Adventure!
Boring actual journal, just pass over if you don`t really care
Time Traveling or The Longest Day of Your Life
At 9:59 AM EST I left Logan Airport to eventually end up in Nagoya, Japan. My first plane stopped in Chicago where I had an hour to kill and nothing to do. Waiting for the plane to arrive, I could tell that there were only two types of people I would be seeing for the next year. 1) Japanese people 2) The most awkward people America could produce. I got on the plane to see that it was much larger than the one that had brought me from Boston to Chicago, also much more comfortable and with a personal screen. The treatment was great. It turned out that I had about 5 seats to myself and they provided a pillow and blanket. Totally sweet. Or that`s what I thought at take off. TV, books, nap material. I couldn`t go wrong. As it turns out, there were about 3 channels actually in English, one of them being The Lords of Dogtown (I did end up watching it, not really my bag), one being I think news, and I forgot what the third was. 3 or 4 channels in Japanese, one of which was a film with Will Ferrell that I totally didn`t understand. When I saw Cartoon Network, I jumped, I thought it would be my last chance to catch Foster`s Home For Imaginary Friends before I left. Turns out the show was on, but for some reason, it was in Spanish. Fuck that noise. The TV got boring quick. The hours drew on, but it never got dark out. We were following the sun, it was always early afternoon. When I arrived, bored, tired, and completely out of it, I had been up for about 20 hours, and it was only 4 in the afternoon. Definitely a perfect state to be in for meeting the people your going to live with for the next 10 months or so. As it turns out, the airport was RIDICULOUSLY CLEAN. I mean, people make jokes about Japan being obsessed with cleanliness, but this was ridiculous. I guess it`s brand new, so it`s not surprising, but seriously, a definite wow as far as first sights. I got out, went through a bunch of customs, got my luggage and just as I was getting my gift wrapped for my host family, I noticed I lost the 3 Boston Red Sox hats I bought for the kids. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. I ran to the nearest station attendant and tried what I could
Me " Hats....THREE...became lost...plane...Errr... What the hell is the counter for hats?"
Attendant " hats? lost, i`ll see what I can do..."
Oh snap! English! Victory! I sat in a corner for a while as she ran around and did like 3 things at once. She kept getting messages on her walkie talkie, I guess she was kind of important. I sat and waited as Japanese coming in from all over stared at me, a poor lost foriegner looking confused and worried. Eventually she found them for me, which I find amazing, I figured someone surely would`ve grabbed them and been off. My spirits up, I went out to meet my family.
Got to run, more later
Time Traveling or The Longest Day of Your Life
At 9:59 AM EST I left Logan Airport to eventually end up in Nagoya, Japan. My first plane stopped in Chicago where I had an hour to kill and nothing to do. Waiting for the plane to arrive, I could tell that there were only two types of people I would be seeing for the next year. 1) Japanese people 2) The most awkward people America could produce. I got on the plane to see that it was much larger than the one that had brought me from Boston to Chicago, also much more comfortable and with a personal screen. The treatment was great. It turned out that I had about 5 seats to myself and they provided a pillow and blanket. Totally sweet. Or that`s what I thought at take off. TV, books, nap material. I couldn`t go wrong. As it turns out, there were about 3 channels actually in English, one of them being The Lords of Dogtown (I did end up watching it, not really my bag), one being I think news, and I forgot what the third was. 3 or 4 channels in Japanese, one of which was a film with Will Ferrell that I totally didn`t understand. When I saw Cartoon Network, I jumped, I thought it would be my last chance to catch Foster`s Home For Imaginary Friends before I left. Turns out the show was on, but for some reason, it was in Spanish. Fuck that noise. The TV got boring quick. The hours drew on, but it never got dark out. We were following the sun, it was always early afternoon. When I arrived, bored, tired, and completely out of it, I had been up for about 20 hours, and it was only 4 in the afternoon. Definitely a perfect state to be in for meeting the people your going to live with for the next 10 months or so. As it turns out, the airport was RIDICULOUSLY CLEAN. I mean, people make jokes about Japan being obsessed with cleanliness, but this was ridiculous. I guess it`s brand new, so it`s not surprising, but seriously, a definite wow as far as first sights. I got out, went through a bunch of customs, got my luggage and just as I was getting my gift wrapped for my host family, I noticed I lost the 3 Boston Red Sox hats I bought for the kids. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. I ran to the nearest station attendant and tried what I could
Me " Hats....THREE...became lost...plane...Errr... What the hell is the counter for hats?"
Attendant " hats? lost, i`ll see what I can do..."
Oh snap! English! Victory! I sat in a corner for a while as she ran around and did like 3 things at once. She kept getting messages on her walkie talkie, I guess she was kind of important. I sat and waited as Japanese coming in from all over stared at me, a poor lost foriegner looking confused and worried. Eventually she found them for me, which I find amazing, I figured someone surely would`ve grabbed them and been off. My spirits up, I went out to meet my family.
Got to run, more later