The Flight and Tokyo Orientation, Day one (pictures, too!)
So, woke up at 4 am on Saturday (US time) and got to the airport at like 5:45 am. Our flight got delayed by about 45 minutes cause of overweight luggage, so the pilot changed our landing gate so that the 68 of us could make the connecting flight to Narita (which left pretty much as soon as we got on and stowed our bags.) The flight was SO LONG. I read two books, played DS and since they weren't anal about us walking around and standing around, a bunch of us kept getting up for an hour or two at a time to talk and stretch our legs.
Continental has some nasty vegetarian meals. First, I got creamed spinach with some Indian spices, some rice with Indian spices, and some poorly baked tofu covered in some mysterious yellow curry type stuff. I also got a roll (which was tasty), fruit (also tasty) and a vegan chocolate chip cookie (tasty). I hate Indian food, and what is sad, is that this Indian food was better than the nasty shit at the place we went with Barb, Ted and the guy who went to Japan that they know. I ate this out of complete desperation.
Then, my next meal was a veggie patty, which to the airlines meant a soggy, mushy mass of grayish brown with peas, carrots and peppers in it (like, we're talking so mushy some of the veggie pieces fell out of the patty) on a tasty roll with horrible fake American cheese. It was better than real American cheese, but American cheese is not my thing. I also got another vegan cookie. You see, they make all the veggie meals vegan so they don't have to have two separate kinds.
My third meal of 'delight' was a mystery. There were two things that I think were meant to emulate chicken nuggets - it was basically stuffing that was crispy on the outside and soggy on the inside. Tasty, huh? I also got two patties of what I think were grits (or edible Styrofoam). These things were swimming in some odd bean paste. I also got some pretty nasty fruit, a tasty bagel, and another vegan cookie. I so wish I had had my camera with me and not in my overhead bin so I could share the delight of my food with you all, but alas, no pictures for you.
We got to the airport about two and just for reference, they do not check you for meds at all. I actually forgot to give them my Yakkan Shomei form and show them my pills and was told by the JET helpers to go back in and give it to them. So, then of course, I got to practice Japanese on like a couple hours sleep. It worked out though.
We got to the hotel at like 5:30. I met my roommate (from Arizona, her name's Chelsea) and we ironed our clothes together and then got our internet working in our room.
Around 8:30, I met up with my friend, Kazunori. He took me to dinner and then showed me Shinjuku and Shibuya. Here's some pictures!
The chandeliers in the Keio Plaza Hotel lobby
This is Shinjuku. That's where the hotel is located... this is a few blocks away.
Kazunori took this of me.
This many people are out at 9:30/10 pm on a Sunday night!!
This is Shibuya
And this is Kazunori.
OK, I've been awake for the past 31 hours (with 2 almost 1 hour plane naps), so I'm going to bed. :D
Continental has some nasty vegetarian meals. First, I got creamed spinach with some Indian spices, some rice with Indian spices, and some poorly baked tofu covered in some mysterious yellow curry type stuff. I also got a roll (which was tasty), fruit (also tasty) and a vegan chocolate chip cookie (tasty). I hate Indian food, and what is sad, is that this Indian food was better than the nasty shit at the place we went with Barb, Ted and the guy who went to Japan that they know. I ate this out of complete desperation.
Then, my next meal was a veggie patty, which to the airlines meant a soggy, mushy mass of grayish brown with peas, carrots and peppers in it (like, we're talking so mushy some of the veggie pieces fell out of the patty) on a tasty roll with horrible fake American cheese. It was better than real American cheese, but American cheese is not my thing. I also got another vegan cookie. You see, they make all the veggie meals vegan so they don't have to have two separate kinds.
My third meal of 'delight' was a mystery. There were two things that I think were meant to emulate chicken nuggets - it was basically stuffing that was crispy on the outside and soggy on the inside. Tasty, huh? I also got two patties of what I think were grits (or edible Styrofoam). These things were swimming in some odd bean paste. I also got some pretty nasty fruit, a tasty bagel, and another vegan cookie. I so wish I had had my camera with me and not in my overhead bin so I could share the delight of my food with you all, but alas, no pictures for you.
We got to the airport about two and just for reference, they do not check you for meds at all. I actually forgot to give them my Yakkan Shomei form and show them my pills and was told by the JET helpers to go back in and give it to them. So, then of course, I got to practice Japanese on like a couple hours sleep. It worked out though.
We got to the hotel at like 5:30. I met my roommate (from Arizona, her name's Chelsea) and we ironed our clothes together and then got our internet working in our room.
Around 8:30, I met up with my friend, Kazunori. He took me to dinner and then showed me Shinjuku and Shibuya. Here's some pictures!
The chandeliers in the Keio Plaza Hotel lobby
This is Shinjuku. That's where the hotel is located... this is a few blocks away.
Kazunori took this of me.
This many people are out at 9:30/10 pm on a Sunday night!!
This is Shibuya
And this is Kazunori.
OK, I've been awake for the past 31 hours (with 2 almost 1 hour plane naps), so I'm going to bed. :D