Aren't I already overseas?
I'm very excited. In a matter of days I will be going to China. "So what", I hear some of you saying, "You left almost half a year ago". These people are still not completely aware that Japan and China are not the same country. But we shall ignore these people.
After my first day of school this year, I came home and said to myself: "I need a holiday". Yes, Osaka was a great time. However, many others took the opportunity to go overseas. I want a part of that. So I'm going to Shanghai.
It isn't a completely spontaneous trip. In fact, it is one of the less spontaneous things I have ever done. I have been planning it for a good 4 months. You almost have to. I don't mean to suggest that overseas travel is a simple pleasant process in other countries, but Japan… They love to be thorough. Thoroughly annoying. In Japan it is unusual to travel overseas without a bus-load of other old people, led by a neatly dressed lady in her 30's carrying a flag on a pole. You know the type. I just wanted a plane ticket. Of course, it didn't help I chose to go to communist China. I will never forget the travel agent's face when I told her I had 2 passports. It was like Michael Jordan, late in his career, finding out you are allowed to dribble the ball ("you can do that?").
However, it seems to be all sorted out now. The main reason I'm going is because my father is passing through Shanghai, and I thought it would be easy enough to rendezvous there. It wasn't "easy", but it looks like it will happen. But I am very much looking forward to walking around a strange city where I don't know the language, with a camera around my neck and a wallet full of near-valueless currency. Wait, that might not be a wise idea in China… Well, either way, I'm sure there will be many good stories waiting for me if I get back. See you, or as they say in China: "Adios!".
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