laundry, so to be on the safe side we sat in the lobby while our laundry was being done and watched No Reservations. The laundry was complete with no problem and I felt good about having clean clothes. At around lunch time, Stella arrived so we were able to get caught up on our various adventures since class let out in Philly back in mid-June. I then laid around for a bit reading, and had some dinner.

After dinner, we went out in search for an American grocery store because someone (not me) was having Pop-Tart withdrawl. We didn't find the grocery store but we had an amazing time walking the streets of Tokyo at night. I am really enjoying all the city has to offer. And it's nice to walk everywhere (public transport is pretty expensive, taxis are pretty much unaffordable). On our adventures we managed to find a Cold Stone Creamery and I spent quite a bit of Yen to fill my craving. We walked around for about two hours before returning to the hostel exhausted!

I read a little before bed and fell soundly asleep until about 7 this morning, and then I napped until about 10 when I finally got out of bed.

This morning we met in the lobby at Noon with some representatives from Temple University Japan to go out on a guided tour of Tokyo. Our first stop was Meiji Shrine, which was really beautiful. Next up we went to the Tokyo Tower (essentially the Eiffel Tower... the landmark Tokyo is known for). The observation deck is 150 m above ground, but unfortunately it was an overcast day so we were unable to see Mt.Fuji. I had a crepe at the Tokyo Tower for a snack and it was very delicious!

After that, we piled back on to the bus (this was a really nice tour bus... I should've taken a picture) and headed to Asakusa, which is another shrine with a huge shopping street of local crafts, etc. That was really neat to walk through. We then drove through Akihabara, the electronics district, did a quick swing by the outside of the Imperial Palace, and then we were dropped back off at the hostel.

It was a long day and I had a headache, so I stayed in and watched What Happens In Vegas (thanks to watch-movies.net) and in a little bit I'll join buddies for dinner in. I think I may make an omelet!

Tomorrow we actually get to walk over to TU Japan for orientation there.

Goodbye China, Hello Japan

Saturday... time to leave China and head East for Japan. I managed to have one last breakfast (my last free meal :-() before catching the airport shuttle at 9 am.

I was leaving from the new terminal, Terminal 2, so I was pretty excited about that. It was a gorgeous airport with lots to fill my time. I chose to pick up some more souvenirs, some handpainted Chinese characters of names and then quick grabbed some lunch. I passed the rest of the time before my flight sitting at the gate reading and watching all the planes pass by (and a lot of planes it was!).

My flight left at 13.10 and was about 2 hrs 50 minutes... with an arrival time in Tokyo of 17.00 (Tokyo is one-hour ahead of Shanghai). Luckily Paul had agreed to meet me in the Arrivals Hall so that we could figure out together the complicated adventure to get to our lodging in Tokyo.

I landed at 13.15 and miraculously made it through immigration, collected my bags, and breezed through customs, all in about 15-20 minutes. And there was Paul to greet me! I exchanged my money, and we bought tickets for the "Downtown Luxury Bus" that would drop us off at the ever-glitzy ANA Intercontinental (NOT where we were staying). We got off the bus after about an hour... looked at the beautiful hotel, turned around, and started walking. We first had to cross the street by an underground... so down two flights of stairs and up two flights... dragging like 75 pounds. As if that wasn't bad enough... the remaining five blocks to the lodging... UPHILL! I felt like a packmule or sled-dog or something.

After I was thoroughly soaked I arrived. The lodging... well the pictures will explain that. Paul and I went out to a grocery story and picked up some staples (pictures will explain that!). Then after eating dinner (Cup of Noodles) and visiting with buddies and talking to home I went to bed and slept until about 9 am this morning!

So far Tokyo... so good. But not quite as architecturally stunning as Shanghai. But looking for to the adventures.

Dear America: Happy Birthday, Love: Shanghai

Happy 4th of July!! For those of you who know and love me... I love fireworks and I am sorely disapointed I am going to miss fireworks (especially since this year, thanks to Steve, I would have had VIP access to the NE Fireworks!! Next year babe).

But, fireworks or not, I had Friday to explore Shanghai (or really, the knock off market again).

I met Paul at breakfast at 9, I did my usual stock up of food (since it was free) and we headed off in search of an ATM. I also was in dire need of ponytail holders, because it was the one thing I forgot and it was driving me insane not being able to put my hair up in the heat... in fact if I couldn't find them, my next option was giving myself a very unattractive haircut. As I mentioned to Paul I wanted to find some on our mission today, out from a sidestreet is this guy carrying this cart with a bunch of random things on it, like toilettries and fans. I stopped him and asked through gestures if he had a ponytail holder... lo and behold he did!!! What luck... maybe I should have said I was looking for a million yuan.

