Date - April 6, 10pm"ish"
The longest trip I have ever taken in my entire life originated quite a funny story. My first comical situation after arriving in a completely different country. Differences between Brazil and Japan go deep into the culture, even into the "sleeping" culture.
Growing up in Brazil, close the United States of America, we are subject to the North American culture in so many ways that we don't even notice. Ever since I started paying attention, in my house, we have always used box-sheets (you know, those sheets that have an elastic band on the bottom part, so that we can easily wrap the mattress with the sheets). On top of the sheets, we usually have another "layer" of sheets. And on top of the second layer of sheets, we usually put a blanket. That is how it was, that is how it has been, and that is how it will be.
A few years ago, I decided to use a Japanese style blanket, called Futon, that was very common in my grandma's house. The Futon is a very thick blanket, but even with the Futon, I was still using the "second layer sheets" and the traditional blanket. (I do that because I move around quite a lot when I'm sleeping, so I put three layers so that I can increase the probability of having something covering me when I wake up....)
So, arriving in the Dorm where I am currently living, I was given a big plastic bag with all the linens I would be using. 2 sheets, a futon, a blanket and single-sized "white thingy", that I didn't know what the hell I was going to do that. Let's call it "Blanket #2".
Remember, this is already close to midnight, after 2 full days of very little, uncomfortable sleep.
I get the bag line everything up on the floor, to start thinking what is going to happen next.
First off, the sheet that will cover the mattress. I look at the all the goods on the floor and think: "That should be a kind of box sheet". I pick it up and look at it. It has a weird egg-shaped hole in the middle.
"Hum, that can only be the whole I should put the mattress in, right?!" So I start by taking the sheets and wrapping it around the right corner of the mattress. OK. Next, the left corner.
I look at the situation and realize that something is not right. That left corner of the sheet cannot possibly reach the end of the left corner of the mattress to fit.
"Well, maybe it is a very tight fit. You know, Japanese are so advanced that they probably engineered sheets and mattresses to fit together perfectly! I will put a little bit of elbow grease on it and try to shove it in...."
After a couple of tries, I realize that if I keep that up, I will probably tear the sheets, and give up.
I decided to just place the sheet which was intended to be the second layer of sheets on top of the mattress and then cover myself with the futon, blanket and the white thingy. (Remember, it was April. Not completely cold like January, but still quite cold for someone who 2 days earlier was enjoying a nice summer barbecue in Brazil.)
The next day, I wake up and meet my neighbor (who came with me on the same flight from Tokyo) and he asks me how did I manage with the sheets.
"I forgot that in Japan they use Futon Covers instead of sheets, and that they wrap the mattress around with the plain sheet", said the neighbor.
"Oh yeah, the Futon Cover was really nice", said I, but in reality, I was thinking: "Goddamn, that was a Futon cover and not sheets...."
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At that point, I decided to keep my mouth shut and not leak this story to anyone...
April 6th, 2007, the day I became Homer Simpson... heheh
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