|
|
|
| Minneapolis/St.Paul airport | Tony with his hostfamily in Showa town |
By Nagai and Zurn sensei:
Welcome to the Japan trip 2003! Hope we have a memorable trip!
Nagai sensei met everyone at the airport and everyone looked ready and excited to go. Many brought their family to see them off. Nagai sensei found a group NWA check-in place downstairs so we got through very quickly.
The security check was very smooth. We did not need to wait in a long line for checking. That is great! We had about half an hour of free time before boarding. Meghan showed us a nice book about Japan called "You know you've been in Japan too long when...". It looked very interesting. I would like to know where she got it. Colin has a PocketPC which speaks Japanese. It is pretty amazing! A few people packed snacks. Sho (Brian) shared some Shrimp Crackers. They were yummy!
The flight is not full at all. Therefore it did not take time to board. However there was something wrong with a generator that the mechanics had to fix. We had to wait on the plane about one hour. We finally departed arount 4:00, the captain said we will be only about 25 minutes late to Narita. Hopefully we will not be too late for the bus at Narita Airport.
About 6:00 we had supper on the flight. We could choose from Curry chicken or Beef Teriyaki. It came with salad, fish, roll, and fruit. They were good. Everyone enjoyed the meal.
After the meal they started one of three movies. All shades were closed. because outside was very bright. Some enjoyed the movie, some went to sleep. Luckily there was almost no turbulence on the flight. Nagai sensei sat next to twin 5-year-old boys who were flying to the Philippines. They were funny and very talkative!
It is now 5:25 pm June 9 (Monday). We arrived in Japan!. The temperature is 66 F, Nagai sensei says it is not humid at all, but Zurn sensei thinks it is.
Finally we made it! The plane was 30 min. late. Plus Customs took a long time. Nagaisensei was afraid that we would miss the bus. We really needed to catch the bus because the next bus would be 2 hours later! But everyone got their luggage and exchanged money in 20 min. Awesome job! But Brian Hon took Rachael's backpack from the baggage claim because their packs are the same! So Rachael had to take Brian's pack through Customs. Oops! Brian did not realize he had her stuff until she told him. What if they did not find out until tomorrow!? Funny.
By the way this bus goes to Kashiwa (Chiba prefecture: east of Tokyo). It takes one and a half hours. Then we will catch the train at the Kashiwa station to Nagai sensei's home town called Showa Town. The name of the station is Minami-sakurai.
At the Minami-sakurai station we will meet our hostfamily! Everyone is a bit nervous. Finally we met our first host families! They had signs so the students felt welcome, that was very thoughtful. Many people from the Showa International Friendship group was there as well. Nagai sensei said some things to thank the host family and when we need to come back tomorrow. Then everyone left with their hostfamily to go home take a shower and fall into bed! We were so tired from all our traveling, excitement and the time change.
We are really in Japan now! Tomorrow we visit the Daruma factory where they make the Daruma good-luck dolls, we will paint the face on our own Daruma!
Good night.