So now, with my hair off my neck I was ready to continue on. We kept searching for a bank that would accept our ATM, stopping in every grocery store on the way in search of Frosted Flakes (conclusion, China does not have Frosted Flakes, sorry Mom). When we finally found an ATM we realized we had walked to within a block of the knock off market, so no need for a taxi! We went back into the market, experts at negotiating this time and managed to rack up quite a few more purchases. Paul got two more watches, some CK underwear, cufflinks, sunglasses, lots of tea... and I think that might be it. I also got a watch, three purses (oops), a really neat dolphin bracelet (does that surprise anyone), and some earrings and other little knick-knacks. It was highly successful!!

We were exhausted and carrying quite a load so we decided to head back to the hotel to drop off our things. We went to lunch at the neighboring restaurant to the hotel, where I was adventurous and ordered some brocoli, we got some fried rice for the table, and Paul got some strange greenbean and meat dish, when he asked if it was chicken or beef, the lady said "No, just meat." Hmm... We clearly were there at the wrong time though because they turned all the lights off except the one by our table and our waitress was sewing. We ate and as soon as we handed over the money for the bill, the light above our table was also turned off. Well don't say you are open 11.00-23.00 unless you want customers during all possible hours!

After lunch we decided to go for Chinese massages! There was a place in the neighborhood of the hotel (which is in the French Concession neighborhood... I'm not sure I mentioned that before). We opted for an hour-long Chinese massage and a half-hour head and shoulder massage. Well they must have thought we were a couple (our boyfriends would have been jealous) because they put us in the same room. Luckily the Chinese massage was over-clothes so it was all good. But boy... they sure aren't gentle! They lady was pounding on me, but I guess in the end it felt good to have some knots worked out.

The massages were relaxing, and then back to the hotel for a quick rest (I watched "Just Like Heaven" on HBO) before our farewell dinner at the Shanghai Yacht Club.

The dinner was good... but the view AMAZING!!! I will put up pictures when I have a faster internet connection.

Thursday in Shanghai

Thursday morning in Shanghai, I woke up and prepared for our visit to the World Trade Center (this was the first day we actually had to dress in business casual). I had my usual breakfast on the 4th Floor, joined by Paul and John. we piled into the bus at 9 am.

We visited the Pennslvania Center, and had an interesting discusison on what Pennsylvania is up to in China. It's always nice to see some familiar faces after traveling for a long period of time, and it was nice to be able to understand the speakers without having to overcome a language barrier. After our visit, we returned to the hotel to go to a German lunch (the first non-Chinese meal I will have seen since leaving Dulles Saturday morning).

We walked to Dan's (not Dan Vogel's restaurant... but just Dan's) and first walked the wrong way on the street... which allowed Zelon and Jaime to get peed on by a baby. Yes. So babies here don't wear diapers as it is thought to be unnatural. So they just wear pants with little open flaps and their little bums hanging out. And they're just allowed to go whenever since it's natural, and you can't get mad if the baby goes on you because it's not their fault. So as we walked pass this woman with a baby in the lap... her baby boy decided to pee... and managing to hit both Zelon and Jaime's foot. Um. Can we say disturbing!? Needless to say, they were both happy when we hit the restaurant and they could wash off their feet.

Lunch was delicious!

After lunch, we walked backed to the hotel to get on the bus to go to the Urban Development Center, which was a highlight of the trip! They have a tennis-court size model of what Shanghai will look like in 2010 in preparation for the World Expo (think Olympics for business). It was just a really neat museum with lots of models. Unfortunately we only had about 20 minutes to explore it (I don't know why we weren't given more time... but you'll have to check out the pictures).

The next item on the agenda was to hit the Knock-Off market. We were dropped off and we were to be picked up in an hour. I thought that would be more than enough time, since I wasn't interested in looking at anything. Well Paul and I decided to venture in the market together.... and emerge... 2.5 hours later.

What a thrill!!! It was like a game... all the bargaining that went on. Luckily our guide told us the prices he usually gets. He told us that a tie can be had for 10 yuan, a designer shirt for 40, and a purse for 120. Divide everything by a loose 7 to translate to U.S. dollar prices.

