Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Got to Toronto

　　When I was following the flow of passengers from the plane to immigration, I found a propeller aircraft set in the parking area. I didn't exactly remember the name, but it would have been a Bombardier Q400 or Dash8, both of which frequently cause problems in Japan. All of them were luckily minor, but those minor problems sometimes lead to bigger ones. I was going to fly to Prince Edward Island the next day, so I was afraid I'd have to get on board one.
　　We sailed through the immigration procedure. We picked our luggage up and headed for the Sheraton Gateway Hotel, which was connected to Terminal 3 of the Toronto Pearson International Airport. This hotel was really convenient, because we had to take an early flight the next day and I didn't want to be far away from the airport, in particular, in such an unfamiliar place.
　　It was about 7 o'clock in the evening, but we didn't want to have anything to eat, maybe due to the jet lag. My daughter went swimming to get a better sleep. On the other hand, I tried to connect my PC with the internet via the wireless router which I rented in Narita, but in vain. I wondered why the hotel didn't provide the guests with free internet access. I took a shower, drank a canned beer and went to bed, but ,,,,.

(Vocabulary)
propeller aircraft  プロペラ機

Narita International Airport

　　It was a wildly hot day. As we took a rather long walk around the Tokyo Skytree and Naritasan-Shinshoji Temple, we  perspired and really wanted to have a shower before departure. We expected that there would be several shower rooms in the airport and we were glad to find them on the plan of the airport. As soon as we received our luggage from the transport company at the airport, which we had sent from our home two days before, we checked in our luggage. The shower rooms weren't wide and were rather shabby, but it was really comfortable to clean my body before being confined into a small seat for around 12 hours.
　　I almost forgot. I had to write about the wireless router which I rented at the airport. I heavily rely on the map of the smartphone in Japan when traveling in an unfamiliar area, so I was going to use it in Canada, too. The router which I rented was supposed to work across Canada. I'll write about it later.
　　The plane which we got on board was a Boeing 777 and relatively clean inside. I had a rough impression that Air Canada wasn't clean from my several experiences of being on board an Airbus A330 between Vancouver and Japan. It was not true, however, this time. The picture shows the in-flight meal between dinner and breakfast. The combination of a cup of noodles and sandwiches was great.

(Vocabulary)
check in one's baggage  搭乗手続きをして荷物を預ける

Trip of Atlantic Canada

　　My daughter has been eager to stay abroad and learn English during her summer vacation since her admission to university. She earned enough money tutoring some high school students or working in a restaurant as a waitress. The destination which she chose was Toronto. It's because there were fewer Japanese in Toronto rather than on the West Coast or western Canada such as Vancouver. She was going to fly into Toronto by herself at first, but her grandfather was afraid that she might be involved in some accidents on the way and told me to take her to her homestay destination. This is the commencement of this trip.
　　I chose Air Canada AC002 which would start at 5:20 PM every day from Narita International Airport. To reach the airport from my hometown, you have to travel to Tokyo International Airport firstly, and next travel to Narita International Airport by bus or train. It takes about one hour. Even if we left about noon, we could make it on time, but we set out for Tokyo International Airport on the first flight in the morning to spend half a day in Tokyo.
　　My eldest daughter, who lives in Tokyo, welcomed us at the airport. We dropped in at the Tokyo Skytree, which is the 634 meter-high broadcasting tower and was completed this spring. Then we visited Naritasan-Shinshoji Temple to get charms to protect daughters from everything bad.
　　The picture shows our lunch, broiled eels on rice, which is the speciality around Naritasan-Shinshoji Temple.

(Vocabulary)
make it on time  （乗り物などの時間に）間に合う
broiled eels on rice  うな重

(Vocabulary from comments)
feel bad 恥ずかしく思う, 残念［気の毒］に思う, 申し訳なく思う
feel bad about
I feel bad about not helping you. 手伝ってあげられなくてごめんなさい．
feel bad for
I felt bad for him. 彼がかわいそうだと思った．

Trip to Tokyo

　　I wrote that my friend got hurt in Whistler when skiing down. At that time, one of the rescue staff was surprised that we didn't wear helmets. He advised me, "You'd better wear  a ski helmet if you want to ski down a 'black' run." 'Black' means the most difficult ski trails at Whistler. I thought that he was right and to tell the truth, I had wanted to get one since four years ago. I looked for one in Whistler four years ago, but couldn't find a nice one. I looked for one this year, but I couldn't find one. The time of the year might be bad. It was the end of March or the beginning of April, i.e. the end of the ski season. Even the biggest one found in Whistler was small for me. The upper temporal part of my head touched the inner part of the helmet. I decided to look for one in Japan.

