Making the most out of a typhoon

by Jennel Senior (Canada)

I didn't expect to find Japan

Living through a typhoon, prancing through a Japanese garden, taste-testing Japanese-Italian fusion, and falling in love with Japanese pancakes was not entirely how I pictured spending my Thanksgiving last October. As a matter of fact, I didn’t expect it at all. I figured that my long weekend would have consisted of what my days usually consist of as a new (and junior) flight attendant on reserve – Netflix for entertainment and Fatburger for dinner. Possibly being called out for a two-day domestic pairing and nothing else. Boy, was I in for a whirlwind. Being the only reserve flight attendant on the flight, I was naturally the last person there. There I was, all bright eyed and bushy-tailed because, “I’m going to Japan!” only to have my bubble burst with a sharp pin called reality of the fact that we were headed into a typhoon. Now, I’m only twenty-three, and grew up in the Greater Toronto Area. The closest thing I can recall of a natural disaster is the 2003 Northeast Black Out that prevented me from defeating all levels of my Lizzie McGuire “On the Go!” game on my Nintendo Gameboy SP. I was slightly frightened and didn’t know what to expect. So, I followed the cue of my crew. Upon landing in Narita at about 5pm, a few of us took a taxi to the nearest grocery store to stock up on food. Not privy to the language, and therefore unable to understand the product labels, I ended up buying two packages of pork, that I honestly thought were large portions of chicken and a bunch of can’t-go-wrong items such as chips and juice boxes. I was ready for my natural disaster. I woke up the next morning to the hotel having no electricity aside from the emergency light illuminated in the ceiling. I took my shower in the dark, did my makeup in the natural lighting and went exploring the hotel for my crew members. I ended up meeting crew from the company from another base, three of whom would later become my friends for the weekend. That day, we were totally bound to the hotel as the late afternoon sky increasingly grew eerie, the winds picked up with vengeance and news stations sounded evacuation alarms, urging locals to whatever safety available. Our flights back to Canada actually were cancelled the next day as a precautionary measure. At 7am the next morning, the sun came out, beaming into my room as though the typhoon had never come just the day before. Having been granted an extra day to really see Japan, I took to the streets with my newfound friends from the day before. We took a hotel shuttle into the village and enjoyed the calm of the Sunday morning. Shopkeepers happily swept the outside of their shops in anticipation for business, and tourists as well as locals alike, slowly trickled into the village. We made our way to a popular temple, then proceeded through to the adjoining garden. After the garden, we were starving and made our way to a Japanese-Italian fusion restaurant. Thankfully, amongst us four tomodachi, was a native Japanese speaker who happily helped us order and communicate during our outing. After our lunch, we took a local bus to the nearest mall. All the walking eventually led us to a cute, boutique-like coffee shop that served the most amazing pancakes I have ever had. They were extremely fluffy, extremely soft and although took twenty minutes to create in the kitchen, took less than three minutes to devour. I would have never guessed that my layover would have turned out this memorable. I went into this layover thoroughly excited to see Japan. That excitement dwindled into a mixture of fear and indifference when I got wind of the typhoon, then rose again as the sun did when the typhoon passed. To this day, my 72 hours in Japan are my most memorable hours on a layover in my new career. Surely, I didn't expect to find this kind of silver lining in what so easily could have been a minor version of doomsday. I guess the saying is true that the best things happen unexpectedly.