At the University we met Horie Sensei who briefed me on the timetable of the four courses I was to teach: two on the EU (migration, and key economic & social issues); one on the US Presidential Election; the other on Globalisation. It was Friday late afternoon: I would start teaching these courses at 9am on Monday. All I knew for sure was that my stomach lining was hot and still vibrating through the time zones. I focused very intently on Horie - trying to memorise the details of his face. I was so beyond myself with tiredness that many automatic brain functions had shut down: I knew that I would not recognise him again if I didn't pay meticulous attention to his appearance.
I met Angeles, an Economist from the University of Barcelona: she was also on a faculty exchange programme and we would share an office. She was the epitome of Catalan chic, charm and vibrancy - I was reassured that here was someone I could rely on and also felt even greyer than my usual pale pallor. After an hour and a half I had a file with sheaves of paper: timetables: classes, library, bus and train; visas, banking, other services and amenities. And I had a date to meet with Horie, Angeles and Mitsuko Sensei - the next morning on campus.
My office is on floor 5 of building 9: I passed by the cathedral space which opens up the centre of this building from floor 5: an ocean of dark blond wooden floor, a cloudy plantation of bamboo trees right at the end behind 3-storeys of glass. Students sat here - silently or very quietly. I couldn't get a sense of the scale even as I walked to the end - I just had a sensation that I was fading and disapearing in the reflected light.
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