いよいよ出発

きょう一日中、残った雑用を必死にあっちこっち回って済ませていた。お金を下ろすのを忘れて、危うくぎりセーフで銀行に行ってトラベラーズチェックを買えた。荷造りが終了したと思いきや、量ってみれば一個のスーツケースだけ重量オーバーで、超過料をとられないようにまた造り直すことに。汚れた洋服の洗濯を思い出したのは夜の１２時過ぎ。でもやっと終わった（はず）。明日の朝９時に新たな旅が始まる。ドキドキしてるはずなのに、妙に現実感がない。

次にブログを書けるのはいつになるのかわからないけど、みなさん楽しみにしていて下さい。愛媛のど田舎ライフをおもしろかしくお送りしたいと思います。

After an awesometastic day of running around doing errands, packing and repacking my bags, etc., I’m finally heading off for Chicago tomorrow and then Japan on Saturday. Wish me luck!

Update: I arrived in Chicago on time and on the ball, only to find that room checkins were delayed, from the original noon until 3:00 PM. After about 4 hours of shooting the breeze with other lobby dwellers, the first of many, many orientations began. The motion of the heavens, the atomic clock, a standard wristwatch, etc. will tell you that it only took a little over 2 hours. But after being yapped at interminally about Frank Lloyd Wright for 45 minutes, you’d have a hard time convincing me that any less than eons elapsed in that sterile environ they call a “conference room.”

It’s now the day after, 6 AM. I’m getting ready to spend many more eons of waiting around at O’Hare, then on the plane, then at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport, then on another plane, and then doing that awkward lift-shuffle-lower-stretch-yawn-repeat dance they call “customs.” I like to think of sovereign nations as gated communities; the only difference is they don’t do a good enough job keeping the Jehovah’s Witnesses out. (Ooh, I’m naughty)