　　I found various big helmets on the internet, but I had to try them on. In order to try them on, I flew to Tokyo. Then, I called my eldest daughter and her fiance and enjoyed walking in a historic and modern district.

　　Do you know the mountain in the first picture? It was taken from the plane. The second one is the gate of Yasukuni Shrine. The next one is the tallest broadcasting tower in the world called "Skytree", one week before its opening to the public. The last picture is of my ski helmet.

Toronto

　　I'm always proud of my daughters, but the virtue of Japanese people hasn't allowed me to write about my daughters. Silence is most valued in Japan. Naturally, my daughters are alike. However, I'd like to write about my youngest daughter in this piece.

　　Each daughter has language skills respectively. The youngest one is really good at English and far above the average level of Japanese students, though she has not experienced learning abroad. The other day, she asked me to allow her to stay overseas for a month to learn English and told me that she had earned and saved enough money during two years after entering medical school. I was surprised at her resolution, but I said, "Yes, O.K. You can try anything you like." She seems to want to become able to do tough negotiations or discussions about serious issues in her field, medical science, in English. She chose Toronto in Canada as her study destination. That's because there are fewer Japanese in Toronto rather than other cities which noted language schools are located at.

　　However, her grandparents didn't want that. They are concerned about the security of foreign countries. Consequently, I ended up taking her to her homestay accommodation. Because the time difference is 11 hours between Japan and Toronto, we decided to visit Toronto several days earlier than the start day of her language school and enjoy sightseeing around Toronto; Prince Edward Island and Niagara Falls, while recovering from jet lag. When looking for something trendy in eastern Canada, I found a website of a Lions Club (link). Did they give me any recommendation?

(Vocabulary)
homestay accommodation  ホームステイ先

Back Home and Last Entry about Ski Trip

　　We arrived in Japan at last. Our leader, Ms. O., is smiling in the picture. She got injured in the snowy mountains and had to walk with her crutches after that. Her crutches were made in China, carried across the Pacific Ocean twice, by extension via Korea and had reached Japan. They would bring back good memories of the funny trip. The personnel of Narita International Airport, who took care of Ms. O., told us that the airport was alarmed that night when our plane gave up landing at Narita Airport. Though he was a 20 year-plus veteran, it was apparently his first experience. It might mean that we also had a very rare experience. Anyway, we enjoyed everything that had happened around us.

　　By the way, we had to stay one more night near Narita International Airport, because we arrived late and missed the connective domestic flight. Our baggage was supposed to be sent by a door-to-door delivery service, so I took my extra clothes, the electric shaver, battery chargers of my PC and cell phone out of it. We were in cold-weather clothing even in Korea, and wanted to take a shower as soon as possible.

　　I have to write one more thing. The hotel fee was offered from Air Canada in Narita too. Finally, Air Canada set up two days of hotel fees and four meals for us.

　　To Air Canada: Thanks! We'll make friendly use of your service next time!

(Vocabulary)
bring back memories  思い出［記憶］をよみがえらす
Being here brings back bad memories.  ここにいるといやな事を思い出す．
alarm〈人〉を不安にさせる, に警鐘を鳴らす
alarmed  恐れて, 不安を感じて
alarmed by/at/over
Researchers are alarmed by an increase in AIDS infections among teenagers. 研究者たちはティーンエイジャーの間でエイズ感染が増えていることに不安を抱いている．
door-to-door delivery service  宅配便
cold-weather clothing  寒冷地用の衣服

Leave Korea

　　I asked a person at the tourist information in Insadong to call for taxis. The driving was considerably rough, but the driver took us straight to our hotel early enough, at 14:30 hours. We were supposed to be picked up at 15:00 hours. The following two pictures are the taxi which transported us and Incheon Airtel Hotel. You can see the route of the taxi in the map of our trace (link). The third picture was shot just before the check-in at the airport. We were really relieved to be able to come back home. Naturally, Ms. Kaneko successfully got together with her husband here.

