Greetings from Hayama bay! After an epic day of travel, we had our first official day of orientation at the Shonan Village Center. There is supposed to be a view of Mt. Fuji but the overcast skies make it difficult to see...if it clears up this week I will upload a photo.
The flight wasn't as bad as I thought it would be; had a little bit of a queasy stomach from the icky airport and plane food but I had a couple of pepto tablets and once I got the hotel I felt fine. Over the course of the 14 hours from Atlanta to Narita, I mostly slept (probably about 7 hours in 2 shifts), watched 2 movies, and read/relaxed. When we arrived customs was quite a breeze; I only stood in line for 5 minutes or so and didn't run into any issues with the person checking my passport. Then I grabbed my bag (didn't have to wait), got some yen, and was out of the airport less than an hour after landing. The airport was really quiet and felt pretty deserted; most of the people on our flight were connecting to other destinations in Asia. It seems like tourism is still going to be pretty slow this summer since it's only been 3 months since the earthquake/Fukushima disaster.
The best thing about Japan so far is the fact that everyone is super nice! Everyone in the airport and hotel who didn't speak English very well were really patient and helpful. And all of the organizers are very apologetic for any potential road block that comes up, no matter how minor it is. It will be interesting to see what working in my lab in Okazaki will be like.
This morning we took a bus from Narita to the orientation center on the opposite (west) side of Tokyo. Driving past the city was neat and there were a lot of huge ports on the way as well. This part of Japan is very hilly and the weather is really nice right now: it's humid but in the 70's so it feels nice to me! A lot of the Northeasterners and Europeans think this is hot... I can't imagine what they will think of the rest of the summer.
Nothing too eventful today as far as orientation goes, just a few introductory speeches and a group photo. We've already had some fabulous food, though! And of course Kirin Ichiban at dinner this evening. I have no idea what most of the food is but most of what I try is really good. The weirdest thing I had so far was in my lunch: I ordered the tuna lunch with "three kinds of tuna", one was fresh/sashimi style, one was canned tuna-style, and the third was...baby tuna style? Yep, it was basically whole baby tunas about 1/4 inch long with eyes and everything. They really didn't taste like fish and it was more like eating long plain rice or really small noodles. If I have it again I'll take a picture.
Tomorrow we begin our language lessons and in the afternoon have some cultural lectures. Friday night through Sunday we will be staying with a host family nearby. It's always a bit nerve-racking staying in a stranger's house, but all of my previous home stays were really good experiences and I believe this will also be a nice way to explore some new cultural features of Japan that I normally wouldn't get to see.
I've mostly recovered from the jet lag and feel like I'm on "Japan time" (not "body time", hahaha...) but am still a little tired and worn out. I'm going to chill for a couple of hours tonight and hopefully will feel more towards the normal side of things tomorrow.
More updates and photos as they come; hopefully it clears up at least once this week so I can get a good photo of Mt. Fuji!
Jaa, mata
-Erica
No comments:
Post a Comment