Arrival

Okay, it’s about 5 am and I can’t sleep because so much is on my mind, so I figure I’d take the time to post.

Leaving yesterday was hard. But my family and Leo were wonderful. I really felt blessed that Chris and Marnie were there, going too. I’m not sure I would have been so . . . composed if they hadn’t been there.

Before the flight I hung out with Curi and Marnie, and I also met Leslie (who I call Lindsey in my head, because she looks more like one) and Rana (who was behind us in line and left her husband) and they were awesome to talk to. Rana is going to . . . Nagano? And Leslie is going to . . . Gunma. Before I left I had my last Crown Royal at a nice eatery. It was a good choice, I think.

The first flight I sat next to some girl who will be working in the same prefecture as Marnie. I need to get her name, and I’m sure I will before the orientation is over, I mean, she is working in the same prefecture as Marnie. The first flight took over a hour to get off the ground because we were over weight. Towards the end of the hour they were offering 2 free domestic plane tickets for anyone who wanted to take a later flight. Too bad we couldn’t volunteer.

The second flight was actually delayed because we (the 63 of us) were running late, so we had time to grab a water bottle and a small snack (Butterfingers and a Reese’s Big Cup, I ate half of the Butterfinger, and I’m saving the Big Cup). The second flight was not as pleasant as the first. Mostly because it was long and boring. I finished my first book about 2 hours in, and the only reason I didn’t finish my 2nd was because I was determinately trying to sleep. I shut my eyes for about 6 hours total, I probably slept about an hour of that. The turbulence wasn’t very bad, but the stuardess was . . . unpleasant. And the landing took forever. Not the coming down part, that only took an extra ten minutes, I mean when we sent down the plane just refused to stop. Nothing was wrong, it was just harrowing.

The Narita airport is wonderful. They have these wonderful luggage carts that can go up escalators! There were tons of teal shirts to meet us and (so far as I know) no one got lost. We sent our luggage ahead to our host institutions, and I remembered enough Japanese to ask for a girl who didn’t speak any, if that was all of the luggage coming off the plane and that her bags weren’t there. She was told (at the desk that spoke English) that they should arrive by Tuesday. I really hope it all works out for her.

The bus was pleasant, and they gave us water :) and it had a bathroom! It took around 2 hours to get to Tokyo, and we drove past Tokyo Disney. All of the cars on the road seemed to have GPS in them :P. Rebecca was our “tour guide,” the current JET who went over the orientation schedule with us and answered our questions.

At the Keio Plaza hotel, they were all really nice and gave us more material than we can possibly fit into our bags, but whatever. It’s full of some teaching materials, a US map, calendars, postcards, etc. All in all really nice. I took a shower :D
We Leslie, Curi and I went out to find curry and only had to walk about 2 and a half blocks to find it. Spicer than I usually like, and a HUGE portion for only 350Y (I didn’t eat it all), but it was great. Later I walked Marnie to the same curry place, as she was the one who put it in my head, and she was positively loopy with all of the issues that happened before she left.

When I got back I found out that an organization called AJET had set up free Skype calls to home (5 min per), so I called home and no one picked up, but Mom picked up her cell.

And then bed. We have a full plate today, so I guess I should try to get some more sleep. I’ll talk again when I can.