　　This stay in Korea stemmed from the unpredictable weather and was totally fun. I experienced lots of new things. I remember a volcanic eruption that had occurred two years ago in Iceland. Almost all European airports were reportedly closed for several days and many people were stranded. Tourists were sleeping on the floor or benches. We might have been lucky for even getting the hotel room for rest, and moreover just one day. The meal in the last picture was offered from Air Canada on the flight to Japan, even though the flight time was only two hours. I thought it was due to the departure time of 17:30 hours. I was thankful for a nice holiday in Seoul from Air Canada.

(Vocabulary)
stem from something  [句動詞] (事態・問題などが) ＜…＞から生じる, に由来する
unpredictable  予測できない, 先行き不安定な, 〈天気が〉 気まぐれな

Insadong 인사동

　　We went to Insadong district by two taxis. I made my GPS receiver (link) start working to record our trace for my friends, because they were new to Insadong and I thought they wouldn't remember where they were, but I made a mistake. I didn't turn the receiver off when we were indoors, and there's wrong data on the map, but you'll catch a rough image of our route. As I made up this map, I found that Odusan Unification Observatory was within our reach. Sightseeing in Insadong was really wonderful, but it's regrettable that we couldn't view the land of North Korea.

　　By the way, the lady who joined at the hotel was Ms. Kaneko, who is a professional pianist. She allowed me to show you her pictures and the url of her blog (link1, link2).

　　Nowadays, a flat tire has become rare, but we had it on the way to the city center. How many adventures would occur on this trip? The driver called a replacement and we had to wait for some time to change cars. However, this trip to Korea was fun and we thought of it as a present from Air Canada.

　　We had a tea break at a Korean rice cake shop and dropped in at a classical Korean restaurant. In the first picture, Ms. Kaneko was chatting with a man who was really good at Japanese. He had apparently been brought up among Japanese people.

(Vocabulary)
adventure   わくわくする体験

Wandering in Seoul

　　When I devoted myself to the pamphlet offered from the front desk as a map, which was extremely simplified and was not useful as a map, a young woman addressed me. She was also a passenger on the same plane as us. She was alone and felt lonely, and came to join us for a day. Her story surprised us. I got her permission and I'll write about her. She travelled to Yellowknife to watch the Aurora Borealis with her husband. When they arrived in Vancouver as a stopover on the way back to Japan, they had to stay one more day due to overbooking. As a result, they came to get on board the same plane with us. At Incheon Airport, in the midst of the chaos as I wrote before, they ended being separated, transported to individual hotels, and by extension they couldn't communicate with each other. Their cell phone didn't work in Korea. It's natural for her to feel lonely in an unknown nation. Finally, we, seven Japanese people, got to spend six hours in the country which we didn't want to visit.

　　Mr. W., who was our chef, had been to Seoul as an attendant doctor on a Korean patient, but he only stayed for a few hours and went back to Japan after turning the patient over to Korean medical personnel. For that reason, I decided on the place we visited in Seoul City.

(Vocabulary)
Aurora Borealis  /ərrə bɔriǽlɪs 《常に単数形で》オーロラ　北極光　[同意] the Northern Lights
decide on/upon sth [句動詞] (多くの選択肢の中から) ＜…＞を選ぶ, 決める
Have you decided on a career (×decided a career) yet? もう仕事を決めましたか．

Breakfast

　　The restaurant designated for breakfast was a cafeteria style and I chose mainly Korean items. The dishes looked plain and uninviting, but the taste was not bad. After breakfast, I contemplated the day's plan over a cup of coffee as I had six to seven hours before departure in South Korea. It's really nonsense just to kill time in the hotel. However, I had no preparations for visiting and sightseeing in Korea. I didn't even have any Korean map and cash! Additionally the battery of my PC was dead. I couldn't even access the internet.

　　The tourist attraction that I most wanted to visit was Odusan Unification Observatory (link) which is located on the lip of Imjin River, which is the border between South and North Korea. I had seen the observatory itself from the highway to the border when I visited Panmunjeom a few years ago. Every time I watch on the TV that varied VIP, like the U.S. President and the Secretary of State, visit there and have a poor view of North Korea, I'd like to visit the same place. I asked a hotel clerk how long it would take to visit it and come back to the hotel, but he couldn't figure it out. I also wanted to see a junior high school (link) in Incheon City, which must have been ten or twenty minutes from my hotel, but I thought my friends wouldn't want that. Finally I decided to enjoy sightseeing in the heart of Seoul.

