Osaka Day 1

Well, I am all settled in so I will now recant all the wonderful things that happened since I arrived in Osaka on the 26th.

The plane ride to Chicago was pretty good. I sat next to a kid on his way to Kentuky with the Tim Hortons camp. We talked pretty much the whole way, and the conversation was as amusing as you can imagine a conversation with a 10 year old can be. I'd ask him things like, "do you know what state we are over?", and he'd say stuff like, "england?". All in all, pretty good. When I landed in Chicago, I really didn't know where I was going so I asked a random employee who pointed me in the right direction. I got to the right counter and picked up my boarding pass. I didn't have a choice in where I sat and I ended up getting the very last row in the plane, between two people :( After I got my pass, I went and exchanged $20 CAN into $13 US and bought a roast beef sandwich and a water. After I finished it I felt a little queasy, but I think it was more from nervousness than food poisoning. I made a collect call to my family which was ignored and then repeated and got through. Then I took a horrible 13 hour flight.

I sat beside a girl who was on a renewed contract with JET and we talked a little about it. She gave me some good pointers and our conversations grew sparse. We ended up doing our own things and only really talked when her or myself got up to stretch or use the washroom. Luckily, she was not upset about me getting up so much. I couldn't really fall asleep on the plane, since I couldn't recline my seat. It was practically up against the kitchen wall. I watched "Over the Hedge" which was pretty lame, "16 Blocks" with Bruce Willis and Mos Def, which was tolerable, and "She's the Man", which was in my opinion, a very entertaining romp through adolescence. I actually watched it twice. Aside from that, I listened to my ipod and read my really long book, which I still haven't finished. It's paper back, but the font is miniscule and I can't seem to get it done.

When I stepped off the plane, I almost fell over. The transition from the air condioned plane to the humidity of Kansai airport was really intense. I instantly became damp with condensation and sweat and I lumbered through the terminals with my luggage. I was the last off the plane, but because of my leet walking skills, I made it past more than half the plane before immigration. It still took me 35 minutes to make it through, and when I saw Tomoko, I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief.

We took the bus for about an hour to a station where her parents picked us up. They were SO nice and even could speak a little English, which was good, since my Japanese was completely forgotten at that point. We got to Tomoko's house, where we talked for a little and then I went to bed early.

And so ended my first day in Japan. Tune in tomorrow for another exciting episode. The rest of Osaka and what happened when I got to Fukuoka.