Victor and I had a wake-up call set for 4:30 am. I think the ringer on the phone for the wake-up call is made to be louder than regular calls, at least that’s the way it seemed! We made it downstairs by 5 and caught the next shuttle bus to the airport. From Atlanta we flew to Dallas. I sat in an aisle seat and had a great conversation with Nathan and Frank, two JET Participants who sat next to me. On the next flight to Japan, I sat next to another JET Participant, but he didn’t seem too keen on having much conversation. He seemed more interested in listening to Japanese music (which the flight offered) or reading his Japanese novel. The first flight seemed short and I had fun talking with my two new friends. It seemed there would be no good conversation on the much longer flight to Japan. But I wasn’t totally out of luck. At the beginning of the flight, one of the flight attendants rolled by with a cart full of national and international newspapers—for free. That’s when I knew the flight would be ok. I gladly helped myself to an International Herald Tribune. To break up the long trip, the American Airlines flight had a TV on every seat, with games, music and movies. The flight also had three meals, snacks and drinks.
The flight arrived at Narita International Airport July 24. I left Dallas with daylight and arrived in Japan during daylight. Let the jetlag begin! Standing in the long immigration line, with English, Australians, Chinese and other citizens from around the world, I was both excited and exhausted. Immigration was painless and the officials at the airport were pretty helpful. Orientation volunteers from the JET Program had on pink t-shirts and greeted us after we picked up our luggage. From the airport, all JET Participants took buses downtown Tokyo to the Keio Plaza Hotel. I checked in with the JET Program in a large room on the second floor, grabbed my orientation bag, room key and other documents and headed to my room for some much needed sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment