The day started out really early, with my family and I getting up around four o'clock. We get there around 7:45 and check in, only to realize that my flight got delayed by five hours. I felt like all my anxiety about the trip just go woosh out of my body, only for it to be replaced with a like "Ahhh" feeling. My mom had to go, so she told me to call my dad who lives in the area. I was really sad my mom wouldn't be there in the last moments before I left. But I think it was a sign from the big man upstairs, or whoever upstairs, was giving me time to see my sister and my dad, who I canceled on visiting the day before. I was really glad in the end that it happened, because I don't see them that often, and not seeing my sister (who went through a major surgery ages ago, but I never saw her) before I left for Japan for three months would have been terrible of me.
After fishing on the pier with my dad and hanging out with my sister at stores (like I wasn't about to go to another country for three months no sweat), I met up with my partner Yumie and boarded the plane!
Dad being very nice and letting some kids on a walk take a picture with him and a crab he caught.
The plane was all right, since it was United Airlines and no JAL or Virgin Airlines. Their food was pretty good though. One funny thing was that Big Bang's "Blue" was playing on the C-pop (Chinese pop) music channel on the airplane... It took me a second to realize that wasn't quite right.
Yumie and I were freaking out about the Encho-sensei (head of the house) not being able to pick us up because of the flight delay, but there they were! Poor Yumie's friend, who she even told not to pick us up because we had a ride, even waited there five hours for us. :(
The first night we just settled in. Their accomodations are more than we expected. I get my own room and even my own private bathroom! And they gave us towels, shampoo, conditioner, etc. I even have my own mini-fridge, and you don't even get that in hotels all the time.
The morning after, we had breakfast and met all of the staff. Yumie and I totally bombed our jiko-shoukai (self-introduction). We then walked around by ourselves in search of a combini because I missed my tuna onigiri. Later O\our manager, Sato-sensei, took us out to exchange money at the same center where the Hello Kitty Land (Puro Land) is. There was so many tall buildings everywhere! We also figured out what Yumie's phone wasn't working, and then got me a train pass.
Afterwards, we played around the home a bit with two adorable girls. Yumie then was pulled away from me and I must have had super nervous look on my face because one of the workers was like "Don't worry!"
I ate dinner at a house off-campus, and it was seriously fun! One of the girls there is going to Seattle during the summer, and everyone, even the like two-year-old tried their best to use some English with me. The older girl also plays soccer in high school! I also got lucky because the worker that picked me up had been to the Philippines before and also was able to use English really well. It was really fun, and I liked that they were able to achieve that family dynamic so well. When I pulled out these jelly bean goody bags Yumie and I made they had so much fun asking what color was what flavor. I hope to visit them again, since I won't be able to see them so much since they're off-campus.
Insert Picture of Jelly Beans later >o<
I'm a little bummed I won't be able to use my own netbook and video chat with my mom... But I understand that they don't quite understand my English and don't quite understand that I can just use their ethernet cord. My mom probably won't be able to get the Skype running for a while anyway! And I can at least text chat with her! Gotta stay positive!
Overall the first few days were fun! I'm definitely getting used to using my stumbling Japanese more. And having Yumie with me is a life-saver for the nervousness. I know a typed a ton here (probably because I had such a long but fun day) so here's a picture of their dog!
She's super adorable! <3
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