what we've all been waiting for!

My last entry was supposed to be posted last night, when I actually posted it, but our satellite connection is still spotty, so that’s why it got posted this afternoon instead. It’s really beginning to frustrate me, to be honest, but understandable because of the weather… and I guess the whole part of being in the middle of the ocean may have something to do with it too!!! Haha. I’m trying my best to keep everybody posted though and I HOPE this message actually goes through… the last few days I’ve been getting e-mails back hours later saying that they didn’t go through.

Today was “Asia Day” so we didn’t have classes. I went to a bunch of different seminars held all over the ship. Some of the ones included tips for traveling and Asian etiquette. Tonight we’re also having a traditional Japanese meal for dinner which will be cool! We’ll be arriving in Yokohama tomorrow around 9am or so… and I can hardly believe it!!! The last 11 days on the ship flew by. ..

Tomorrow when we arrive in Yokohama, one of the first things I have to do (along with the others I’m traveling with in China) is to find a travel agency so that we can book all our train tickets and the rest of the hostels that haven’t responded back to me. That way, we’ll get China squared away and won’t have to worry about it when we get there, especially since they are celebrating the Chinese New Year and trying to buy train tickets or find places to stay will be probably impossible if we wait until the last second. After that’s all out of the way I'll find something to do in Yokohama all day and stay on the ship to save a little money (it’s only a 30-45 minute train ride away). The second day Molly, Helen, Gabe, David, Nick and I will start our adventure!! We’re heading to Tokyo where that night we’ll be sleeping at a capsule hotel, the third day we’ll head to Osaka and Koy San where we will be staying at a Buddhist temple and the third day we’re heading to Nara and then back to Kobe that night to meet back up with the ship. The last day we’re in Japan I’ll be going to a tea ceremony with SAS in Kyoto.

Not sure what exactly we’re doing in each city, but that’s the fun part. We have the world in our hands…