My last leg of the journey started in Tokyo on Air Japan whisking me another 7 hours south to Singapore. Went from 12 degrees and raining in Tokyo to 32 degrees and lovely humidity. Just what the doctor ordered after the 24 hour dry out plan that is common to airports and planes. When I landed in Tokyo - my first stop was for 1.5 litres of water - lol.
I lucked out with great seat mates the entire journey - but the last seat mate ranks as my favorite stranger of all time.
She was the cutest little Japanese lady who was going to visit her daughter (I learned this through broken english and lots of hand gestures!). The moment she sat down - I instantly liked her. (The book Blink is still on my reading list - the premise is that within 2 seconds we pass our first conclusion against someone/thing). Then when she did a series of pokes, pointing and pink sky to show me one of the most incredible sunsets that I think I have ever missed (we were on the non-sunset side of the window and by the time we took off, it was gone) through the airplane windows my reaction was affirmed.
By the time our meal had arrived, she had fed me Japanese sweets, communicated that she was visiting her daughter and laughed - head tilted back giggling kind of laugh - about 15 times over our struggle to talk to each other. I have never wished so much I knew another language!
Our meals arrived and we had both ordered the Japanese bento box. Unfortunately they only had one left so she insisted I take it and she ate the 'western' menu option of Paella. Scared of offending her as I don't fully appreciate the culture - I accepted.
No worries though - she got her share of both meals as she ate off my plate - lol! And laughed at me as I tried to trim the extra fat from my beef.
This sweet lady tried each of my dishes and told me what they were in Japanese. My swollen canadian tongue tried to wrap it's way around the unfamiliar words and we laughed more. I even got a double thumbs up for my chopstick use - lol - she was quite impressed that I knew how to hold them.
She then proceeded to break bread with me (literally) and insisted I try some of her Japanese cheese that she got with her meal. After sharing our desserts we settled in with our green tea and enjoyed the silence of a special soul - it is amazing the connection you can have with barely a word being spoken.
I turned on a movie only to find her leaning over and watching it with me as she read the subtitles. We checked out the map. She poked me lots to make sure I was using her garbage bag she had started and we laughed - a lot.
As is usually the case at the airport you never say goodbye to someone you have met once - you see them again at customs - waiting for luggage - and finally Kim and I got the chance to meet her daughter in the taxi queue. What a delightful soul she is!
Kimmie brought me home to her lovely home. We soon settled in with a glass of water and chit chat before we couldn't delay bed any longer as Kim has to work today.
Now here I am, lounging on her deck, drinking delicious coffee and planning my next move to the shower before a little walk? and then some pool time - or maybe pool first, a walk and more pool. Need to swim some laps to work off that Japanese cheese.
Oh and I had pink grapefruit yogurt for breakfast - delicious! Wish we could get that flavor back home.
No comments:
Post a Comment