So off we went into the market. The first thing on Paul's list (remember, I wasn't looking for anything) was a new watch... so we checked out a few places and finally this man approached us and said he had what we were looking for. We were then escorted into a t-shirt shop and were confused. Well then through the back wall of t-shirts, the man opens up a door and we enter in a 2x8 backroom. This was the first of many backrooms that we would enter into. I'm glad tall Paul was there with me just in case the backrooms didn't have an exit!

We were ruthless bargainers (thanks India) so we always got the price we wanted. They wouldn't let you walk out of the shop without settling a deal (which is how you always got the price you wanted). At one point a lady wouldn't go down to my price, 30 yuan... so I just walked all the way down the hallway, with her shouting 85... 80...75...70... etc., to me until I heard her say "Okay, oh you kill me, 30." Score!

Paul got himself a designer bag (a murse), three purses for sisters/Mom, a wallet, two watches, a handful of DVDs, and some jewelry. He managed to get the purse lady from 13,500 yuan to 650! Go Paul.

I managed to pick up two wallets for myself (Louis and Coach.. which they kept calling "Cooch"... um, no thanks), one for Steve (Armani), a few other trinkets for Steve (I'm really excited about one of them... but can't say... on the off chance he reads this ;-)) and others, a few trinkets for myself, a DVD (haven't checked if it works yet), some jewelry and that was it for me.

It was a great afternoon, and I'm glad Paul was there with me, just in case a deal went awry. We then walked outside to hail a cab in time to return to the hotel for the Acrobatic show. It took a while to hail a cab, but we made it back to the hotel for 11 yuan (less than 2 dollars).

We left for the Acrobatic Show at 6:30 and it was really fun!! Paul and I sat in the front row with popcorn and commented on the entire thing. It wasn't as good as a Cirque du Soleil because it was lacking a coherent theme (it was called "ERA: Intersection of Time"). The most impressive act was the one where the two "dancers" use scarves suspended from the ceiling and float around... it was beautiful!! There was also a motorbike segment where there were 7 bikes in this small cage at once... I was nervous they would crash, but the whole performance was executed flawlessly.

There was also some pot juggling, flexibility demonstrations, jumping through hoops, etc. The whole thing was a magnificient display of athleticism and an enjoyable evening.

I went back to the hotel and managed to finally speak to my parents via Skype (Steve, get Skype!) and then was exhausted and hit the bed hard.

Friday was our first free day, and Paul and I were meeting at breakfast at 9 to venture... you guessed it, back to the knockoff market!

Halfway through Shanghai!

Rise 'n shine! Bus pulls out at 7 am sharp (well, we never leave anywhere quite on time...)

I had breakfast at 6:30 with John and Paul (I managed to get my omelet first!) and we piled on to the bus to prepare for our 2.5-hour journey (false advertising, it was 3.5). I listened to my iPod for the journey (we did make one-stop at a reststop, which was an adventure in and of itself... not the mention the smell!) and we finally arrived around 10:30. Our first order of business was visitign Alibaba, a hugely popular internet company in China (think Ebay, Paypal, Yahoo, and SAS). We had a brief lecture and a tour through the office (which was mostly just cubicles... but well decorated ones (my favorite were the large stuff animals people were using as back cushions). My favorite part was the "Monitoring Room" where you could see all the site activity, like what people were searching for around the world at that very moment, there were two people (one in the U.S. and one in Sweden) searching for "Box"... interesting, creepy that you could see that.

After our tour at Alibaba, we headed to lunch at another traditional Chinese restaurant, this one inside the Lily Hotel. I wasn't quite as stuffed after this meal, because there wasn't as much I was willing to venture to eat, especially after one of my tablemates was posing with the chicken's head. The hotel did have a nice bathroom, so I was able to stock up on a few pieces of toilet paper for reserves (which is hard to come by in this country).

When we were finished lunch, we went to the West Lake park to prepare for our boat ride on the West Lake (which was previously a lagoon, now a man-made lake). The boat ride was lovely, as it was nice to be on the water (for my first boat ride of the season!). Our next stop was a Tea Plantation, where we toured some of the tea fields, learned how to make tea, and sampled some fresh Green Tea (not a big fan).

We were exhausted and gross (thanks to the humidity) at this point, so we abandoned the plan to see the Ling Yin temple and instead headed back to Shanghai, arriving at the hotel at about 8:30. I finished up some of my yogurt from the night before, read for a bit, and went to bed without dinner once again.

