Whelp, here I am in Japan--for the second time! I can hardly believe it's been over a year since I last was in the land of the rising sun. I can hardly believe this time around, I'm not just visiting, but living and working here. I can't believe I didn't cry (that much) when I left. I can't believe I'm awake and functioning at four in the morning (Japan time that is) and seriously contemplating going for a run (well more like a quick jog) in the fitness center after I've finished this post. Take that, jet lag.
So here's the journey so far:
Friday morning, Mom and I left Fort Collins at about 9:30 and drove down to the Nippon Express place to drop off my big box'o'stuff to mail ahead to myself in Japan. It won't get there for 40-45 days or so since it's sea freight, but that's fine by me since it's mostly just winter clothes and some food anyway. It was nice since the Nippon Express building was only just slightly out of the way of the hotel at DIA--by like two minutes.
We got to the hotel between 11 and 11:30. I had been told before by Jessyca that, on paper at least, I'd be sharing a room with a girl (woman? She's 24 so...) named Justine, and her mom and Mom would be together on one. They had to do it that way since the JET participants' rooms were going to be covered, but anyone else's weren't. Anyway, Justine and her mom Heidi are super sweet. After we checked in and got our baggage up in the rooms, we went to lunch across the street at Uno's, along with two other girls (women?? They're 28 and 27, respectively) we met up with in the lobby, Tiffany and Jennifer, who are awesome.
We had lunch at Uno's (salad and pizza) and then went back to meet everyone else staying in the hotel in the lobby to leave for the pre-departure orientation. The Salt Lake City JETs' plane was delayed a little bit, but we left around 1:30 for the consul-general's house in giant white vans.
HOLY HELL does the consul-general have a beautiful home. He lives in the rich, well-to-do area of Denver metro area called Cherry Hills Village, where all the homes look like mini fairy tale castles or royal palaces.
Anyway, we sat through about five hours or so of orientation and then got to have delicious Japanese food for dinner (of which I ate too much), catered by Domo's, which I'd never had before but had always heard good things about. I went for a short walk with Justine and Tiffany to get rid of the little food baby I had, and then we all headed back to the hotel at around 9.
I met Dad and Sarah in the lobby to say goodbye, and pretty much lost it then. The realization that I'm now living and working overseas has washed over me like high tide, slowly creeping over me the past couple of days until I've been fully submerged in this new reality. But when I saw Dad, it crashed over me pretty hard. So I cried, and Jessyca took our picture for us, and also gave me the job of taking role call in the second shuttle to the airport in the morning. Then Dad and Sarah left, and I went back upstairs, and Mom and I went in search of a vending machine that still had water, to no avail. Then we went and hung out with Tiffany and Jenn in their room for a half hour or so, and then we went back to our room at around 11 and went to sleep.
I kept tossing and turning and trying to stop thinking, but at 3 AM I finally gave up. Mom couldn't sleep either, so we turned the lights on and I started to pace around and we talked. At 4 I decided to shower to make myself feel better, so I started to get ready and then Mom got ready and we both went down to the lobby at 5:30 to inquire about where one might purchase some toothpaste, seeing as how I had shipped ahead both the tubes I had bought and only taken a small airplane-sized one with me, which would definitely not last me the next 40-45 days until my box'o'stuff arrived. Luckily the front desk clerk was nice and she just gave me some toothpaste from their stores. I went up and stuffed those in my suitcases, and then Mom and I had some breakfast. People trickled in, and the first shuttle for the airport left at 6:40. Ours left at 7:20. Everyone boarded and I took role and we were off!
At this point, those who know me well (or at least remember what happened last summer when I left) must be imagining my face drenched in tears, since I was about to say goodbye to my mom, which is probably the hardest thing I'll ever have to do. Surprisingly though, we both kept it together, through the shuttle ride and getting our luggage checked, through taking the group shot of the 2011 Denver JET group, and even through walking to security. It was actually kind of hard to find time to just sit and hug her and cry, though, 'cause we whirlwinded through it all and by the time I knew it I was already sitting at our gate, waiting to board the plane to LAX. I cried a little, but not enough to ruin my make-up! =P
The flight to LAX was nice and easy, and we even arrived ten minutes early or so. I sat next to a father and his four-year-old daughter, who was the cutest thing but super shy, so she wouldn't look at me--she had her head burried in her dad's arm the whole time. When we got to the airport, we had to go to baggage claim to get our bags from our Southwest flight, go out and re-check them at the Japan Airlines counter and go through security again. Luckily, as if in retribution for last year's fiasco coming home, my bags were pretty much first off, so I rented a baggage cart and piled everything on there. We were herded by the travel agent, Karen, who had come with us from Denver, and her two associates at LAX to the Japan Airlines counter, where we checked in, and then we were on our own after security. I got some lunch, which was a $12 veggie panini that was cold in the center and rather mediocre, and then we boarded our flight to Japan.