(Vocabulary)
plain  (デザイン的に) 飾りけのない, 〈衣服などが〉無地の,〈紙が〉罫(けい)のない; 〈食べ物が〉あっさりした味の, 淡白な
a plain wooden table  シンプルな木のテーブル
The food was plain but delicious. 食べ物はあっさりしていたがおいしかった．
uninviting  〈場所などが〉 魅力のない, 行く気のしない
Imjin River/Rimjin River  臨津江／イムジン川 （ハングル表記：임진강 〔イムジンガン〕、朝鮮半島中部に源を発して黄海に注ぐ川。下流では漢江と合流し、川幅が広がる。
Panmunjeom  板門店

Nice Restaurant

　　One of the front clerks could speak Japanese and it was really handy. It was about 3:00 hours and he looked really sleepy, but we were not, thanks to jet lag. We went out for dinner despite the time of 3:00 hours. The restaurant was near the hotel. We started dinner with Korean beer. We were hungry and ate so much, but the price was about 25 U.S.D. per person including alcohol. We were surprised at the delicious dishes and their low prices. We enjoyed Korean cuisine and alcohol to our heart's content. It was about 4:00 hours when we got back the hotel. I went straight to bed, but woke before 7:00 hours. I suffered from serious jet lag.

　　The battery of my mobile PC was almost dead and I had no charger. I went to the hotel lobby to kill time and get some information about the flight schedule and the weather in Japan. I received a sheet faxed from Air Canada, and I'll show you it below. I assumed that our next flight would be before noon, but it was scheduled for 17:50 hours. We would be picked-up at 15:00 hours at the hotel. What should I do? I thought.

　　Anyway, I decided to have breakfast and plan today's actions.

Hotel and Airport Personnel

　　I looked at things from the hotel and airport personnel's point of view. Our plane arrived at Incheon Airport only two hours after the change in destination. The staff members of Air Canada in Seoul would arrange hotels for more than 300 unexpected visitors in a hurry. The situation would be the same in the airport. Personnel on midnight duty would call for assistance to staff members of security, immigration, or other ground staff. People whom we had met at midnight must have been called when in their bed. Such an idea made me thankful for accepting the landing of the plane. According to our hotel's front staff, the direct flight from Toronto seemed to have arrived at Incheon Airport before our arrival, avoiding the furious weather at Narita International Airport. I understood the chaos in the airport.

　　There was something that I suspected at the front desk of the hotel. The clerk insisted that he would keep our passports. I didn't know why, but I had no choice at that time. I deposited my passport at the front desk. I'd not been challenged to do so in other hotels. When I visited Seoul last time, I kept my passport all the time. Naturally, it was not his own idea, but the general rule of the hotel. Did they worry that we would escape or go missing? However we didn't visit there by our own desire. We were afraid that they might be used illegally.

Incheon Airtel

　　I found several buses waiting for us in front of the gate. I didn't know which bus we should take and we just stood still around the gate. At that time, someone came over and asked me, just "Air Canada?" and I replied "Yes". Then, he urged us to get in his minivan and we got in it, without being provided with any guidance from Air Canada. Thinking later, it might be dangerous to get in a car, without even knowing its destination in an unfamiliar country. Anyway, we were taken to Incheon Airtel, a hotel in Incheon City. The pictures show the name and location of the hotel. The hotel side was also a little confused. They didn't even know how many passengers were to stay at the hotel when we checked in.

　　About my room, there were several unfavorable and unbelievable things, but the network circumstances were perfect. I could freely connect my PDA to the internet. In the Hyatt Regency in Vancouver, the internet connection was charged. Recalling the Hyatt Regency, only at this point, this hotel was better than the Hyatt Regency.

　　However, the chargers of my PC and PDA were in my luggage which was locked
in the cargo space of the plane. Not only the chargers, but extra clothes, underwear, my electric shaver and a bottle of Canadian whiskey were also in my luggage. What should I do? I didn't feel sleepy at all due to jet lag.

Chaos

　　I heard an airport worker saying aloud "Come here". I obeyed her. She was maybe a Korean, who was not good at speaking English. She would be able to talk only particular usual formulas in English. Our situation was above her English skills. The line of passengers who were walking toward the exit was gradually getting longer and longer. Our group leader, who had suffered from a knee problem, couldn't walk at a normal pace without any wheelchair. We almost lost our way.

　　On the way to the exit, I saw several dozen people gathering at the corner of the corridor. They were depositing their liquid possessions which they had bought after departure procedure in Vancouver, but why? They would apparently be confiscated at the re-embarkation from Korea. Why? They can put them in their luggage.