This morning I woke up at about 5:15, so decided to venture online to catch up with the rest of the world. Today's agenda includes a trip to the World Trade Center, Urban Planning Center, a visit to the Silk Market (aka, Knock-Off market) and a performance of Chinese Acrobats this evening! Will write about those adventures when I get to Tokyo on Saturday.

Okay, I get it now... it's Tuesday, right?

After falling asleep so early the night before, you can guess I was up nice and early Tuesday morning. I staved off actually getting out of bed, by watching a couple of episodes of Will & Grace. And after I still couldn't sleep, and it was only 5, I gave in and ordered the internet for the day so I could check my email and chat. I killed time 'til 6:30, when I decided to go to the gym. I ran into about 6 classmates during my hour in the gym which was fun. I came back and showered, and was at breakfast at about 8:15. Breakfast=deliciousness.

We loaded on to the bus at about 9 pm to pull out and heading for the Suzhou Industrial Park. It is a huge industrial park, laid out like a tiny-Eutopia (actually, it was pretty big, I wish I could remember how big). It's about 2-hours away. I passed the time with my iPod and using Dan, Paul and John as entertainment in the back of the bus (where the "cool kids" sit), those guys are a real hoot. We literally drove through the Industrial Park for our tour, and then walked in the heavy heat to a Chinese Tea House for lunch. We were a little frustrated we had driven all that way for essentially, just lunch. Lunch was good, but we had a ridiculous amount of food and couldn't keep up with the pace they were delivering the food. Once again, my small plate of 10-or so bites left me feeling stuffed.

After lunch we traveled to visit Altay, an Italian company that makes educational tools in biology (think Middle School, the body that had all the bodyparts in it you could take out to study or the slides that had some sort of specimen on it). We toured the facilities, and it was really neat, because it's not a product you often think about. We also had a sort of case-study like discussion with the new COO (who's been there for 2 weeks) as the company was going under and in dire need of rescuing. The only downside to the visit was the building had just been opened, so there was an inordinate amount of mosquitos in the auditorium we were in. Sort of like a horror movie: being stuck in a room full of swarming bugs.

We made it back to the hotel at about 7 pm that evening. I read my book for a bit, before heading out with Paul at 8:15 in search of a grocery store (to look for Frosted Flakes for Mom). I was pretty proud of myself for staying up this late... but I was dead-tired. Paul and I were victorious in finding a grocery store, but not Frosted Flakes. Instead I got some snacks for the bus, and a yogurt for dinner. We made it back to the hotel and wound up both watching The Devil Wears Prada on StarMovies in our respective rooms while chatting on the phone. I fell asleep at about 11 pm (I know, I'm impressed) prepared for a very early departure the next morning. I wanted to be at breakfast at 6:25 (it opens at 6:30) to be in line for the omelet guy since the bus was pulling out at 7, so there would be 23 of us trying to get breakfast at the same time. Luckily, with jet lag, I am up and ready to go by 5!

What day is it?

Monday morning... don't ask the date, I'm lucky I realized it was Monday!

After barely sleeping, I woke up and showered and killed some time, waiting to go to breakfast. Breakfast was delightfully delicious (it was Western) and I enjoyed seeing my classmates. We had a lecture to attend at 8:30 about "Doing Business in China." The lecture was very interesting. After that, we loaded onto a bus to head out and do some sight-seeing before our afternoon corporate visit.

(By the way, pictures are coming, the internet connection is too slow at the hotel!)

First, we went to the Jade Buddha Temple. When we got off the bus we were hassled by street vendors (Pen! Rolex! Purse!) which was very reminiscant of Mumbai (except they were hocking Rolexes instead of large latex balloons). The Temple was gorgeous, as only the pictures will prove. Unfortunately it was rainy and dreary, so the pictures are rather dreary.

Our next stop was the Yuyuan Gardens. The Gardens were once a private residence, but now all the Gardens are Government owned, as all the land is Government owned. The Gardens were gorgeous, I wouldn't mind having a house whose rooms were layed out in a intricate, maze-like garden. The landscapes were gorgeous, and once again... pictures will tell a better story.

We then went through the Yuyuan Market, where I will probably return on Friday to do some souvenir shopping, and arrived at a traditional Chinese restaurant where we would be served our lunch. Everything is served "family style" with all the dishes being placed on the Lazy-Susan in the middle of the table. Luckily I can use chopsticks, because there was no alternative! I was semi-adventurous and tried most of the meat and vegetables (after my trusty taste-tester, John tried it of course). I refused to eat anything that had bones (that you were supposed to eat) or shells (that you were supposed to eat). I also avoided anything with the head still on. Eating one small bite at a time as things are passed, makes you full surprisingly quickly though! So I was "stuffed" after my tiny plate of food was consumed.