I sat in the very back of the plane, which was awesome because our row only had two seats instead of three, so I had a little extra room next to me, which I used to stand and stretch a lot during the flight. Tiffany sat right in front of me, so we had "standing parties" with everyone around us--that is, little stretches of time where we all stood up and just chatted. I also was able to watch The Adjustment Bureau and Limitless, two very good movies despite what I thought. They should not, however, be watched one after the other as I did, since they tend to make one slightly paranoid afterwards.
Anyway, ten and a half short hours later, we arrived in Narita. We disembarked, grabbed luggage carts and got our luggage from baggage claim, went through customs, and then were greeted by dozens of pink-shirted Tokyo Orientation Assistants. The TOAs were all smiles and waves and excited "Welcome to Japan!"s, so it was kind of hard not to beam as I wheeled my luggage down the path they indicated. We went outside and lined up to drop off our big bags for takkyubin (ship-ahead) services, and then got in line for the buses which would take us to the hotel. I had a bit of a hiccup, since one of the TOA had the job of asking if we had shipped anything ahead of ourselves, and of course I said I had, and then there was a mini freak out of where it was going to be sent since I didn't give customs my address, but the contact info for CLAIR (the government organization that organizations things on the Japan end for the JET Program), since that's all I had. I was pulled out of line and led back to the Nippon Express counter in the airport, where it was figured out (all in Japanese, might I add, with only a touch of pride that I navigated through it) that I would just mail the Nippon Express people in Tokyo with a copy of my passport, visa, and address in Shinjo to ensure that they would forward it on to me instead of making me come pick it up in Tokyo. A hastle, since I was then on one of the last buses to the hotel, but worth it to save me the trek back to Tokyo and back, accompanied by a 65 pound box.
Anyway, the bus ride was about an hour long, and one of the TOAs kind of explained orientation but I didn't really listen. We got to the hotel around 7:30, where we were hereded by more pink shirts up to the fourth floor to get our JET packs (tee-hee), name tags and room key. I ended up roomies with Sara, my sempai from CSU, and who is also going to Yamagata prefecture! Lucky for me, since by the end of the day I was pretty much done with muscling through awkward introductions.
Anyway, I ran into Alex, another Denver JET, in the lobby, and we were both pretty relieved to see one another since all of the other Denver JETs had gotten to the hotel like a half hour before us. He helped me carry my bags up to my room (which, I forgot to mention, were freaking HEAVY and left BRUISES that look like the Monster Book of Monsters gave me hickies on either sholder), and I dropped them off and grabbed my wallet, passport and camera in my purse. Then we went to his room so he could drop his stuff off too, and then we ran into a couple more guys from Denver, and the six of us walked to a restaurant to get dinner around 9. I helped them order in Japanese (a dash more pride here--sorry, I'm usually so modest!), and we had a really fun time. I had cold soba and tuna over rice, and it was probably the best food I've ever had. I had nearly forgotten what authentic, fresh Japanese food tasted like--it healed any wounds I had from culture shock (which hit me when I got pulled out of line to go deal with the Nippon Express stuff), homesickness, or indignities of being hot and sweaty and having my clothes stick to me (yay humidity).
So we got back to the hotel and went back to our separate rooms, and that's when I discovered Sara was my roomie (she wasn't around when I first arrived and dropped off my stuff). I got my PJs on, brushed my teeth, Skyped Mom really quick, read the Orientation booklet we had been giving, and went to bed.
Then, today, of course, I woke up again at 3 in the morning.This time I made myself lie in bed for an hour before I got up, started a Denver JET group on Facebook for the 2011 crew, and wrote this post.
Now, I'm off for a jog.
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