Maybe I Was A Little Jetlagged

So I realize I've been awful at blogging from Japan and letting everyone know how life is over here, so this post is intended to rectify this unacceptable situation.  As most of you know, I left the States (as I've started calling home amongst my Aussie, Canadian, and British colleagues) on the sixteenth of January.  I assume my flight from Raleigh to Detroit was uneventful since I slept for most of it and wouldn't know if anyone looked at me and said "He looks like he's moving really far away."  Regardless, the flight from Detroit to Tokyo was much more interesting.  Before that though, sitting at the gate in Detroit was quite the experience.  Not because of anything new or particularly interesting, but just realizing that I was about to get on a plane to Tokyo.  No fears, no worries, just excitement and anticipation.

There were two other Nova guys in the seats in front of me, so it was nice to have someone to talk to on the plane.  I can't remember exactly where they were being shipped to, but I do remember that they were within an hour of Tokyo.  Me, definitely not.  I slept for the first part of that flight and spent the rest of it listening to music and otherwise trying to entertain myself.  The following is a list of 15 observations I jotted down on my computer at one point:

1) Alaska is massive.
2) Alaska is whiter than Iowa.
3) The Pacific Ocean is also massive.
4) A 747 is a huge airplane.
5) Neither Accepted nor Step Up is a particularly good movie.
6) The Illusionist, however, even without audio, is worth seeing.
7) The Pacific Ocean is still massive.
8) Shrimp eaten on an airline are quite good.  Don't be afraid of them if they are offered.
9) Crimson and Clover may be the most perfect song ever.
10) How many flight attendants are on this airplane?
11) Additionally, how many pilots are on this plane?
12) I've been on this plane for 8 hours.
13) And we still have 5 more to go.
14) Yep, the Pacific Ocean is still massive.
15) My girlfriend is amazing.  And wonderful.  And everything I could ever want.

The last one is included because it's true, but also because I must have listened to my personalized moving to Japan CD at least three times on the plane.

Our plane landed at four in the afternoon in Japan, right on time, which I think must be the unofficial motto of Japan.  The Tokyo airport was interesting enough, but it still didn't really feel like Japan.  What I mean by that is that it didn't feel like a different place because all of the signs were also written in English.  The same is true of the bullet trains and a handful of the buildings that we passed on the way to the Tokyo train station.  I spent that train ride talking to a Canadian girl who was also working for Nova.  I can't remember where she was going, but she was definitely going to get there before I did.

At the Tokyo station, Ben, the English Nova guy who had been helping us through our arrival, put me on a bullet train to Akita, which is definitely a novelty.  But by the end, you simply realize that you're just riding on a train that happens to go really damn fast.  I ended up sleeping for half of that train ride, simply because I was pretty wiped at that point.

Akita was the last stop on that train ride, so after departing the train at midnight, I was met by two Canadians, Jason and Andrew.  We headed off to Jason's apartment so I could send a couple of "I'm here!" emails and then they brought me over to my apartment.  I should say that I was expecting to have a roommate who would have been able to help me out with going to the grocery store and such, but he moved out a week before I got here.  So I have this apartment all to myself.  Which is fine since I can't possible imagine sharing this place.  The two bedrooms are separated only by paper sliding doors.  Crazy.

I didn't do much Wednesday night, just took a shower, unpacked a bit, and slept.  I didn't have anything to do on Thursday, so I walked around Akita for a while, just looking to see what's here.  I spent that first day eating convenience store prepared meals.  When you buy them, they ask you a few questions, but my Japanese not being where I'd like for it to have been, I didn't realize they were asking me if I wanted it heated up.  And since I don't have a microwave, I spent the first day eating cold convenience store food.  Now you're probably asking why I didn't try a restaurant or two.  See, that's the problem with a non-roman alphabet.  I couldn't tell the difference between restaurants and other stores.  I probably could have figured it out, but was still too tired to try.

I did discover, however, that I didn't have to do anything until the next Tuesday, so I decided I would go ahead and head off to Hokkaido for the weekend to see Whitney.  So Friday morning I headed up there and had an amazing weekend seeing all of the things I had heard so much about and discovering her life on Hokkaido.  The highlight was definitely passing out water at a cross-country ski festival, which gave me a fantastic opportunity to practice my newly-acquired Japanese number skills.  I can count to 10,000 now.

I came back here Monday night to start work on Tuesday.  In the next few days, I'll write more about work and my impressions of Japan thus far, but for now, that's all you get.