We piled back on to the bus after lunch and headed to Scientific Atlantic (recently acquired by Cisco in 2006) for a corporate visit. It was interesting, but I was pretty tired at this point and feeling the jet lag. After the visit, we headed back to the hotel where I managed to stay awake until about 6:30, when I fell soundly asleep (oops!). (I have yet to have dinner in Shanghai)

Are we there yet? Shanghai

I finally made it to China! I left my house at 7 am, EST on Saturday morning. I checked into the hotel at 10 pm (China time) on Sunday night. Where does the time go!?!?

My flight from Dulles to Tokyo was uneventful. The food was surprisingly decent (as I started finessing my chopstick skills) and I watched Fool's Gold, 27 Dresses, and Penelope (all quite entertaining). I slept for a little, but was only able to stretch my legs once during the 14-hour journey that's to the gentleman in the middle seat who insisted on taking up a little of all three seats (I also choose the window seat so I can lean against the window to sleep). (I really hope this is the last international flight I have to fly Coach, because presumably the next time I would fly international, a company would be paying for it). I flew ANA (All Nippon Air) to Tokyo. I arrived in Tokyo, switched terminals, and prepared to kill the 3-hour layover waiting for my flight to Shanghai. I pretty much just walked the terminal and sat there (I did read the rest of the US Weekly I bought in Dulles) as I didn't have any Yen to buy a snack or drink.

The trip to Shanghai was about 3-hours, and at this point I was wiped so I pretty much slept the entire time (which would for jet-lag's sake, probably prove a poor choice). I arrived in Shanghai, got through Immigration, exchanged some money, collected by checked bag, and stood in line to get through Customs. No problems. Went outside to catch a taxi to the hotel and wound up haggling (thanks to India) for a cheap cab fare to the hotel. I did get momentarily nervous when the gentleman's cab wasn't in the queue, but once we walked to the parking lot I saw it was an official taxi. The ride to the hotel was about an hour, and the trip was alarmingly similar looking to India until we got into the city proper. Shanghai is a beautiful modern city, lit up like Vegas.

I arrived to the hotel, checked in, and made it up to my room where I was greeted by Mitika (my roommate for the Shanghai-portion). After putting my bags down and brushing my teeth, and greeting a few other classmates, I fell soundly asleep until ... oh about 3 am. Then I napped, badly. Oh jet lag, how you torture me!

Oh right... Home

In all the excitement of arriving home, I forgot to say I arrived home. I made it home, after 144 anxious days. I had a slighty anti-climatic arrival as my parents were stuck in traffic on 95 and couldn't greet me, but it was all good. I made it to the car where my big fluffy pillow and snacks were waiting for me.

The holidays were fabulous and it was great to see everyone and share my Indian gifts with them.

School started back up on January 10th and my classmates couldn't even recognize me! This semester I took: Cost Accounting, Investments, Risk Management, Multinational Management, Operations Management, and Entrepreneurial Finance. I also had my EMC (Enterprise Management Consulting) Project where I worked with an Israeli Cardiac Surgeon on proving the market for his medical device (a mitral valve repair technology) and presented him for funding at the Mid-Atlantic Diamond Ventures Venture Fair.

I was able to travel to Tel Aviv, Israel in March to visit my client, and that was a fabulous trip (http://picasaweb.google.com/lbarteld).

The semester was long (with an almost 2-hour commute each way to class) but it was great to meet the Paris cohort! It was also nice to be home for the semester, and as a bonus, I met a local boy in my backyard ;-)

So now... I am in the midst of the final chapter of my International MBA.

Zurich!!!

I am safely in Zurich. BUT, I don`t know how much I will share, because I am typing on a Swiss keyboard which has the keys z and y reversed, I am getting used to it, but that`ll explain the typos, not to mention none of the punctuation is where it is supposed to be.

Spent my last hour in Mumbai running errands with Stella. One of which was going to the gym to give them a farewell car. We got the biggest goodbye ever, complete with lots of picturetaking... those boys will really miss us! I then got back to the hostel and the car was an hour early, but that`s okay, I was happy to get to the airport early, since I didn`t know what I would face.