　　We got to the luggage claim. The conveyer was at a standstill. The luggage didn't come out. I knew that the luggage was locked in the cargo space of the plane. I understood the pilot's words now. I was supposed to get on board the same plane. The maintenance of the plane would start at daybreak, and the crew should take enough rest and sleep. I thought our next flight would be in the afternoon. When I began thinking where I could have a rest, I saw several buses come in, and airport personnel told us to get on the bus without any instructions. It was complete chaos.

(Vocabulary)
formula [C] (ほとんど意味のない) 決まり文句
His speech was full of the usual formulas and clichés. 彼のスピーチはありきたりな言葉と陳腐な表現に満ちていた．
deposit  (安全な場所に) 〈貴重品など〉を預ける
confiscate  (罰として) …を押収する, 没収する
daybreak  夜明け, 日の出

Incheon Airport

　　Our plane smoothly and successfully landed at Incheon Airport, and some passengers burst into applause at the skillful pilots. I thought I would immediately have some guidance on the next flight to Japan, but there was no instructions about what to do at the airport. Anyway, we got out of the plane. So tired! Stretching myself was really comfortable. To record the rough time of our arrival, I took the picture below. The accurate time was probably 1:00 hours local time.

　　When I got out of the plane, I came across a pilot who was just coming out of the cockpit, and he said to me, "See you tomorrow." I couldn't understand this phrase. At that time, I supposed that we would take a rest for several hours at the airport, change planes and go back to Japan by another plane. That means, I thought that I would never see the same pilot on the next day. While thinking like that, I missed having time to reply to him. I was really sorry that I didn't say anything to express my gratitude for their tough work.

　　I wondered how hard the operation of passenger planes was, and while I was looking for the labor regulations of Air Canada, I found a news item on sleep inertia in Yahoo News (link). According to the rules, a pilot seems to work as long as 17 hours. It must be tough, I thought.

(Vocabulary)
inertia  惰性, 停滞; 無気力

http://news.yahoo.com/sleepy-air-canada-pilot-thought-collision-coming-dives-135232948.html

Unwanted Seoul, but...

　　Look at the picture below firstly. We had to continue flying two more hours and got to Incheon International Airport at midnight. I'm writing about this unexpected visit to South Korea. It's the beginning of Chapter Two of the trip.

　　Listening to the announcement from the cockpit, we were surprised. The storm usually passes from the west to the east and both Chubu International Airport (Nagoya) and Kansai International Airport (Osaka) are located to the west and must have been in operation for 24 hours. Chubu was very windy and the fuel left in our plane wasn't enough for multiple attempts at landing. Kansai International Airport was already overflowing with evacuated planes. These are the reasons why we had to move to Incheon.

　　Such an event was new to me and I didn't know what to do and what would become of us. To my surprise, there were no instructions from Air Canada after the announcement of the modification of the destination. The crew must have been in panic.

　　However, just after the announcement, I began planning to enjoy Seoul or Incheon. There were several places that I had wanted to visit, but I didn't have any maps, guidebooks or cash. Moreover, I didn't know how long we had to stay in Incheon.

(Vocabulary)
instruction 《[C]通例複数形で》 指示, 指令
an attempt to do sth ＜…＞しようとする試み
an attempt to climb Mount Everest  エベレスト登頂への挑戦
an attempt at (doing) sth ＜…＞（すること）への試み
My first attempts at speaking Spanish were embarrassing. 初めてスペイン語を話そうとしたときは恥ずかしい思いをした．

Trace of Our Plane

　　We were urged to fasten our seat belt about an hour before the landing. It was rather earlier than usual for the flight. I remember the seasonal strong wind in Japan. I'd like to have known the situation, but I couldn't access the internet in the past 10 hours and didn't have any information. The plane seemed to have been struggling against the unexpected strong winds or air turbulence. The cabin attendants were seated. I stopped watching a movie and switched the display from the movie to the trace of the flight. I'll show you the trace map of that time to you below. What do you think of it? You would easily be able to guess the effort of the airline pilots. Can we successfully land on the soil of Japan?

　　At last, our plane started going down. I clearly felt the descent of the plane. I was relieved. I can go back home! However, at that time, the plane was fanned by a gust of wind and was raised up. I was scared. The pilots gave up landing and the plane went up in full throttle. According to the story that I heard later, take off and ascent require much more fuel and they can never try landing many times repeatedly. As a result, we got to be transferred to another place. Where? You'll know in the next entry.

