The story so far 1: 来日

I'm back online and in the past week SO much has happened I don't know how to sum this up, so decided to split the post into parts.

So I went on this plane to fly to Japan, which, as we all know, is on the "other" side of the planet. So I was more than a little nervous and teary and shaky, but as soon as I boarded the plane I was filled with what you might call the "spirit of adventure". I had to change planes at Frankfurt airport, which I hate. The place is just too big. You always find yourself wandering into one direction for 7 kilometres just to find an info point or something and then find a sign that says that the info point  is 5,7 miles West from the last petrol station. I only got to my plane in time, because I didn't rely on signs but mercilessly asked people for directions.

Once on the plane to Narita airport I tried to figure out a good position to fall asleep in, when I noticed some people in front of me talking about pretty familiar subjects like "I wonder what my town will be like" and "I wonder how much translation I really need to do". Turns out I was sat next to the German CIRs who were also headed for Tokyo orientation! So we had a little chat, got some food and fell asleep.

Tokyo was hot and humid, but it could have much much hotter and a great deal more humid. Apparently we were really lucky; there's lots of people who say that August in Tokyo is unbearable. We did some re-packing (one suitcase was to be shipped directly to Hokkaido), but on a JET-programme sticker and went through customs and everything no problem. I just was a little delayed because I filled in my customs declaration card with a pencil and not a pen. It's like writing a test back at school...

Once outside the safety zone we were greeted by a horde of JET programme helpers who could be identified by their pink t-shirts and impossibly good mood. Each one of them was a big mountain of joy and glee, it was quite a sight. In a way it was also motivating. Imagine coming to a foreign country and the first thing you see is people in pink t-shirts going "TURN AWAY YOU FOOL BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!".

The friendly helpers put us all on a bus and two hours later we were in
TOKYOOOOO, WOOOHOOO!! was what I thought. It really is an amazing city. Pity I didn't have much time to take a proper look at it.