Got out of Mumbai, not without a lot of traffic and chaos though. As I sat in traffic and tried to take in the sights one last time... still not sure I have comprehended any of the images I have seen although I know they are burned into my mind at the same time... and enjoyed riding next to a rickshaw whose passenger was a goat... yes a goat. It was a great as I turned to look out the window and was practically nose to nose (yes, I will not miss India traffic) with a goat.

I checked in... my bags were slightly overweight, but they didn`t comment, thank goodness... the only complaint I`ll probably get is from Dad when he loads them into his car, it took two men to carry my suitcase down from my hostel room. The guy at the checkin counter then asked to weigh my carryon... oops... didn`t think they`d weigh that! Mine was 15 kg (about 33 lbs)... about 5 kg over the max. I made up a great story about how I called Swiss and they said it was okay... and was able to successful play the last "But I am a white foreign women" card and the guy was like "Oh okay then!" Whew!

Waited in the lounge in Mumbai for a while, reading my book then moved to security and the gate where there was a MASSIVE horde of people trying to shove in the gate at once. At this point.. I had to carry my rollon bag... good thing I`ve been working out. But the reason I had to carry it, is it is literally falling apart at the seams! The handle bar gets jammed, and I have to manually release it by digging my hand into the bottom of the suitcase and releasing it. So I fashioned a way to prevent the handle from retracting completely by tying electrical ties around the base of it so it stops the handle bar on the way down... yes, ghetto. But when I was waiting in the horde of people, I used my suitcase as a seat, and wound up pushing the handle bar back in despite my ingenious invention! So I had to haul my suitcase, with my "purse" (aka overstuffed laptop bag) over my shoulder and my finger intwined in my beltlooops to hold my pants up... yep my pants fall down to below my hips and I do not have a belt... guess that`s what happens when you go to India, lose weight from not eating, and then try to wear your jeans for the first time in 5 months. So... I was a sight to behold.

Sat down on the plane, got served dinner shortly after take off and promptly slept until breakfast. So nice to eat some good food and get some rest. I arrived in Zurich a few minutes early and had to haul my suitcase... stupid handlebar, until I got to security. Fortuntely they wanted to open my bag to investigate further.. and I say fortunately because that meant when I was repacking it, I could release the handlebar... and this made life much easier. I went up to the lounge only to learn I had to use a different lounge for outbound U.S. Airways... so back out through security to terminal A, where I sit now, waiting for about four hours when I can go back over to E, get my boarding pass printed and anxiously await my final leg of my journey to HOME!

I felt a burst of cold air when deplaning though, and I am not sure I am ready for the cold... but it is nice to see Christmas decorations!!

I am within hours of home... maybe 15 or so, and I can not wait.

Catch you on the other side of the ocean!

The moment we've all been waiting for...

Lassssssssssssssssst day in India!

I head to the airport in just about 4 hours, and I am excited beyond words! I slept horribly last night, figures, and wound up getting less than 4 hours of sleep... this changed my morning plans and I decided to forego the the gym and instead get some final things packed up since I had an appointment to get henna at 10 am, and would be unable to do anything for hours afterwards as my hands were drying. The henna looks great, I hope it lasts until the Open House on Sunday!

So I am fully packed and ready to go, sitting around anxiously for the car I hired to come pick me up! My suitcases may be a bit heavy... so keep your fingers crossed they aren't over the weight limit, the result of too much shopping I fear.

I am making my rounds today to say goodbye to the local community. I think they were overjoyed to have four foreigners living in the neighborhood... for perhaps the first time. As much as I complain about India, and let's be honest, it's been pretty rough at times, at most times, but as much as I complain, there are some things I am going to miss, and some friendly people that I will miss seeing. I was afraid the big tough trainers at the gym were going to cry when I told them goodbye yesterday! We keep telling our local merchants goodbye because we are leaving... they say, oh, another trip? When do you get back? And we have to tell them... no, we're going for good this time.

We gave the nice day guard and our maid a nice tip and some chocolates today, and I have never seen two people more grateful. We probably didn't give much more than the equivalent of $3.00, but you would've thought we gave them all our riches.

Now I have just a few more hours sitting in this barren hostel room waiting to start my long journey home. I will fly into Zurich, have a 7-hour layover, and arrive back in the States tomorrow (Thursday) evening. It can't come soon enough!!

I can not wait to see everyone and swap stories and pictures of all the adventures in our lives.

Will write from Zurich when I finally reach non-Indian land!!!