(Vocabulary)
be fanned by the wind / be hit by a gust of wind / struggle against the unexpectedly strong winds of  風に煽られる
turbulence  乱気流; (政治的な) 混乱, 騒乱, (心理的な) 動揺
descent [C,U](フォーマル) (飛行機などの) 降下, (山などを) 下る［下りる］こと
ascent  《[C]通例単数形で》 上昇, 登ること

Last Meal

　　Air Canada gave us meal vouchers (shown below) and it was the first time I had seen them. The six hours' delay of the flight was never due to their responsibility, just only natural phenomenon. I felt so sorry, and grateful at the same time. The vouchers were CAD $20 in total, but we couldn't get any change. I chose my lunch at the cost of 5 cents above 20 dollars. It was a good deal.

　　We had killed two hours over chatting and window-shopping in the duty-free shops. It was really boring. For the last part of this trip (grin), I'll show you pictures taken in the plane. The 4th picture was dinner, and the portion was appropriate for me, though it was small for well-built people. The next one was of the breakfast. Both were delicious.

　　By the way, what do you think of the last picture? It would be drawn by simply putting in the data like the points of departure and destination, the information from the GPS and the monitoring machines. However, I felt uneasy at the position of Vancouver and Tokyo.

　　I imagine that all the subscribers would think of this entry as the last piece about this trip, but don't miss the next entry! I'm sure you will be surprised.

Vancouver Airport

　　We arrived at Vancouver International Airport at about 14:00 hours. We were going to fly at 13:05, but we already knew via the website of the airport that our flight would be delayed to 19:00 hours. According to the information board shown in the first picture, the flight JL17(Japan Airlines), which was to start an hour earlier than us, was delayed to tomorrow. We wondered about the difference between the judgements of Air Canada and Japan Airlines. Air Canada would have sized up that the seasonal storm over Japan would pass before our arrival in Japan. On the other hand, as for Japan Airlines, they might have no airplane because the flight from Japan might be cancelled. Anyway we had to wait for the flight. By the way, in general, in such cases in Japan, the board says "Cancelled", not "Tomorrow". Are these the same thing? I wondered why two airplanes would fly to Japan the next day; i.e. one going like clockwork and the other to supplement the previous day's flight, right? If you know something about my question, let me know the answer.

　　The second picture is of a wheelchair which was offered from Air Canada. The chair was so-so, but the logo of the air company was stylish. I hoped that I'd like to attach it to my scooter.

(Vocabulary)
size sb/sth up  [句動詞] (よく見て) ＜…＞を判断［評価］する, ＜状況など＞を見極める=weigh up

Chinatown

　　It was the last day. We had to fly back to Japan. I was really sorry to say good-bye to my friends who live in Kobe, because I might not be able to see them again. On this trip, we made friends with each other and we had some really good powder snow though the weather was not so good. I found that lots of local skiers wore the wide, long and thin skis, which looked nice and suitable for powder snow. Next time I'll try them.

　　The first picture was shot through the window of my room. Cherry trees around Burrard Skytrain Station were fully in bloom. I wondered whether the cherry trees in my hometown had burst into bloom. I was afraid that I'd miss the season of the cherry blossom viewing party, for I'm a party animal.

　　We decided to have brunch in Chinatown, because the Chinese dinner we had had the previous night was really good. The second picture shows the entrance of a shop complex, on the second floor of which there was a big Chinese restaurant where we went on a taxi driver's advice. I have heard that the security of Chinatown was not good and I have always kept away from there, but in the daytime it would be all right to step in the town. There were several medical clinics and various shops in the building. The order was done by checking the box of dishes on the sheet that you'd like to eat. The 4th picture was of the order sheet. After a few minutes, the sheet shown in the next picture was brought to us. The next five pictures were the dishes we ordered. The number of customers gradually increased and people around us were unbelievably noisy, but the dishes were really good except for the delay of serving time of dishes.

　　Can you notice a lady who was checking her smart phone in the last picture? She was our group leader who had successfully planned our trip, though unsuccessful privately (grin). After brunch, she began speaking to us about the weather in Japan. At this moment, we didn't recognize that we were in a serious situation. You subscribers will know that later and will be astonished to know the story line of this trip. We were just at the end of chapter one of the trip, though we didn't know that then.

(Vocabulary)
check   [他](米) …にチェックマークをつける
Check the box that says "No." 「いいえ」のボックスにチェックをつけてください.