Watch out for that cow!

Yes... I think India is trying to kick me out.

I almost got attacked by a cow today... no lie. I was minding my own business, walking down the street... when a cow comes charging down the sidewalk from the opposite direction... but I jumped out of the way in time and flattened myself against the wall, although it was enough to give me a little bit of fright while at the same time make me laugh a little... where else can you almost get attacked by a cow on the sidewalk of a major urban metropolis.

My day was spent at the gym (where I had to shower because our shower is still not working.. "tomorrow"), and then working on a case study on JetBlue which will be the basis for our HR Exam tomorrow. I went out for a final round of shopping, picking up some Indian sweets for the Open House and two pieces of Sari fabric to be used for eventual decoration in my future house.

Then I sat around and waited for copies of the HR ppt notes from our professor, and have spent the evening researching JetBlue.

I'm feeling pretty good about my HR Exam... and then tomorrow it'll be one exam done and just two to go. I also think I'm going to start packing tomorrow night. I keep talking about packing, but haven't started yet because I am trying to push it off as much as possible so I have a carrot dangling... not to mention once I pack, I'll be ready to book outta here.

You're not making this easy on me...

I was enjoying a relaxing evening in front of the TV. My day was as frustrating as anything, and I am quickly losing my patience for the ineffectiveness and inefficiencies of the Indian system. After a few deep breaths... and a hard stint at the gym, I felt a bit better....

That was until I looked down at the floor and realized that our room was flooding... yes... flooding. All of my things were in a thin layer of water... the shower being the culprit... and water marks were rising on our mold-filled walls.

I went down to get the guard's attention who was busy on the telephone. Finally with the assistance of one of the other girls to translate we learned it was a plumbing problem that would be addressed tomorrow (Enchalla... remind you of Dubai?) and the water had been turned off... but what about the swimming pool forming in our room and our muddy footprints from walking through it?

So they called someone to clean... a skinny little cleaning boy from school came over with a small pocket and an even smaller dirty rag... and started soaking up the water, one drenched rag-full at a time... I'm pretty sure he's going to be here all night and still won't get the job nearly done... I think maybe I just won't watch, it'll be better that way. That or we'll turn the AC on full blast and have ourselves a lovely skating pond.

This is ABSURD. I am so beyond pissed I am eerily calm. Luckily I have less than a week left in this room and therefore the new colonies of mold that will form because of this won't further adversely affect my health.

But really now! India give me a break!!! I leave in 145 hours.

ONE WEEK!

One week from now... I will be sitting in my room, getting my henna tattoos done... and doing last minute packing so that I can head to the airport that evening.

I just have to make it through one more week... a piece of cake, right? I can do it, right?

I sure hope so...

Last Week...

I am in the midst of my last full week in India!! In fact, a week from tomorrow I will be piling up in a car with all my suitcases and heading to my last adventure with chaos: the international departures terminal of Bombay Int'l Airport. The chaos probably won't even bother me... I'll just walk with my eyes focused on the goal: home.

So far my week started out well... my IT Perspectives Viva (oral exam) was canceled due to our professor being ill. Although based on how committed and reliable he is to our class (or NOT)... chances are we won't have to make it up... which is a shame because that means our entire grade will be decided upon one presentation we gave a few weeks ago that he tore all the groups apart on. Oh well.

We had a guest lecturer on leadership from Prudential today. The highlight of the rather un-informative talk was a 10-minute movie clip... because it was so nice to watch a movie not on my laptop, tethered to head phones.

We had our last Finance class and celebrating December birthdays with a cake... then I hit the gym for about an hour.

Tomorrow we have free so I plan on heading down to Colaba to complete all my Christmas/souvenir shopping so that I can... PACK :-) Tomorrow night is also the Ugly Betty Season One Finale, so Stella and I have a pizza party planned (to also celebrate One Week 'Til We Leave night).

For now... I'm exhausted and can only think about delicious food I'm awaiting when I arrive home... but I'll put those thoughts aside, choke down one of my last protein bars and hopefully get some sleep.

Thanks to all of you who have sent cards... but hold your cards now. Because I leave in... let's here it again, almost a week... cards sent now will most likely not make it to India in time... and I do not trust any forwarding system they may have!! So you can give me your cards in person... in... one more time... about a week!!! :-)

My second to last trip leaving Bombay behind (the last being of course heading West and never looking back)

We went on an overnight "field trip" to Nasik (or Nashik depending on which spelling you believe) for corporate visits. We left Thursday evening at around 5:30... aka 6 pm and hit the road... if you can call it a road.

The road to Nasik is a glorified compacted dirt road, where they don't bother to paint a middle line, knowing it will continuously be abused. The road is narrowed and filled with "Goods Carriers" attempting to pass each other to be one truck-length ahead to their destination. The bus was severely lacking... mainly in shock absorbers, so the trip was loooong and bumpy!

We made two quick pit stops... one that took much longer than anticipated, but it was nice because I saw a nice patch of green grass... I'm not sure how green it actually was on its own standing though because it was heavily lit with green tinted lights... tricky.

I listened to my iPod for a majority of the time, and also got two hours into a book on tape I am listening to thanks to the free download from iTunes. It's Brad Meltzer's "The Millionaires" and it's pretty good... although I don't know how keen I am on books on tape, but it was free. It's weird because I am usually a fast reader, especially with a suspenseful read... so there were quite a few times I wanted the narrator to read a bit faster!!

We finally arrived to the Mahindra Guest House at... I don't even remember... midnight? It was actually really decent accommodations, we had double occupancy rooms in adjoining villas. I would've much preferred those accommodations for the last four and a half months rather than the prison-like cockroach infested digs I currently hang my hat in! I roomed with Mitika which was a nice change of pace, and we sat up for a while with the boys playing Rummy, and then wound up eating a midnight snack (they had some traditional Indian dishes... I had a few nibbles of Nan). I didn't sleep well though, surprise surprise, and wound up not really falling asleep soundly for the night until about 5 am... makes for a rough 9 am wake-up.

We had a 9:30 am sharp departure (aka 10 pm) and headed for the Mahindra Mahindra automobile manufacturing plant. We are never able to go straight to our destination... as is typical Indian custom, we stop and ask for directions at least 5 times per desired destination. India needs to invest some stock in GoogleMaps!

Our visit at Mahindra Mahindra was pretty cool... among the products they manufacture is the Scorpio SUV, a Bolero SUV, and the Logan through a Joint Venture with Renault. We had a quick Q&A session and then toured through the entire factory... I've never had to dodge so many new cars while walking through the factory. It was really neat though because they have 4.2 kilometers of conveyor belts that take the cars from the "press shop" to "painting" "assembling" and then final assembly. I've never seen a car made... so it was pretty nifty and a good behind the scenes look. That is the nice thing about the Mumbai-trek versus the Paris-trek of this program, we get to go on a plethora of corporate visits, and while they become repetitive and exhausting... we have gained insight into an incredible amount of industries and been able to see how a lot of everyday items are produced.

After Mahindra, we stopped for lunch at a rest stop... that had more flies hovering around our table than anyone should have to experience!!! I ordered my food first... Butter Nan to be safe... and it came last of the 15 that ordered. Gotta love Indian efficiency.

We left the restaurant and hit the road for Sula's winery. We had a tour of the winery... which pretty much just involved walking through the room where they "age" their fine wine for a whopping 5-11 months... that's some fine wine they're making. Ha. After seeing the vineyards... and their manufacturing facilities... and the fact that many of the silo-like structures the wine was stored in were partially opened and they allowed us to walk around freely and stick our faces in them... I skipped the tasting haha. I'm glad I did too... because rumor is, it was pretty bad wine.

So instead I sat out in the terrace (Nasik actually has semi-clean air) and enjoyed the view with Bhuvan and Mitika who also did not partake in the tasting. After much waiting, everyone was finally ready to go and loaded up on the bus. It was an even longer bus ride back and I wasn't very successful in napping. We stopped for a quick dinner... that lasted more than an hour... and then Mark convinced me to let him borrow a DVD... only if I could watch a movie with him though. We watched the first part of "The Devil Wears Prada" and as much as everyone else poked fun at him in the bus for watching it... we had to put English subtitles on so everyone in the surrounding seats could keep up without the benefit of sound.

We finally made it back to the hostel at ... 1 or so. And I made it to sleep at ... who knows... but it was late.

Not quite sure the 12-14 hours or so of travel time within the 30 hours we were away from Bombay made the trip worth it. But, it's the last time I leave Bombay until a week from this Wednesday when I head to the airport... FINALLY :-) :-) :-) :-)

Now it's just a matter of surviving a few last days with final projects and exams... and surviving on the last few protein bars, no sleep, and an itchy rash (which I am convinced is my body being allergic to India)... ahh, gotta love character building.